News

Thursday, 09 October 2026
Noon Position:41 deg 31.4’ N x 070deg 40.3’W
Ship Heading:NA – Alongside Dyers Dock
Ship Speed: NA – Alongside Dyers Dock
Log: 0.0 nm
Weather / Wind / Sail Plan  Mostly sunny, warm. Great for our afternoon swim call!
Alongside Dyers Dock in Woods Hole, MA

Oh my goodness, what a day.  We have been busy from sun-up to sun-down!  Final day of preparations and training before we set sail for the high seas.  I am excited to report that students began their training in the lab, learning how to deploy some of our equipment (surface bucket and phytoplankton net), as well as processing water samples for chlorophyll-a analysis. Students were hands-on all day today.   

Additional training saw students climbing out onto the headrig (forward netting at the bow of the ship) to furl the jib nice and tidy. And finally, students learned their responsibilities individual during three potential emergency scenarios:  Man-Over-Board (MOB drill), Fire/Flooding, and Abandon Ship.  This is called the Watch Quarter Station Bill (WQSB). After talking through various scenarios and the part they play, Captain Sean ran us through all the drills discussed that morning. Nearly all students had a chance to operate the fire hoses, some sails were set and struck, the small rescue boat was ‘launched’ and emergency gear tested. 

In the afternoon there was a brief tour of Woods Hole and a visit to the Rachel Carson statue where our Blue Humanities professor Maria Jose Fernandez (MJ) led a mindfulness exercise with students. Then we celebrated the natural world by having a swim call at a Stony Beach. So named, possibly, to keep tourists away because it is actually quite a nice, sandy beach?!?!

Believe it or not, all that in one day.  And all this hard work has paid off…. the students are now prepared to go sailing and take responsibility for the Watch.  Tomorrow, we head out to sea!   

Cheers,

Chief Scientist – Jeffrey M. Schell

P.S. From here on out students will be writing these blogs, so stay tuned!