Programs Blog

28 August 2025

Weather/Wind/Sail Plan: Cruising along under the stays’ls

A few days ago Sam claimed that we finally set every sail on the Bobby C, but imagine our surprise when Captain Allison gave the order to unleash the often overlooked storm trys’l. This is, as the name suggests, a sort of alternative to the mains’l for rougher conditions who also happens to be quite good at sailing downwind. And so the sun rose today on a Crew Transit Crew versed in the operation of all our sails, except of course, the course (may she rest in peace).

Today was spent watching for potential propeller-fouling fishing gear among the increasing amount of plastic we’ve encountered within the gyre. Those stationed on forward bow watch are equipped with a radio for quick identification of scary trash. Seeing this amount of waste in the sea has been a bit depressing; being aware of these impacts is one thing, but witnessing such a tangible degradation of a beautiful part of the world is often more acutely saddening. I’m no expert, but I think we should probably stop or something.

In lighter news, we had a passenger join us last night in the form of a tropic bird named Berta, who plopped herself on a deck box and remained entirely unbothered as C watch approached to investigate potential injuries. Operating under the assumption that tropic birds cannot take off from the water (they are in fact perfectly able to do this), we gave her some towels to ease any discomfort and debated the best way to give her water and food. She then proceeded to fall asleep, wait until we stopped fussing about and went to bed ourselves, and flew away in the morning, hopefully suggesting that she was indeed just chilling and did not need our help in any way. Fly high Berta.

Anyway, those are all my updates for now. Keep Berta in your thoughts, and Mom please tell Frankie and Cass I said what’s up. – Jer

-Jeremy, deckhand, C watch