AN INTRODUCTION TO SEA–SAILING
Trainees boarding the 60–meter, three–masted, blue schooner the Eendracht generally have no sailing experience at all, they have booked a trip on the ship knowing they will be assisted by experienced crewmembers who will teach them the ins and outs of sea–sailing in a hands–on environment, still, they can be seen walking around, looking a bit apprehensive at the unfamiliar surroundings. Soon, a quartermaster will ask some of them to join in a tour of the ship so they can learn how some things are called and, more importantly, what function they perform. First of all, the three masts, from prow to stern, are called the foremast, the main mast, and the mizzenmast; they stand some 50 meters high and have to be secured by thick steel wires, called stays, to keep them from bending or breaking. The foremast and the main mast have two large beams attached to them, the lower one is called the boom and the one above that is called the gaff. The gaff is hoisted towards the top of the mast and the sail is carried up with it. The mizzenmast only has a boom and the sail is hoisted by means of a line running from the top of the mast down to the deck.
After this short introduction, it is possible to start practicing some manoeuvres, the trainees are divided into three groups and for the time being each group is responsible for one mast. Changing tack is the first manoeuvre that is carried out, the term stands for a particular change in the ship’s course when she is sailing close to the wind, the ship’s prow will point briefly in the direction from which the wind is blowing whilst changing the course and afterwards she will again be sailing close to the wind, only the wind will be coming in from the other direction. To assure the somewhat nervous trainees standing at the main mast, their quartermaster explains that it is an easy manoeuvre requiring no great strength or extreme timing and that it mainly involves guiding the sails when they move from one side of the ship to the other. First of all, in preparation of tacking about, there is a stay on which tension has to be put, this stay is on the side of the ship the sails are now over. It was relieved because it had been pulling in the same direction as the wind is pushing and was therefore not helping in keeping the mast stable, in a moment, though, the wind will be pushing from the opposite direction and the stay will have use again so it will be tightened once more.
After the stay has been tightened and secured the trainees gather at the main mast again, their quartermaster is enthusiastic about how quickly they managed to finish preparing for tacking about and promises to buy them a round if they are first to have finished all the necessary steps of the actual procedure. After waiting for the teams at the other two masts to finish their preparations the skipper signals by means of blowing the ship’s horn once that the order to change course has been given. Slowly but surely the prow starts to turn to face the wind and, as a result of the changing angle of the incoming wind, the sails start to move, first amidships and later towards the other side of the ship. This is the moment the trainees have been waiting for, it is their responsibility to gently guide the sails as they move because a sudden gust of wind might whip the sails back and forth violently, creating a situation dangerous for both crew and ship. Making sure that the lines attached to the two corners of the sail that are not attached to the mast remain taut assures that this situation will be prevented.
As the wind will start to push the sail outward after it has come amidships the same lines that had been taken in have to be given away again until the sail is at the same position as before the manoeuvre started. As soon as this is taken care of a number of other things need to be done, in order to make sure that the lines would run smoothly they have been laid out on deck, they now need to be put away to assure that nobody trips over them. Furthermore, the main mast has one stay pulling at either side of it, only the one that is pulling in the opposite direction of the wind’s pushing is needed, the other one can be eased off. All in all, the entire procedure did not take more than twenty minutes to complete and the trainees have either used or have seen others use the most important lines and blocks on the ship, they have worked as a team, and they are a lot more secure about the rest of their trip, knowing that it is not all that hard as it seems when viewed from a distance. Even though the team at the mizzenmast finished sooner, they still get the promised treat since their quartermaster noticed the other team cheating. Soon all trainees will be sitting below decks, enjoying a free drink because every quartermaster assured their team that they performed the best.
02 Oct. 01
