Programs Blog

October 27, 2024

Location: Fijian waters

Weather: “Fancy” (see below)

Hello, my name is Quinn Bausch. I’m a third-year at Grinnell College. I’m currently studying Biology and Music as a double major. Things have been busy here on the Seamans.

For me, the time at sea so far has been almost exactly as expected from back on shore. It can be hard work, but it can be incredibly gratifying to finish your watch and sleep like the dead in a cramped bunk. We’ve been underway for a while now and still there are things to learn and habits to practice. Yesterday, I was instructed on how to do ”the fancy weather,” a more detailed form of our hourly weather reports that then gets sent off to “meteorology nerds” back on solid land that will send us back detailed weather reports. These reports are also a form of intra- and extra-vessel competition. Almost all the vessels in the Pacific that participate in this data submission are ranked on their frequency of submission, and all the watches on board the Seamans are competing against each other to submit the most fancy weather reports.

Sometime in the next couple days, the pin chase will take place. This is a competition between the three student watches to accurately locate all the different lines of the ship’s rigging. This competition is more important to some than others. My watch, B watch, is in charge of sail handling during onboard emergencies so it may help to be knowledgeable of sail lines. I think that I have enough experience setting and striking sails, with some prior small boat experience, that I know my lines pretty well.

I really enjoy my watch times, provided the conditions aren’t miserable, and the company is always pleasant. The other people on B Watch laugh at my jokes sometimes, and that’s all I could ever ask for. I guess they’re my friends, too. The work doesn’t seem so tedious when there’s good people around. I would even go as far to say that the human part of this experience is the most valuable, to me at least. This voyage is the type of life experience that is shared by such a small minority of people, and the thought of explaining this experience to someone who wasn’t there seems daunting. My perception of the world outside is one of ignorance, that somehow no one will understand, but I know the others on this ship will.

On a less serious note, I feel that I’ve had a great amount of artistic motivation while onboard the Seamans. Whenever I have the time, I’ll set up on the lab top (the roof of the lab) or the quarter deck and run through my guitar practice exercises. I downloaded a couple good jazz practice routines before we left Woods Hole and have been getting some good use out them.

Things are good here.

Thank you to my family for providing me the opportunity to be here and now, and to all my friends who have ever stopped to wonder how I’m doing.