Programs Blog

Back to sailing to Napier, but on a very clean ship!

November 29, 2023
Nightly sunsets and journaling with Aly, Cricket, and Jess (photo credit: Sam)

Author: Cricket Cannell, Dartmouth College

Ship’s Log

Wednesday, 29 November 2023Current Position: 35° 58.475’ S x 175° 32.309’ EShip’s Heading and Speed: 100.2° true at 4 knots.Weather: Beautiful clear blue skies.

Kia Ora from the Hauraki Gulf! This morning the Bobby C. awoke in a calm bayoff Great Barrier Island (some students mentioned that they had slept worselast night without the rocking and bumping of the boat that we’ve becomeaccustomed to). After a groggy breakfast of cereal and bananas, we startedField Day —the deep clean of the boat. Pots and pans were scrubbed up ondeck, heads were thoroughly bleached, trash cans were emptied, soles(floors) were swept and mopped, wood surfaces were cleaned and polisheduntil the whole ship shined. We fueled up with some wraps and leftovers. In the galley, there was muchdiscussion of the greyish color of the roast beef cold cuts, but they wereheartily demolished by the hungry students. From there, A Watch took over ondeck as we set sail again to leave Great Barrier Island and head for Napier.Many sails were set, including the elusive raffee, dolphins made theirtypical late afternoon appearance, and the layout of over seventy lines ondeck was studied in preparation for our “pin chase” line identifying racetomorrow. After a dinner of soup, focaccia, and salad (a staple for theearly days of seasickness), B Watch took over for the 1900 to 0100 shift.As today’s Student Steward (aka Stu Stew), I spent the day in the galley. Iwas woken at 5:45 to begin the culinary art of setting out cereal boxes andlaying out cold cuts and tortillas. I spent the afternoon choppingvegetables and chatting with the Stewards, Ashley and Morgan. If I decide tobecome a hermit to society, I think I would be very happy as a steward on asailboat. Having started settling into a ship routine, S-312 is learningloads each day. We’re starting to be able to gybe without much instructionfrom the crew, watch changeover has reached a smooth flow, and boat checks –even crawling around the depths of the engine room – has become almostsecond nature. After much anticipation, my classmates and I can confirm thatwe chose the right way to spend our fall semesters.Love,Cricket Cannell (Dartmouth College)P.S. A few notes to the outside world:Mom, Dad and Evie: Happy belated Thanksgiving and happy belated birthday,Dad! Hurts my heart to have not spent it with you, but I know you have happythoughts of me out on the sea. Being here makes me think of Petepop a lot,his connection to S.E.A. and the photo of him smoking a cigar on a sailboat.Also, I have yet to feel seasick, so you can cast out nightmares of mehurling off the stern from your mind. Can’t wait to squeeze you three inWebberginny.Meredith: I miss you terribly. I got to read your third letter today(origami!) which, as always, is a rose for the day. We’ve eaten a lot offocaccia here, so I’m raring to make some with you in Roch. ADIDAS (all dayI dream about slithering).