Programs Blog

Wednesday, 08 April, 2026.

Noon Position: (Lat and Long): 18 degrees 22.73’ N, 064 degrees 51.45’ W

Log (nm): 41.8 nm

Weather / Wind / Sail Plan: Sailing under the four lowers, with a shallow reef main

Description of location: Sailing north from St. John

Hello from the main salon below deck, where I am currently munching on crackers and cheeses!

This evening, we will start our first full watch rotations. It’s currently only 4:15p.m., but we must talk in dainty hushed whispers below deck, because some of us are already asleep, preparing for our watches tonight.

Everyone has already had a long day, though. Mine started at 3:50a.m., when Zara kindly woke me up for my anchor watch. I learnt how to do an anchor check and had a refresher on procedures for a boat check! When that was done, I had a little lie-in before being kindly woken up again by Etta for breakfast, and from then it was just go, go, go. We plunged right into a morning of drills, where we learnt and acted out our specific roles in different emergencies – and I finally received an immersion suit that fit me just right, after weeks on shore thinking I was going to die seven times over by drowning because all the suits we had then were too big for me.

After that, there was more ship orientation, which included connecting to the ship network so we can do our science and other fun things like writing this blog, but also learning how to go out onto the head rig to handle sails and climb the rigging on the masts correctly! As a new student/crew member this was very exciting, but as a human being I am also absolutely terrified of heights and have the hand-eye coordination of a sentient walnut. Despite my chittering and trembling and quivering, however, I was able to push on with the encouragement of my watch and the other crew members teaching us how to move around safely. When I descended from the rigging successfully, I truly felt like I could take on any grand challenge in the world! Like maybe actually learning how to ride a bike properly or climbing a small tree.

And so now we’ve raised the anchors and set sail once again, heading away from the Virgin Islands and towards Bermuda. After lunch, Zara, Simon and I formed a little circle of vultures around Sam and hounded him for information about all the ship’s sails and lines, which we hope will dearly assist us in the pin chase that is happening at some unspecified time in an unspecified number of days (I just really don’t know when it is TBH). Seasickness was a big challenge for me yesterday (passed out cold in my bunk for several hours), but now I feel much better and am sitting here writing this for you all to read!

In honour of the information overload we’ve been receiving these past few days as we acclimate to life on the Cramer, I will depart in a gale of pink flower petals with a Poem (think Master Oogway style). This is a haiku about three different meanings of the word “tack,” exactly as Sam described to me this afternoon:

Where the wind comes from

Forward lower sail corner

Sailing maneouvre

And now I must rest and prepare for my dawn watch!

Fair winds, following the seas, and always insisting on British spelling,

Natalie Ng, C Watch

The rigging that we climbed today!

2001: A Space Odyssey is a useful tool in visualizing the four points of a tops’l, as Sam is demonstrating here. It’s also just an enjoyable book to read!