Programs Blog

Saturday, March 15th, 2025

Position:  41° 48.675 ‘ s / 174 ° 57.032 ’ E

Ship Heading: 070° / Log: 1627 NM

Ship Speed: 6.60 knots

Wind Speed: 20 knots

Hello to all the readers at home. It is Eamonn again, today we said good bye to the amazing city of Wellington. My morning actually started at 0100 (1 a.m.) because of our anchor watch schedule. It was only a one hour shift though so it wasn’t any trouble. The watch was peaceful, a casual peak outside to check fender and dock lines was all it took. Karma and Madi wrote the night orders and were kind enough to leave a splendid would you rather. It read “would you rather be Craig on the helm? Or would you rather be Eric controlling the small boat”. I know this might not mean a lot to you readers but this is an extremely thought provoking question. I will say I was pretty exhausted during that whole watch and I even missed breakfast for an extra hour later that morning. After morning muster around 0830 on the quarter deck I spent my next hour and 15 minutes of freedom wandering around aimlessly on the boat debating going to a convenience store to get an energy drink or coffee. I finally came to the conclusion to call my partner Olivia. Despite the conversation the yearn for caffeine did not go away during my call. Madi was nearby also on the phone so I asked if she would walk with me due to the “no walking alone rule”. The two of us wandered around a few blocks searching for an open store while holding two separate conversations which I think was kind of silly. Since it is Saturday nothing was open and we had to get to the boat to depart anyway which resulted in boat coffee.

            We split up into the three watches and began our departure. Untying dock lines 1-4 which I’m pretty sure was led by mate Fredi and Captain Sean, (it has been a long day). Most of my time was spent coiling said dock lines and tending an emergency fender just in case our bow wanted to swing back towards the dock as we were angling away. Once we had enough room we through the engine on and that was that. Out of wellington harbor we went. Eventually I was able to stand down and eat lunch which was hot dogs. Since I missed breakfast I demolished 3 which did not really rejuvenate me but rather cause me to slouch in my seat with a full belly.

            Once we turned over with B watch it was Madi’s turn to be JWO. With Madi in charge I was thrown up to look out until we gybed. To gybe we had to pretty much do a 180 and pass the stays’ls from starboard to port and then back when we would have to gybe a second time later on. This was because we had northerly winds and instead of having the wind at our backs we put it around our beam. This is because we have a designated science station to get too that if we passed would cause us to have to go up wind. All in all we were basically stalling until A watch took the deck where they would also gybe and eventually arrive at the science station where they will “rip a nuesty”(our nickname for the neuston net tow).  The wind today was pretty strong which caused some to get a little sick after being on land for 4 days. I am currently staying strong but we will see. Despite the bouncy conditions today was a good day. We saw 2 whales only a few boat lengths off our bow this afternoon as well.

            I am now currently falling asleep as I type so good night or good morning or good afternoon.

Eamonn Rougvie, C Watch, Lawrence University

Shout outs!

Shout out all the family and friends we all miss you.

Shout out pixar films, I miss watching those.

Photos:

“A skyline view of Wellington”. The Robert C Seamans can be seen under the thick telephone wire where the water meets the dock. Look for the two masts.