Programs Blog

Posy LaBombard, QUACH (C-watch), Mount Holyoke College

Ship’s Log

Noon Position
31 degrees 15 minutes 86 seconds X 071degrees 04 minutes 88 seconds

Ship Heading
075

Ship Speed
4kn

Taffrail Log
688.9 nm

Weather / Wind / Sail Plan
Starboard tack close reach, sailing under mains’l, mainstays’l, forestays’l, jib. Wind SSE, cold front approaching.

Description of location
International waters within the Bermuda Triangle

Souls on Board

Ahoy from the Bermuda Triangle! It’s about 17:30 as I’m writing this and swells are picking up (12 feet!!) as a cold front moves in. I’m excited to be on watch tonight because it is impossible to sleep when the boat is rocking this much.

The moon the other night (not the moon rainbow)

It’s crazy to think that we’ve already been on board for almost two weeks- the watch schedules and packed days make the time fly. It’s been a blast learning how to keep this boat moving. I finally had the “aha” moment a few days ago where I realized that I know a lot more than I thought. The first week and a half I was confused and lost at where to go, what line to grab, what sail was what. On Saturday something clicked, and now I understand the whole picture a lot better. I think a lot of us have had these moments over the last week or so, and it feels amazing. I honestly didn’t think I’d be familiar with the ten sails and nearly 100 lines this soon.

Yesterday we had a little talent show-like activity to celebrate Easter called a “Swizzle”. It was a fun opportunity to showcase the crews’ talents and humor. Maeve and I led a game of Sardines and had a killer hiding spot in the sail loft. Emmi had her own version of Jeopardy filled with weird facts and some of her funny opinions, Bella and Marin sang a song in a strange way, and we had a nice broken sing-along.

So far, the Bermuda Triangle has only taken our wrist watches-several have mysteriously stopped working… I am holding my breath until we are safely out.  So far I’ve seen dolphins, tuna, frogfish, shrimp, bioluminescent zooplankton, nudibranchs, birds, and a moon rainbow. The moon rainbow was absolutely incredible.

Doodle I hope you are getting a good handle on my summer plans and hi to Baxter. I am loving the sea life and might be doing this for a bit.

– Posy LaBombard, QUACH (C-watch), Mount Holyoke College

Contact: Douglas Karlson, Director of Communications, 508-444-1918 | [email protected]