Programs Blog

Stella, C-Watch, Claremont McKenna College

Ship’s Log

Noon Position

03° 10.0 ’N x 127° 19.0 ’W

Ship Heading

235°

Speed 

7kts

Taffrail Log

2284nm

Wind, Weather and Sail Plan

Sailing on a port tack under single- reefed main, stays’ls, and jib. C/O Full and by. Wind SE, F4.

Description of Location

2297 nm east of the Galapagos Islands!

Souls on Board

All blogs from S-305

It’s a Monday but not really. We are all still in the middle of the Pacific Ocean having the time of our lives.

Training Aloft (Henry, Parker, Katie, Morgan, Izzy).

My Monday consisted of the following…

0937 Woke up. I got to sleep in today because yesterday I was Stu Stew (student steward) learning from Jackie and Paul, our incredible stewards!

The rest of my watch (C WAAATCH) had evening watch.

1000 Got a snack and some tea and went to the quarterdeck. I stretched my toes and felt the sun on my face. I love the way I interact with the elements and weather out here. It is such a good practice for me to stay grounded and to sit with being uncomfortable during those cold rainy or sweltering times on watch and really allows me to overwhelmingly appreciate times when the sun and the stars are out.

1010 I chat for a bit with some friends on other watches. I do some sketching during, something I haven’t done a lot of in my land life, but here I find is a really nice relaxing outlet. I find myself having lots of time for journaling, reading, and sketching on the boat.

1125 We have a watch meeting (C-WAAAATCH) with our watch officers, Jordan and Charlotte, and talk about how we are doing, appreciations, goals, values, all the good stuff. This is really valuable time for me, to reflect individually and as a group.

1222 Lunch time. Killer Rice Noodle Stir Fry by Jackie, Paul, and Stu Stew for the day, Henry.

1249 I’m in lab for today’s watch. I get there to have watch turnover with the watch before ours. We hear a bit about what they were up to (a morning deployment!) and we hear our own to do list.

1300 Espy, Lexi, and I jump in to start processing samples for Chl-a and for alkalinity in the lab. Pipetting is a little trickier with swells. I guess that’s lab on a boat for you!

1600 Class time! Dangerous times. Bird poop galore. We have our daily navigation and science reports. We only have 2 degrees until the equator! I discuss haircuts with those around me… As is tradition for sailors to shave their heads when crossing the equator for the first time (apparently to offer up to King Neptune), many will be following suit or at least getting a haircut of some sort. I am trying to decide between shaving my hair off or getting a mullet. Please send messages in the stars to help me decide.

1615 We then all work on our group research projects. Rikki, Katie, and I have our mentor meeting with one of our chief scientists Vero, where we ask some questions and finalize our plan for the rest of the trip! We are studying mixed layer depth and primary productivity (using Chl-a abundance as a proxy, which I just processed in lab before).

1847 We help strike the Mains’l with the on-deck folks in our watch! But only to add some cars to the mast, add the deep reef, and set the Mains’l again.

1850 We start to haul away on the main but then whale spotting! Make fast the Halyard! Everyone jumps to the quarterdeck to look, we see some fins and then come back to finish setting the Mains’l. Many hands still don’t make light work as Nate and Morgan and Captain Kevo all try out some different chants to help us pull to (involving ducks, dinner, etc., nothing is out of the question).

1900 Watch is over! We turnover and head down for some dinner. I spy a sunset out of a porthole.

1941 It’s local apparent Friday today because C-Watch doesn’t have evening or dawn watch so a few people play cards or stick around, eating our Mid-Rats (midnight rations) early.

2100 I journal for a bit and read (Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia by Christina Thompson, assigned for class, trying to finish before we get to the first port stop!) in my bunk. Someone comes by to tell me there are bioluminescent jellyfish in the water. Be right back.

And now – to end this blog post, I will leave you with a haiku from the collection written in the lab… Mr. 305 T-minus 6 days til shave It’s Mr. Worldwide

Tata for now,

Stella, C-Watch, Claremont McKenna College P.S. Happy Birthday Mom! <3

P.P.S. From Keeghan:

To Mom, Trampess, Dad, Andrea, ALL 7 of my siblings, Tynon, and Cali – Love and miss you all!