Tenacious

A Wheelchair Accessible Square-rigger

This is the Tenacious, under full sail.

This photo was taken by our Boson's mate, Max.

See more of his work at http://www.tallshipstock.com

Captain John Fisher is showing me how to use the sextant
for navigation. Our skipper is very bright, patient, competent and an accomplished sailor. You should see him walk on top the yards.

This watery tart is Sue; Ship's medical officer

and ''Jack of all trades''

It seems we were always reefing the sails

or bracing the yards.

Here we are on the bowsprit, the most dangerous place to sit.

Here I am enjoying the weather.

Sometimes the weather was cold and windy.
Here we are at the helm looking forward at the course sail.
In high winds we only set a few of our 21 sails.

We were all assigned watch duty. Here I am on morning watch.

The watches are listed below in '24 hour' time.

0000-0400		0400-0800		0800-1200		1200-1600		1600-1800	1800-2000	2000-2400
Middle Watch		Morning Watch		Forenoon Watch		Afternoon		First Dog	2nd Dog	1st Watch

Notice the safety strap I'm wearing. I'm also wearing a detachable hood that my mother got for me for skiing. Works great for sailing too. Thanks mom.

As you can see, by looking at the horizon, the ship is listing about 10 degrees to port.

Imagine trying to roll a wheelchair on a ship's deck when the ship is pitching, yawling, and rolling (moving in 3 dimensions) and moving forward while it is listing. Whoever thought that putting a wheelchair on a sailing vessel was a good idea, must have been crazy and I want to thank him for that.

The permanent and voyage crew of the Tenacious.

The Aft Starboard watch crew, from left to right behind me, Tony, Jean, Colin, Clive and Laurence.

The Tenacious in Tenerife, Canary Islands
Courtesy of Max