Refit Tres Hombres completed; now sailing out again

As usual, Tres Hombres has been out of the water for her annual maintenance. Much has been done, and by now the ship is already off to the Caribbean for new cargo. Last port so far: Tenerife.

On the premises of shipyard Teerenstra, the Tres Hombres was put dry in September for a solid refurbishment. Volunteer Vivian talks about it.

The hull received new planking on the bow, new planking on the stern, and the forepeak received a major overhaul: the foredeck a gaping hole for the samson pole, there are new steel rafters, and all deck beams and large pieces of old rusty reinforcement have been removed, replaced with an improved structure. Inside empty, rust has been removed with a needle-hammer and painted. After the hull was resealed and everything was sealed below the waterline, the lady was launched again on 25 October her hull freshly painted and gleaming in the afternoon sun.

New galley

Apart from Fairtransport’s office in Willemsoord, work continues: freshwater tanks cleaned, rigging checked, numerous other annual maintenance jobs done, new fire alarm system, and then I’m just picking out random things that caught my eye. On deck, the aft roof also got a refresh, pins, cleats and other wood soaked in linseed oil, all metal chain plates and the like sanded and repainted, etc. But the biggest work is happening in the galley: everyone is curious to see the face of Giulia, the respected and beloved cook of the Tres Hombres, when she discovers the changes being made in her kingdom. […]

People

But enough about the technology. The rebuilding of Tres is not just about wood, steel, tar, linseed oil, hemp, leather, paint and canvas. Most of all, it is about people. […]
Wonderful people, full of care and goodwill, who come to volunteer for the fun and the experience, or who are paid low wages for what they can do, simply because everyone loves this ship and what it represents.
Almost everyone has their own story about ships they have sailed or worked on, such as Gotheborg, Batavia, Avontuur, Brigantes, Hermione, De Tukker, Biche, Ceiba and Vega, to name just a few random names from a long list. This produces passionate technical conversations about ship design and shipbuilding, from the rigging to the hull, as well as beautiful or hilarious stories about sailing adventures.

Future

More generally, the conversations are about the prospects of small sailing cargo, the way of life of ship carpenters, riggers and sailors, and the future. Quite a few evenings end with beers in front of the ship or in the local bar. On some, moreover, music is heard: violin, guitar, saxophone, accordion, harmonica, clarinet; stories are told of a bagpipe and a hurdy-gurdy. But between the long working days, the many arrivals, departures, birthdays or important milestones of accomplished work to be celebrated, the weeks are quickly filled, and the chill evenings with early bedtimes are also blessed.

About the trip from Den Helder to the Canary Islands, cook Giulia made a report.

It’s a good Biscay day on board: deep blue waves and snow-white peaks wash across the deck, enchanting ever-changing cloudscapes surround us, we shyly but comfortably take off a layer of clothes. The thermometer in the toilet is constantly above 10. The wind is strong, but not as rough and wild as Biscay can be. Not yet, it will be, but not yet. It keeps blowing, despite the weather forecast predicting calm. The calm before the storm we expect.

Day off

I sit cosily on the brand new second-hand cushions of the navigation room and pull out a small red moleskine with hard cover from my watch bag: my pocket brain (that’s what we call the pocket books we use to unload our busy brains with notes, all sorts of lists and random thoughts). It is night, and my day off, time to do some writing. It is also our 16th day at sea since our departure from Den Helder.

Moonrise

As I start the flow of words, Ensign Nick’s head pops up. “Moonrise!” I jump out of the navy room and there, far away on the dark horizon, a splash of fluorescent red pierces my eyes. It is definitely promising, and already so incredibly beautiful and unusual to see such a bright warm colour at night amidst pitch black! She rises slowly. Elegant, smooth, full. As I stand there staring at the romantic spectacle she offers, my heart filling with awe and gratitude for the life I get to experience on this ship and the Beauty of Nature and more cheesy thoughts, sailor Bram, who is busy cooking in the galley, comes to the helm. “I fucked up with the cheese”. Gone romance. Great timing.

Sacrilegio!

The task of collecting and grating the cheese was rightly given to the most trusted crew member and our one and only vegan on board. He has been nominated for the Cheese Watch. Despite being a Dutchman, as a vegan he does not see the difference between ‘old’ and ‘young’, which are reserved for different parts of the voyage. Long story short, some of the old cheese, reserved for the second part of the trip, was, quote, “slaughtered” in the galley while I was writing this blog. I indulge in intense Italian swearing, which always sounds as dramatic as it is ridiculous. Sacrilegio, mamma mia! We all laugh.

List of highlights

A few days ago, while drinking a pint in the bar La Cale in the port of Rosmeur of Douarnenez, we listed highlights of our journey from the North Sea to the Bay of Douarnenez, which took us a total of 10 days. Four of them were spent taking shelter in Swanage Bay, off the English coast, in an attempt to escape Darragh, a current that raced across the west coasts of Europe for almost 100 hours at a time. Well done Darragh, because you also kept our beloved Black Lady, her anchor gear and her crew busy for four days without us advancing a metre.
The list is long, and includes Rosa’s home-baked cinnamon rolls, three-quarters of the crew seasick, the first near-freezing cold, many soggy boots and socks, zero-gravity experiences in the forecastle, 10 knots of progress and much more, but most importantly, continuous LOL: lots of love & laughing out loud.
I can’t tell if from the outside this sounds like the recipe for the perfect nightmare or the sweetest dream, but trust me, we had and are still having a great, great time here. 12 of us (including all seven professional crew members) are under contract to Amsterdam in the spring. It’s a very cool and promising, well-mixed bunch of people. We are solid, and we are eager for more.

Source: newsletter Tres Hombres

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