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The wind was gusting to over 40 knots and the island ferry could not get onto its normal mooring and needed ours. We had to move further along the quay to another mooring. This involved a lot of work with the mooring lines and engines.

Sun, sails and, well... hard work anyway..!

Just think what it must have been like when they didn't have motors!

Following this successful manoeuvring exercise, we all settled down to breakfast. The plan was that we were to leave port mid morning - however, the ferry was now moored over our anchor chain, so we were going to have to wait for the ferry leaving early afternoon before we could get underway.

After morning "happy hour" (our watch cleaning duties were above deck this time) we were given a further briefing on sail handling and since we had done quite a bit of this now, it was more understandable.

First comes the helming instruction...

Time to leave port

After lunch we also had a talk on weather characteristics and predicting wind conditions and changes to wind direction. Then it was all hands-to for preparation for leaving port and going to sea.

Once out of the harbour, we set a number of square rig sails and were well underway in a 20–30 knot wind. Whilst the wind seemed strong and the ships appeared to be sailing at some speed, we were only doing around 6-7 knots.

The ship had a slight list, role and pitch, in a sea swell of around 3 metres.

Not many of the voyage crew were in the mess for dinner that night!! We were due on watch from midnight till 4am. I had intended staying up till our watch, but, like the rest of the watch, was in my bunk by 7.30pm for some sleep! Fresh air and work is a tiring combination.

I went on deck and started sail handling on a fantastically clear night with a bright full moon.

The ship had quite a bit of sail rigged and even with less sail we were still sailing at 7 knots in the stronger wind and making good time for Tenerife.

Later we had to tack a little in order to delay our arrival in port. As a result of tacking, we also had to trim the sails to match the relative wind direction change. We did this with just four of the watch, leaving one alone on the helm.

The sound of wind in the sails is tremendous

Memorable

This particular watch was one of the highlight of the voyage for me. To be helming the ship through the night, in a good wind, clear visibility and sailing around Tenerife was a fantastic experience.

The only sounds were that of the wind in the sails, waves breaking and hitting the ship and the pleasant rolling of the ship as we progressed through the otherwise quiet night.

There was a calm and quiet atmosphere on the open bridge, with the sails set on the fore and mid masts, with three jib sails set as well. Five of the watch were on the bridge for the 4 hours, taking in the atmosphere and thrill of the sail. This memory will always stay with me.

We were relieved by the Morning Watch at 4am and went to our bunks for a few hours sleep before breakfast.

All ship's rope have to be kept perfectly coiled

As we went off watch, the wind dropped as we were sheltered by the island, which resulted in our speed reducing considerably. The Morning Watch ended up taking down most of the sails and using the engines to take us towards the port.

Thursday 9 Feb

After breakfast there was the morning "happy hour" and our watch had decks cleaning duties and other areas to clean up in the ships upper structure. This was all done whilst at sea, rounding the north of Tenerife.

My job this time was to clean the drains around the edging of the main deck and also the side walls to the main deck. Kneeling down scrubbing these areas on a rolling deck was certainly different and a good test of anyone’s constitution!

After lunch we all set-to in hauling in the remaining sails, in readiness to enter harbour.

We moored up in Santa Cruz (yes another one) in Tenerife late morning. The routine was becoming well established by now! 

Climbing the mast was one of the highlights for me

Up, up and away...

After lunch we had the opportunity for those with a disability to go aloft. This was an "assisted climbing" of the rigging, which I had assumed would be with the help of a safety line.

However, safety lines were only for those with significant disabilities, so I climbed without a safety line, just clipping onto the mast platform for the climb under and over the platform and rails! I had no difficulties with this and it was not as scary as I thought it would be.

Many of us went ashore for the evening and had a meal as this was a more stable environment than in the lower mess of a rolling ship, even when in harbour!