I am currently sitting at my computer listening to Bob Marley, taking a moment to reflect upon the last month and a half - it has been quite an experience. The events over the past few months, as I served as cook on a traditional sailing vessel, have given me a new insight about international sailing, as well as some interesting gender issues that often come up while at sea. Here, let me explain.

Not that long ago, this recently graduated history and philosophy student found himself in a bar in Lunenburg. For those of you who don't know where Lunenburg is, it is a small fishing community on the south shore of Nova-Scotia, Canada, the birthplace of the Bluenose vessel. And this little bar in Lunenberg is where this story begins. (Anyone surprised that a recently graduated college student's story begins in a bar?)

I had just spent the summer sailing schooners and partying with friends, but unfortunately this responsibility-free summer was coming to an end, and I was thinking about what was going to be next. It was at this point that I met a woman by the name of Helle while I was in the Knot Tavern (which happens to be the only bar in Lunenburg). We got to chatting and it turned out she was the cook on a 185-foot square rigged traditional sailing barquentine, the Picton Castle, on which she fed fifty-two people three meals a day, every day.

Well, I cooked my way through university, so I mentioned this to Helle, who was all of a sudden very excited. She then turned to me and asked, "Are you any good?" This of course is a question no self-respecting cook would ever answer and so at this point my friend Neville stepped in and sang my praise (right or wrong). After a great deal more of chatting, Helle let me know that there was a chance I could have the job as the Picton Castle's new cook. All I had to do was meet with the captain the next morning at 9:00am.

Now that stage one was complete, I took it upon myself to quickly learn more of the Picton Castle and was quite excited. The next morning I went to see the captain, to see if any of this talk might come in to fruition. Captain Dan Moreland is a man who is infamous for being difficult and confusing, yet also is an amazingly effective captain. That morning he was quite busy, and as I approached he asked me to wait a moment. Eventually he got to me and said, "Right. Helle told me about you, but I'm terribly busy, can I see you tomorrow at 9:00am?"

"Sure," I replied.

The next morning at nine I arrived, researched and ready to tell him why I was the one for the job. After all, I have a great deal of sailing and cooking experience. Yet as I prepared to launch into my dissertation, he simply walked over and said, "Do you want this job?"

I began going into why I would be an excellent sea cook, and he stopped me and said again, "Do you want this job?"

"Yes."

"OK," Captain Moreland said. "See you on the 18th."

So begins the adventure of how I found myself sailing on a tall ship for a month and a half, where I met all sorts of interesting people and saw some truly amazing sights.

The first week was quite hectic. When I arrived, Helle thanked me for replacing her and that was it, she was off. So I had to figure out on my own where the food was, when to make it, how many crew were on board (which changed hourly), along with many other important questions - like why there is absolutely no organization in the "pantry" or as I like to call it the "big pile of cans."

Picture this. The pantry (or "hold") supports a ship that sails around the world with fifty-two crewmembers - now that's a lot of food. Further, it's not organized, the labels are in many different languages, and it's all dumped in the darkest corner of the hold. I spent more hours then I would like to admit being bounced around in the darkness of the Picton Castle hold, dangerously close to the shit-tank (technical term) with flashlight in hand trying to find tomatoes.

But I digress. After the first week, I felt I had things fairly under control and was able to enjoy myself. When I wasn't cooking, or yelling at people for putting things in the wrong places, I was climbing the rigging (100 feet straight up), furling sails, learning to stitch canvas and leather, and trying my hand at some metal and woodwork. All in all it was a great time, not to mention a wonderful learning experience.

As I became more comfortable, I was able to observe my fellow crewmembers, their work, and their positions. During just one trip we fluctuated a great deal in crew numbers, from as low as 25 to as high as 40. While I never had to feed the whole compliment of 52 I knew what it was like to have a lot of hungry mouths. Among this group it was divided almost 50/50 between male crew and female crew. The crew was then divided again between trainees and professional crew.

There were twelve "professional" crewmembers - I say "professional" in quotations because not all of these members were paid, but most were, and all of them were experienced in sailing tall ships. Each one of these people had a position on the ship. There was the captain, purser, and cook; the first, second, and third mates; the boson, three lead seamen; and three able seamen. Out of these people, the purser, the second and third mates, a lead seaman, and two able seamen were female. So in a nutshell, the professional crew had more men then women, but the ratio was not terribly skewed, and females dominated the positions of power.

Perhaps, if you are like me, you are slightly surprised at these numbers. I fully expected women to be aboard the Picton Castle, but in a trade that (I think it is safe to say) is traditionally male dominated, I did not expect the number of women to be as high as it was. However, not to my surprise at all, the female crew, in many instances, did a better job then the men. I was able to observe how the women sailed versus the men, as I did have some free time, and I found it quite interesting.

Generally speaking, many of the men had preconceived ideas of how they wanted to complete a task, and often their method was to tackle it with brawn rather then brain. This attitude brought fourth several issues. First of all, very few skills are transferable to sailing square-rigged ships, including any sailing experience gained from working on other ships. As a result, cockiness needed to be done away with, as it served as nothing more than a hassle no one had time to deal with. Secondly, Picton Castle is a traditional ship, by which I mean there are few, if any, electronics or complex mechanical aids. All of the hauling on lines is done manually and without the aid of winches. If one wants a mechanical advantage one must use either more people, a block and tackle, or simply position oneself in a more advantageous position.

Again, as a generalization, many of the women avoided these problems. I found that most of the women I talked to upon arrival would tell me their experiences, but then would admit right away that it was new and they were willing to learn. It was this interest in soaking up new knowledge without feeling threatened that impressed me a great deal. Another advantage was that while many of the men thought that no matter the task they could do it on their own, the females aboard were not ashamed to ask for help, when indeed help would be required for anyone.

I heard through the grapevine that the Captain prefers female crew for these reasons, and it seems to make sense to me. Some of the bull-headed men could learn a lot from these female sailors I had the pleasure of working with. Each one was very knowledgeable, always willing to learn more, and tough as nails.

Another issue I noticed was that some of the female crew were looked down upon by older, less experience male trainees. When some of these new guys (often older men) arrived they seemed to take orders from the male officers, but they weren't so keen on doing what the females asked of them. There was also the assumption in several cases that the female crew always needed help, even for a simple, one person job that they were completing just fine on their own. On one specific occasion I witnessed a middle-aged man saunter over to help a seemingly poor, defenceless young lady tie down a line, when in fact she was doing just fine without any help at all. To top it off, he asked to help her in a very condescending tone. Truly I am still impressed this guy still had his head intact after that attempt. After the incident, the young woman came and talked to me (the ship's cook tends to be the on-board psychiatrist as well, by the way) and mentioned how much this really upset her. I could see why it would; it is an incredibly annoying attitude one should not have to deal with.

I actually had a few situations myself where I faced similar attitudes and so I can completely empathize. I had several encounters with women who seemed to take issue with a young male such as myself being a cook; in fact, when introduced as the ship's cook, two elderly ladies even deemed it appropriate to laugh at me. The older women always assumed my Mom had shown me how to do everything in the kitchen, and they often me asked for "her" recipes, or wanted to give me theirs. It gave me a small taste of the type of discrimination many women have to deal with all the time.

In the end I have left the Picton Castle. While there was a thought that I may be traveling with them around the world in 2005, this is no longer the case. Instead I will continue my travels by other mediums. Yet sailing with the Picton Castle was a very positive experience, which I am glad I was able to participate in. Though I did have a few worrisome observations of experiences the female crew had aboard, as a complete overview I would say that women are well planted in this field of sailing and will continue to do a great job. And hopefully we can convince the rest of the men in the world that indeed females know exactly what they are doing.

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