Programs Blog

Friday, 08 May, 2026.

Noon Position: (Lat and Long): 34 degrees 14.4’ N, 069 degrees 15.0’ W

Log (nm): 2511 nm

Weather / Wind / Sail Plan (from 1300 Watch Change): STBD tack close hauled under the four lowers and a shallow reefed mains’l c/o 285 degrees PSC. Wind NxW F4, seas NxW 6’, cloudy skies.

Description of location: Trying to sail north?

We’re less than a week out from completing our sailing track. It’s hard to believe that my entire world has been this little (not really but comparatively) boat and the crew aboard for over a month. What has the rest of the world been up to? I’ll find out soon enough. Since getting on Cramer, my primary thoughts have narrowed to things like my watch group, what the galley is preparing for snack, and “how it is already dawn watch again- I swear we had it yesterday.” It’s been a wild trip of learning how to sail, pipetting zoop goop (zooplankton samples), and goofing off with my watch group. However, life continues and all good things must come to an end. Even though I won’t miss the sound of metal pans and glassware clanking and crashing around on the hutch in the middle of the night, this track will be over far too soon, and (as much as I hate standing dawn watch because I’m never lucid enough to function at those hours) I’ll be reminiscing over these days on the sea with a fond smile and nostalgic heart.

I’m not sure of what to write here. This blog serves as a marker of what we’ve experienced on this ship for the folks at home and any others curious about what a group of college students get up to when sailing a pirate-looking tall ship and doing science at sea (pipetting at 3am in a lab where everything is moving, including you and your seat, is a wild experience). How can I encompass all of the memories I’ve gained since boarding Cramer in St. Croix? The changes I’ve gone through as a friend, shipmate, and person? This trip is a memory I will keep with me until I’m old and withered. The friends I’ve made. The lessons I’ve learned. The laughs I’ve shared.

            I think I’ll keep this blog post a short and sweet one and end it with a list of fun memories I’ve collected on the Cramer (in order of me remembering them as I write this blog).

1.         Seeing dolphins and not-sharks (dogfish?) off the sides of the boat while the sun sets (100/10 colors, I wish I could oil paint them)

2.         Surfing a 15-foot swell with the boat at 2am

3.         Hitting 8 knots of speed with the JT and 4 lowers (my reputation for speed at the helm and on watch continues)

4.         Doing our CNN (Cramer News Network) skit to report on our creature feature, local apparent Friday pep rally, incoming weather, and other fun boat news

5.         Cramer fight club bracket rundown (remember the first rule of fight club…)

6.         Yapping about Red Rising vs Will of the Many with Jakob and co (Will of the Many > Red Rising, no shot)

7.         Swim call and jumping off the bowsprit

8.         Furling the jib with Keya in the INKY PITCH BLACK DARKNESS and the waves touching our boots (I think it was squall territory?)

9.         Getting pelted in the face by sideways rain on evening or dawn watch

10.   Learning cribbage from Liam and Gray

11.   Clue assassinations

12.   Getting drenched in the rescue boat as we go between Bermuda’s dock and Cramer

13.   JWO bonnet and JLO skirt

14.   “Boss is gonna love this” (New Jersey accent required)

15.   Holding a Physalia (aka man o’ war) and numerous jellyfish (very squishy, definitely blue vanilla or lychee flavored respectively)

Lots of conversation starters here, and soon enough we’ll be back on land and answering everyone’s questions on how the trip went. I can only hope we can make at least a little sense about what happened to those at home.

Also a mini-shoutout to Süpi because she’s chilling in the main salon with me while I write this blog 🙂 10/10 hugger and conversation buddy on Cramer.

Cami Nakagawa, A Watch

P.S. Happy belated birthday to Aunty Lori and Hi’imaikalani (I took too long to get this blog out on time… oops)

We found the P(ea) of the sea during class

Yapping on the high seas