Dog watch

I am lucky that the others I share the cabin with are in the watch before me – so other than me there is no one in the cabin now. 

Hence I can make as much noise and light as I want. I wash my face, put my clothes on, get into the rhythm of the rolling and pitching of the ship, and find my way upstairs to deck. 

A quick look at the sails and the wind tells me all is much the same as it was when I went to bed at 8:30pm, after dinner and the daily Captain’s update. So I stagger, still half asleep, to the deckhouse and pour myself a tea, softly greeting the 7 others in my watch who are in a similar state of waking up. 

Some folk of the outgoing watch give us an update of what happened and off we go. 

Four of us have a defined task (2 on lookout at the front of the ship and two at the helm at the back). The other 4 do whatever is needed – a combination of sail handling and small maintenance. We rotate positions every 30 minutes.

I start with helm duty. It’s beautiful. The full moon puts a silvery glimmer on everything. The ship is calm – everyone is asleep other than us 8, 2 deckhands from the professional crew, an officer, and later some kitchen staff. 

Maybe it’s my imagination but it seems the officer has decided to keep us busy to avoid us falling asleep. We need to set 3 stunsails (“lijzeilen” in Dutch) which are tricky to set. But we manage, though it takes us a good hour including the trimming needed. 

We trim some of the other 17 sails that are up. In the little time we have off we do fitness exercises, trying to keep up with the punishing challenge the (mostly female) crew has put up for everyone: one exercise for each mile covered. And since we do about 130 miles/day that adds up! Some do crunches, others push ups, others something else. 

For the less than fit amongst us, the darkness of the night provides some cover for our clumsy routines.

And then, our watch is over. One of us wakes up the next watch, and we hand over. There is some gentle teasing between the watches while both are present for 10-15 mins or so. 

Now, I need to decide whether I eat something or not. I will miss breakfast as I will be asleep, and waiting until lunch would mean a 17 hour gap between meals as dinner was a while ago. 

I decide to eat some bread, and make my way back the cabin. It isn’t empty anymore as my cabin mates are asleep. I silently undress, find my way into my bunk, and try to fall asleep again. Hopefully I can squeeze in a few hours before our next watch (12 noon to 4pm).