The crew of the Nina has it a bit easier than the band of conscripted sailors and slaves that made the trans-Atlantic trip with Christopher Columbus in 1492.
While the sailors of old worked and slept on the same wave-lashed deck, the multi-national crew of the modern-day Nina, a nearly exact replica of the original exploring ship, sails the seas of the world by choice and in relative comfort. Crew members, docked at Pillar Point Harbor for five days last week, sleep in cramped-but-dry bunks. They give tours of the ship to visitors from all over the world. They read a lot. And they frequent harbor bars.
"It's fun," said crew member Jake Camp of Eugene, Ore., "but a lot of work."
The 96-and-a-half-foot Nina is the world's most accurate replica (except for an inboard diesel engine) of the world's most famous caravel. The original Nina set sail more than 500 years ago with the blessing of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain on a search for India. Instead, the flotilla landed at a place later called America and the rest - good, bad and ugly - is history.
The replica was built by the Columbus Foundation, a group formed in 1986 to build replicas of all three ships Columbus commanded in his famous voyage - the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria. Because of time and financial restraints, only the Nina was built.
Today the the Nina's small crew operates the ship as a maritime museum and has called in more than 200 ports over the past four years. Crew members hail from all over the world. While at Pillar Point Harbor, the crew was hoping to pick up a cook before setting sail Sunday.
Those who sign on are not in it for the money. Pay starts at about $125 a week. "If you have bills, forget it," Camp said.
For their labors, acting as sailor, deck hand and tour guide, crew members get to see the world from the same perspective of sailors who sailed essentially the same ship half a millenium ago.
When the crew is not at sea or hosting student groups, they spend a lot of time reading or checking out life on shore. One crew member has a surfboard and heads for the beach whenever the surf is up. On Friday, Camp and some shipmates were going to the Bad Otter in Half Moon Bay to check out the coast's nightlife.
Camp said the most important skills crew members have are not nautical, but personal. Although there are only four people working the ship now (six is the norm), the tight quarters can make life on the ship tough if they don't all get along. And even those who have sailing experience must be taught how to sail the Nina because of its unique design.
"Sometimes you get frustrated because of the crew," Camp said. "The most important thing (about working on the ship) is you have to be agreeable."
The ship, hand-made in Brazil, requires non-stop maintenance. Once a month the ship's hand-tooled surfaces are treated with linseed oil and tar is applied every few months to protect the vessel from the ravages of the sea.
Sailing on the Nina is not without controversy. The quincentennial of Columbus' voyage in 1992 was met with protest as much as celebration. In some ports, the crew has met with protests from those who see Columbus' legacy not as one of discovery, but the subjugation of native peoples. In 1992, the ship was prevented from traveling to Canada because of opposition from American Indian groups.
But the Nina's mission, crew members say, is not about preaching the virtues of Columbus, but presenting a piece of the past.
Crew member Kenneth Mata of San Jose, Costa Rica, calls the current distaste for Columbus "ridiculous."
"It's history," he said. "It happened so long ago . . . If it wasn't Columbus it would have been somebody else." And while Spaniards intermarried with those in the New World, another culture might have been less tolerant, he said.
Camp said he understands those who challenge rather than celebrate Columbus, but said he takes a non-biased position on the issue.
"We just tell them the facts from a neutral point of view." At the same time, he adds, "This is part of history that you can't change."