Programs Blog

Author: Emily McFarland, A-Watch, Lawrence University

Ship’s Log

Noon Position
05°36.719’ N, 161°56.285’ W

Ship Heading
210 Degrees

Ship Speed (knots)
3 knts

Taffrail Log
1222 nm

Weather / Wind / Sail Plan (from 1300 Watch Change)
Cloudy skies but don’t let that fool you, wear your sunscreen! We’re close to the equator. Sailing under the stays’ls and the jib.

Location
So close to Palyma! We’ll reach land at 0900 tomorrow morning.

Souls on Board

We’re so close! We just got permission today to dock at Palmyra tomorrow a few days earlier than our original anticipated arrival. I have watch tomorrow morning and it’s going to be a busy one, getting ready to head on land. While we’re all ready to get there, today was a fairly normal day at sea. After evening watch last night I slept in, missed breakfast, and got up around midmorning. I spent most of the morning up on deck working on a friendship bracelet. Unfortunately, somehow I burnt the inside of my knees.

(Seriously, don’t forget sunscreen! AND reapplying, the equator sun is powerful. I’ve got a great watch tan going on right now). At 1130, we had our first watch meeting with our new mate and scientist for the second phase of the voyage. I’m very excited for the next two weeks! It’s the shadowing phase meaning that during each watch, someone will get the chance to shadow either the mate or the scientist to learn more about their thought process on watch and why we do the things that we do. (i.e. why do we set or strike the sails we do and when?).

During the meeting we went around and talked about the things from the previous two weeks that we were proud and the things we are looking forward to in the coming weeks. I was really proud about how quickly I was able to pick up and understand the things that we had to do on watch. I’m never sailed before, so being out at SEA on the Seamans is way out of my realm and I was a little nervous that everything would fly over my head. Thankfully that hasn’t been the case! Overall I found myself grasping the concepts and steps a lot easier than I expected.

And I’m looking forward to being able to apply the things we’ve learned over the past two weeks. During this phase, we’re left to be more independent and utilize the skills we gained.

During class this afternoon we had our lab practical. I was a little nervous as I had only been in lab a few times, but I think it went a lot better than I was expecting! Speaking of lab, I was in lab this afternoon with Maija and Leen! We had a good time processing a meter net and a neuston net tow. Plus we found some very cool organisms including an amphipod, and a bunch of heteropods – some of the shells which are flat and see through and some adult ones. Anna thought us a neat trick to the pteropod swirl; use a spoon to create the swirl. It’s easier than trying to create one by moving the bucket around. These past few weeks have flown by, and I’m excited to see what we’ll learn in the next two from Tierney and Anna!

All in all I had really good day and CANNOT wait for tomorrow! I’m sure you’ll hear all about it soon 🙂 P.S. Don’t worry Mom; I’ll take LOTS of photos! Love and miss you guys.

Please keep sending me photos of Louie; I want to see them when I’m back in Hawai’i in a month!

• Emily McFarland, A-Watch, Lawrence University

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