Pinrail chase
After 11 days of by sail training and handling, the web of the rigging and endless rows of pins are starting to fall into order within the minds of our new voyage crew. Some are already experienced sailors, others are familiar with Europa from previous trips, but for most the niche skill of tall ship sailing is an entirely new world. Patiently, the deck team have imparted their knowledge through lectures and diagrams and models and drills. The time has now come to put this new-found understanding of ship puppetry to the test.
The pinrail chase is a time-honoured Europa tradition. Every event is different, but themes of lawlessness, bribery, and silly handicaps remain consistent. We gathered after lunch, a loose aggregation of the watches, freshly fuelled for the anticipated activity. Bursting onto the deck to the theme of Rocky, our games masters set the tone for what would follow. Introducing the grand tradition, they laid down the rules with an iron fist. Points deductions for false starts, running, cheating (only if uncreative), arguing with the judge, and anything that could displease the crew were liberally doled out. Points would be awarded for completing the challenges, creative cheating and flattery. With that, the games began.
Starting with the traditional find-the-pin round, scores were built and lost. Blue watch walked a fine line of gaining and then losing points alternately, wavering back and forth across the 0 line. White watch pulled into an early lead but were soon overtaken by the permanent crew team. Then came time for the handicaps. Potatoes between the knees, on spoons in mouths, and blindfolds soon threw the score board (and deck) into chaos. Of course, life on a tall ship is not only line handling. There are knots to tie and meals to prepare, and these skills were thoroughly tested in a knots relay race and potato peeling competition. Even the galley girls from the permanent crew (armed with a pizza slicer and rotten potato) were unable to pull the permanent crew score from its rapid descent. The next round was a test of coiling prowess. Each watch had one frantic minute to toss the pinrails into disarray- throwing down and casting off the gear, twisting lines and weaving them through the shrouds. They then swapped sides and raced to detangle, organise and coil down the lines. This proved a hectic display of flailing lines and limbs- a high adrenaline sport that resulted in some flawlessly coiled pinrails and others in an undesirable muddle of crossed and twisted lines. It didn’t take long to reset and begin the procedure again with fresh competitors.
Those of you are a Bark Europa Pinrail Chase Alumni (or have read any previous blogs about the events), you will know what came next. Under a cloudless sky, with less than 5 knots of wind, Terry made the cry that a squall was incoming. It was time to strike the outer jib. A little confused, the first watch raced (without running) forward to the halyard, sheet and downhaul. They were met with the full force of the deck hoses, waves from laundry buckets and a gleeful deck team. But these are no landlubbers, by now our voyage crew had been thoroughly trained and tested by the wind and waves, so they readily took on the challenge. After the three watches had completed the task, dripping wet and thirsty for revenge, it was the turn of the permanent crew. Blindfolded and pummelled by seawater, they struggled with crossed lines and a heckling crowd but ultimately made no bones of the sail handling. The jib was expertly set and struck in record time. Even that, however, was not sufficient to pull their score from the depths of the negative to compete with the voyage crew watches. Ultimately, it was white watch who proved to be the worthy winners, gaining the honour and glory of the high seas. We celebrated with a thorough towelling down, tidy of the decks and well-earned coffee time.
