Programs Blog

Sailing, Science, and Soaking up the Sun with C Watch

July 31, 2023
Science deployments

July 28, 2023

Cole, Ayman, Wilkes, and Victoria – C Watch

Ship’s Log

Noon Position
42*29.5’N x 070*15.4’W

Ship Heading
115 degrees

Ship Speed 
1 

Log (nm)
133

Weather / Wind / Sail Plan
Skies clear and warm / NNW Beaufort Force 1 / Four lowers

Description of location
Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary

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We got a wakeup at 0600 for breakfast and morning watch. Ayman feels like waking up early in the morning to do manual work is different than ‘normal life.’ It feels like it gets you in a healthy schedule and you get in a morning workout. He likes it! The first thing we did when we got on watch was gybe, so we got to pass all the sails. We had a busy watch of sail handling – we struck and furled the jib tops’l, set the tops’l, and struck and furled the mains’l. We all liked getting to go out on the head rig to furl, but it was also a little scary to be so far out in the net. We also did a lot in science! We did three deployments. First, we were trying to see how deep the light could penetrate into the ocean using a Secchi desk, and we collected bets from all the awake crew to see how deep the light level would be. Most people were way too optimistic and thought it would be way deeper, but it was only 4.5 meters, so this water is very murky and productive! Then we did a free CTD deployment which measures temperature, salinity, oxygen and chl-a fluorescence. We also did a phytoplankton net, which is a really fine net that we threw overboard (while tied off to the ship) and it collected all the fine stuff and phytoplankton. It smelled like a fishery when we pulled it back up. During the deployment, we saw a mola mola which hung out by the ship for 15 minutes. It looked very derpy.

On deck, Cole stood lookout, sail handled, did boat checks, and steered the ship for over an hour. He really likes steering the ship because he finds you have to be precise and focused to stay on course. In the galley, Victoria did so many dishes. She also got to help cut veggies and make morning snack. Wilkes reported that after spending the day with the engineers he realized that the boat is very safe and has a lot of redundancies. He was impressed with all the work they do The weather was overcast in the morning, but by mid-morning it was really hot and sunny. The wind died down and by the end of watch, we were bobbing around even with the sails up. At the end of watch, we had the best lunch of refreshing Mediterranean food – falafel, tzatziki , and quinoa salad. In the afternoon,there was no wind, the seas were calm, and it got hot, so Captain Ryan and Chief Sci Kelsey called off class and we had a swim call. We got to swim off the side of the ship and even jump off the headrig. It was a great day! Cole, Ayman, Wilkes, and Victoria – C WatchP.S. – Lance says, “Hi Mom, I’m wearing sunscreen!”

C and A watch furling the mains’l