After a lovely evening sitting in Sea Cloud’s aft Blue Lagoon and spanker deck under the illuminated Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion, we woke this morning to a strong northerly breeze of 22 knots and whitecaps all around us. Sea Cloud is a very stable ship, designed by the great 20th-century marine architect William Francis Gibbs and stationed in the rough waters of the North Atlantic during her WWII service because of her stability, so we didn’t feel the motion of the seas around us as Captain Komakin put us in position to set the sails for the first sailing of the voyage.
Expedition leader Tom O’Brien gave a “play-by-play” of the setting of the sails, which takes about 45 minutes to an hour on a hand-sailed square-rigger like Sea Cloud. He explained the strategy of Captain Sergej Komakin to stay on the western fringes of a strong Aegean “meltemi” blow and try to sail through the day into more sheltered waters of the coastal Argolic Gulf in the afternoon. Square riggers are designed not to set all sails, but to find the right sail combinations for existing wind conditions, and in general the less wind the more sails and vice versa. “Hit the Rig!” came the Captain’s command and 18 deck crew in three mast teams began to climb the rigging and set the sails. We learned about setting square sails and then stay sails and jibs, finishing on the fo’c’sle (forecastle) with an explanation of the jibs, bowsprit, and Sea Cloud’s two 720-foot anchor chains. It was an absolutely magnificent experience to see and feel this 4-masted barque under sail, and we hadn’t yet set the royals or the sky sail!
Through the course of the morning our photographic instructor Jennifer Davidson gave a tantalizing introduction to photographic techniques, and later in the day our historian and marine archaeologist Rebecca Ingram gave an enthralling introduction to Greek architecture, archeology, and classical Greek Civilization. Just before Rebecca’s talk came the announcement on the p.a. system that we were altering course and the Captain was sending the crew up to set the higher square sails: the royals and the spanker. Romanian naval cadet Laura on the mizzen mast, Azorean naval cadet Beatriz on the main mast, and young German “Renaissance adventurer” Luke on the foremast all scampered up the ratlines to set the royals, and finally Filipino seaman Mark set the highest of Sea Cloud’s square sails–the sky sail–170 feet above the water line. What a sight! What a feeling! This is what we have read about in romantic seafaring novels, and seen in films about historic exploration and adventure. And here we were living it in the 21st century. How lucky could we be?
Excited to confirm that we had signed on for “the real thing”, we watched intently again in the late afternoon when the sails were taken in and the crew again went aloft in the rigging for the final furling of the day. Captain Komakin introduced his dedicated officers at the Welcome Cocktail Party, and it was all we could do to leave the lido deck and late evening light to come down into the dining room for dinner. But after a taste of chef d’ cuisine Maik Albrecht’s Welcome Dinner, it seemed that not even the rising full moon could pull everyone back out of the dining room. And so ended our first day on the legendary Sea Cloud.
