Programs Blog

Author: John, Sonia, Calliope, and Giada (“B” Watch)

Ship’s Log

Friday, July 19th, 2024
Position (Lat and Long): 40°56’N x 068°37’W
Log (nm): 309.1 nm
Weather / Wind and Sail Plan: Motor sailing at 5.2 knots  with stays’ls  and
main s’l, SW wind: force 1,
Description of where we are sailing: Georges Bank

“B” Watch started off the morning with a 1 AM wake up! In the beautiful dark
of night, they ventured out on to the bowsprit to untie the sails and
harness the winds in the 10 ft swells. As the sun rose, dolphins paid the
tired sailors a morning visit. At 7 AM, “C” Watch took the reins and
relieved “B” Watch from their duties. Breakfast included eggs, bacon,
sausage, and blueberries. Between 7 AM and 13:00, “C” Watch spotted pilot
whales on the horizon. The marine mammal sightings did not stop!
Additionally, we picked up a new crewmate, our count off expands to 25! Her
name is Beluga, and she is a finch far away from home. She joined all three
watches for class at 14:30, where they learned about how to set the raffee.
The highlight of the class was “B” Watch’s gorgtastic nav report. In the
afternoon, “A” Watch dove into some science. For dinner, the crew enjoyed
some delicious lasagna, before “B” Watch returned to the deck for the night
shift. Both on and off watch sailors enjoyed a beautiful sunset, accompanied
by more dolphins.

Today was a busy day in the lab. “A” Watch deployed the neuston net
to collect zooplankton sample. They also deployed the phytoplankton net, a
shipek, a secchi disc (Ada correctly guessed the sunlight depth once
again!), a CTD, and a hydrophone to listen for whales. Various watches also
examined samples under the microscope to search for various plankton
species. Before the night ends, “B” watch will conduct some more deployments
and will examine a few more samples. They hope to find 100 different
creatures .

Overall, today was full of marine mammals, capped off by a beautiful
sunset. The watches are also beginning to memorize the lines, as they hope
to win the pinrail chase at the end of the trip.

All being said, it was a dolphin of a day!

John, Sonia, Calliope, and Giada (“B” Watch)