Date: 31th October 2019
Author: Phil
Position: Vor Marokkos Küste
Geographical Position: 30° 52.1 N/ 11° 11.4 W
Etmal: 8 Miles

As you may know, the Pelican is rigged with four square sails. Starting with the biggest one on the bottom called Main Course followed by the Top Sail, the Topgallant and on the very top the Royal. In the following I will explain how to set the square sails.

Braising

Braising is the term for bringing the yards and therefore the sails in position. In order to accomplish that we first have to man the tacks and downhauls. The last ones are used to adjust the yards in their horizontal position when leaning over. Then we man the brasses in order to pull the yards around. It is important to pull all yards together because the sails are attached to both yards, the one on top of them and the one on the bottom. And then, depending on the side we are braising to, we haul away the braises and downhauls on that side and ease them on the opposite site. At the same time, the tack on the hauling side needs to be eased and on the other tack we just take out the slack.

Putting the sails in their gear

After braising and before setting the square sails we first have to get them in their gear. Because when we don’t use them, they are rolled in the so-called gaskets. These are ropes attached to the yard and when the sails are not in their gear, they go around the sail and hold it in position. So to get them in their gear we have to climb up the Mizzen-Mast (which is amazing by the way) get out on the yards and detach the gaskets.

Getting the sails down and finishing the job back up on the yards

When the sails are in their gear, we pull them down by easing the Clue-, Bundt- and Leech-lines and haul the sheets and tacks on port and starboard. After the sails are pulled down, we go back up on the yards to make sure the slack in the Bundt-lines is in front of the sails and not on the way up to the yards.

PS: Ganz liebe Geburtstags Grüße an Toni von Sarah hdl 🙂

PPS: Verspätete Geburtstagsgrüße an meinen Papa, mögest du gücklich sein. Mascha 🙂

PPS: Im Übrigen sind wir der Meinung, dass wir in der Mitte des Atlantiks baden gehen sollten (Anmerkung der Allgemeinheit)