Polbream & Logos II

For the second half of our week with "Polbream" in Falmouth we teamed up with "Logos II", the successor to "Logos" the mission ship which was my home for 10 years in the seventies. Dave Thomas, who was third engineer when I was third mate, was on the ship again as Chief Engineer with his wife Joy. They now life in Germany at the ship's head office but were on board for a while, relieving others on leave.

Dave arranged for us to take out 25 members of the Deck and Engine departments for some team building. On the Wednesday we took 5 for the whole day. The team consisted of Nick the Captain from the USA, Tong Yu the 3rd Officer from S Korea, Timen from Holland, Eddie from Germany and Paul from England. These last three are all in the Engine department.

We sailed to St. Mawes and then out to sea, putting into the Helford river and mooring there for lunch. Then we returned to the Carrick Roads for some 'man overboard' practice under sail. This was great fun as a competition and team building exercise. When we do 'man overboard' we just chuck a fender tied to a bucket over the side, not one of the crew!

That evening we ate on board the ship whilst the yacht was tied alongside. Esther was on board with friends from her Christian Union for an art competition on the theme of Hope.

On Thursday morning we came alongside again to pick up a new crew. This time we had Dave the Chief Engineer from England, Philemon from Germany, Octavio from Mexico, Arem Jan from Holland and Jonas from Switzerland. It was great to see Dave steering the ship under sail with the engine silent!

At lunchtime the fuel barge was alongside Logos II so I had the challenge of bringing the yacht onto a ponton under the bows of the ship. We made it with inches to spare!

Our afternoon crew were Gary from Trinidad, Vicky from Germany, Christian from Austria, Pete from the UK and Christoph from Germany. It was such a privilege to meet all these young people who were so open to learn and all got on so well together.

On Thursday evening our sailing wasn't over as we took Esther and her friends Johnny, James and Andy for an evening sail. It was the evening for St. Mawes yacht racing and so we had great fun following the race between Black Rock and St. Anthony's light. Again we saw the Falmouth Working boats and the Sunbeams sailing up close.

Friday morning dawned with some grey clouds and rain. When we picked up the first crew it did not look hopeful but after briefing down below whilst moored to a buoy off Flushing, we emerged to find the skies clearing and we had a great sail. Our crew were Barush from Israel, James from England, Sam from Ghana, Nick from Australia and Justin from Bermuda.

Our final crew on Friday Afternoon had some of the best sailing. One of the other crews had set a target of 6.1 knots to beat. This crew acheived 6.4 reefed and 7 with full sail! We headed out to sea until we could see the Lizard and Dodman at the same timne and then we had to heave too to reef, much to Lois' relief! Our crew were John from the USA, Matthew from Australia, Tobias from Germany, Kelon from Grenada and Andre from Brazil.

Apart from the fun of meeting up with old friends from Logos, it was great to work with so many different nationalities. We learnt a lot about how to use the yachts for team building and we also developed ways of getting the most out of having a 'scratch' crew for just 4 hours.

After handing the boat back to Cornish Cruising we went back on board Logos II for a reunion before heading home on Saturday evening at the end of a very busy week having taken 33 people from 14 Countries sailing, many for the first time.