Tall Ship Delivers Adventure and Cargo In the South Pacific

Another post on John’s Naval, Marine and other Service news

Tall Ship Delivers Adventure and Cargo In the South Pacific

Wednesday, 26 June 2013, 12:29 pm
Press Release: Barque Picton Castle

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tall Ship Delivers Adventure and Cargo In the South Pacific

LUNENBURG – Circling the world five times as part of her famed 30,000-mile circumnavigation voyages, the tall ship Picton Castle has often been called upon to deliver critically-needed goods, including medical supplies and thousands of pounds of donated books and educational materials, to remote island communities.

For Captain Daniel Moreland, founder of the award-winning sail training program, these impromptu cargo missions are valuable teaching moments – an opportunity to learn how to safely load, handle and stow cargo in the hold of this 179-foot sailing ship and practice global citizenship, with the bonus that such introductions ultimately lead to a more intimate experience of the people and places the ship visits, whether that’s an orphanage in Africa or a palm-covered atoll in the Pacific.

This winter, the Picton Castle and her crew of young professional mariners and trainees will spend 10 weeks providing much-needed shipping assistance in the heart of Polynesia. The ship and her crew will be sailing from Rarotonga, the largest and most accessible of the Cooks Islands, to the nation’s 10 other inhabited islands, including the remote and unspoiled Northern Cooks some 1,400 nm away.

“These are some of the most beautiful, untouched places in the world, offering some of the finest trade wind sailing,” says Capt. Moreland. And he should know. He’s commanded the Picton Castlethrough all five of her voyages around the world, earning the title Sail Trainer of the Year from both Tall Ships America and United Kingdombased Sail Training International.

Aboard Picton Castle everyone works to sail and maintain the ship: they stand watch, take their turn at the wheel, handle sail, haul on lines, go aloft (optional), scrub the deck and help in the galley. Shipboard workshops include rope and wire splicing, handling small boats under sail, oars and engine, ancient, modern and celestial navigation, weather, sailmaking and small boat carpentry.

Following her mission in the Cooks, the Picton Castle will set sail for Australia, by way of calls at Tonga and Norfolk Island, en route to Tall Ship festivals at Sydney and Auckland, New Zealand. From there, the ship will make a lengthy sea passage to Pitcairn Island, home to the ancestors of the famed Bounty mutineers, and then continue on to French Polynesia calling at Mangareva, the Marquesas, Nuku Hiva, the Tuamotus, and the Society Islands, then back through the Cook Islands, to Samoa and Fiji.

No previous sailing experience is required to join the Picton Castle, although candidates must be of good health and there is an interview process.

ENDS

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More from David and family in Morocco

JUN

Casablanca here we are

Hi all

After a fantastic visit to Windsor, culminating in a visit to the castle and Savel Gardens in the great park, we are now in Morocco.
Windsor castle was first rate and is more of a village or small town within that castle walls. we had left it for our last day having spent the previous one in London, visiting the British Museum and the V and A Museum. We had intended to do more in London such as the natural History and science museums together with the Tait Modern, but in the end ran out of time.

A very smart Guard and Band at Windsor

St Georges “Chapel” is large enough to grace most larger cities as that city’s cathedral, it is all rather splendid as are the gardens in the great park.

It is now time to move on from England and into the next phase of our journey and so it was with mixed emotions that we left Windsor and booked into our Hotel at Heathrow ready for an early start (5:30 book in) and off to Casablanca.

We arrived in Casablanca on Friday after a flight on budget airline Iberian via Madrid, arriving mid afternoon. After the cool of Britain the heat was of immediate notice although it was only 24 or so. After recovering our baggage from the conveyer down the other end of the airport from where we had been patiently waiting for nearly an hour we were whisked into the city by the shuttle bus and a cool drink got Mrs Currin and I feeling much more comfortable. Mrs Currin’s brother, Murray, and wife Jill arrived later that evening and it was nice to be amongst familiar faces again.

Murray and Jill Arrive Casablanca

Saturday morning and we were on the bus heading up the coast to the capital, Rabat, and then on to Fes via Maknes. In Rabat we visited the Royal Palace, but it is not open to the public so could only view the outside. The current king is the first to even disclose who his wife is and so she can attend functions etc. but they guard their privacy jealously.

Royal Palace Rabat

The drive onto Fes was interesting and by now we were up in the Middle Atlas Mountains so temperatures are still mild, not hot.

We have two nights in Fes and the highlight has to be the Medina where amongst its 12,000 lanes and alleyways are some 8,000 stalls or shops selling every imaginable thing from camel’s heads to Leather jackets. A great deal of it is made right here in the Medina. Problem! If you go wandering off by yourself it is just as likely that you will not be seen for days as it really is a maze of alleys the like of which I have never before experienced. We had guides, but even so you had to stay alert. Everything is either carried in by the people or donkey as no vehicles are permitted (I did see the odd Scooter), Coca Cola are reputed to own 150 donkeys in Fes to get their produce in, and I guess their money out.

Transport, Fes Style

Also in the Medina, which is the old walled original city centre, are the famous Fes Tanneries, smelly but nonetheless fascinating. This results in the usual flurry of handbag buying amongst the ladies.

The array of stuff for sale is endless

As are the activities

Evening had us dining in a Riad which is a traditional Berber home built around a courtyard. Berber people make no effort to enhance their homes exterior but more than make up for it on the inside. These places are quite breathtaking and a great night was had by all.
Next day we visited a village in the High Atlas Mountains where there are some who still live in caves. The lady who we visited had lived in her present cave home for something over eighty years, her husband passed away a few years back aged 110, so can’t be too bad for you.

Cave Home in Atlas Mountains

The road we now took from Fes to Erfoud goes over the High Atlas Mountains and then down again to an area on the outskirts of the Sahara. This road trip was simply breathtaking as in scenery and fascinating regarding what was going on around us. This area is sparsely populated and what people there are, are mainly Nomads. These people live a quite extraordinary life, moving from the Sahara at the end of winter to the cooler mountain ranges for summer. They live in family groups and have a flock of sheep and or goats and a couple of donkeys. The men shepherd their flocks by day and then coral them in a rock walled pen for the night. Once each week or two they will take a sheep into a town market where it will be sold to buy provisions. The women go off each day by donkey to get water and make quite a colourful sight. Their dwellings are very basic, stone affairs rooved with sheets of polythene. The government has tried to get them to send their children to free state boarding schools, but this has not been successful and so now they are employing teachers to travel around with them, living in tents and teaching as many of the children as they can. Morocco has placed education at the top of its priorities and the greatest slice of the budget is spent on it. Even so, only 30 % of women are formally educated. The greatest threat to the Nomads lifestyle is from the Leopards and Wolves which can kill their sheep and goats and this is their only source of income. Incidentally, the goats have two purposes, they provide milk and they act as guard dogs against these predators. An interesting lifestyle, probably better viewed from a tour bus.

Nomad Camp

This evening we were taken by Land Cruiser out into the Sahara, out where the big dunes are, this took around an hour and I think the drivers had been watching the Paris Dakar rally. We were soon spread across the dessert and bumping our way to our destination, some camels which would take us into the dunes for the sunset. Although I had seen better sunsets this was a truly remarkable experience and I would rate it as one of my most memorable.

Humphrey the Camel

Humphrey, my camel, was a bit of a rascal however and kept biting the one in front on the bum, this caused a bit of a ruckus and we had to change the order of things so that Humphrey followed someone that he got on ok with.

And so it was that harmony was restored

Although it was, by this time, 8:00 PM the temperature was still in the 30s and so climbing back up from sliding down dunes took its toll on some.

Part of the caravan, we bring Gold and Myrrh and Frankincense

Oh, and that sunset.

Back to the hotel in an Oasis and a damned good meal awaited, temperature still over 30 though.

Next day and more driving through dessert and mountain country and finally to Marrakesh, the Holy Grail of market towns complete with snake charmers and aggressive salesmen.

I know this is becoming a little disjointed, but it is hard to fit blog writing in between having adventures, but I shall try to get more done in the near future.

So its good bye from Spain, good luck and good health

David

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Canada – The Wearing of Uniforms by Veterans…

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Canada – The Wearing of Uniforms by Veterans – Clarification

Another post on John’s Naval, Marine and other Service news

Letter to the Editor

The Wearing of Uniforms by Veterans – Clarification

June 24, 2013
Letter to the Editor: 45e Nord, All Maritime Morning Newstalk Radio, CBC (Power and Politics, Inside Politics, TV), Frontline Magazine, Globe and Mail, National Post, Ottawa Citizen, Times Colonist
To the Editor:
I regret that a lack of clarity and misreporting of a recently released internal order related to the wearing of uniforms after release from active service has resulted in avoidable confusion and insult to veterans.
The Royal Canadian Navy holds veterans in the highest regard and has no intent or authority to limit the wearing of older orders of dress, such as wartime patterns. Historic headdress, medals, and uniforms that are no longer in use are explicitly exempt from our authority. Their use in celebrating previous service and sacrifice should continue and be encouraged.
The intent of the order was simply to inform serving members – and by extension those retired members still affiliated with the RCN through our messes and other organizations under our influence – of the protocols associated with a long-standing regulation about wearing current pattern uniforms, specifically Mess Dress (a formal evening uniform), after retirement. This specific pattern of uniform still exists and is worn by active serving members. It is important therefore to avoid any confusion in identity between those who are on active service and those who are retired and no longer subject to the same rules and expectations as their serving colleagues.
The desired outcome is to have a process that both respects the regulations as well as honours those who are no longer serving.
Vice-Admiral Mark Norman, CMM, CD
Commander RCN