Programs Blog

Author: Tiegan Paulson, B Watch, College of the Atlantic ’25

Ship’s Log

February 27, 2024

Position: South of Cape Palliser

Speed: 6 knots

Log: 1103nm

Weather: Wind Force 4-6 out of the North, clear skies all day. Seas 4′, primarily northerly.

Heyas,

Only a few places have stolen my sense of time and the Robert C. Seamans is
one of them. Things that happened yesterday meld into the confused timeline
of the last ten days. Suddenly the deck log feels a lot more important; I
wouldn’t have any idea how far we’ve come. The world would revolve entirely
around the first minute of On Board, a song which hasn’t left my head since
we left Auckland. I’m thoroughly and unfortunately sick of it. Unfortunate,
because I love the song – but hopefully will be able to come back to it when
I’ve been able to sit with other melodies.

That aside life is good. We entered the Cook Strait proper today
and have been on the southeast edge of it since about 0900. The wind whipped
up to a solid Beaufort Force 6 soon after that remained until this afternoon
when things finally settled down. Seeing the strait so alive was a real
treat, even if it limited our canvas. We made our science deployments,
plotted our way southwest.

By far the highlight of my day was completing my first
successful sextant measurement. At 10:54:32, Log distance 1076 nautical
miles, I successfully ‘shot’ the sun at 41o 48.0′ from the horizon. I still
haven’t done the math to calculate the exact position, but knowing that the
shot was accurate is exciting. With any luck we’ll continue to have clear
days so I can keep practicing. Major props to 2nd Mate Charlotte for
patiently walking me through the process despite several goofy mistakes. The
next steps from here are to reference the suns ‘geographic position’ at the
exact time I made the shot and use the angle to get a circle of potential
positions on the globe. What I still don’t understand is how you narrow it
down from there, which means what I currently understand doesn’t help me
understand a whole lot, but hey – you have to start somewhere. I’ve gotten
through step one!

Tucking in for the night, I’ll be the student steward tomorrow!
Get ready, world, here comes my cooking.

Tiegan Paulson, B Watch, College of the Atlantic ’25

https://sea.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2.27-2small.jpg