Programs Blog

Tuesday, 3 June, 2025
Noon Position: (Lat and Long): 41 23.8’N x 070 51.3’W
Ship Heading (degrees): NA – presently anchored
Ship Speed (knots):  NA – presently anchored
Log (nm): 36.6 nautical miles (nm)
Weather / Wind / Sail Plan (from 1300 Watch Change): NA – presently anchored
Description of location: Anchored in Menemsha Bight, Martha’s Vineyard

After a night of 1-hour watch shifts, we were treated to an exceptional breakfast of cornbread, bananas, yogurt, and sausage. Afterward we prepared to get underway! We prepped the sails by taking off the covers, removed the fenders that were needed while docked, and coiled any stray lines. At 1000 hours, we shoved off. After hauling (and easing) several different lines, the collective student body set the main staysail, the forestaysail, and the topsail. With that, our pirate ship of a vessel sailed out of the dock and into the open sea.

While underway, students had a good amount of downtime. Many of us spent some of that time on the head rig. It was quite breezy out there and one would recommend a good windbreaker to accompany. In between our downtime we had lessons of drill running and working the sails. The drills we ran were man over board, fire, and prepared to abandon ship. During the abandon ship drill, we went to our assigned watch areas and donned our survival suits or a.k.a. – the lobster suits. The survival suits provide excellent protection from the elements while giving the best new street wear called “looking lobster”. AM snack consisted of absolutely delicious zucchini bread, and PM snack was chips and salsa.

In the afternoon we anchored in Menemsha Bight, on Martha’s Vineyard, and on our way in we
had to scramble to take down all of the set sails and drop the anchor. After the anchor was set we had a delicious meal of chicken parmesan and asparagus for dinner. Throughout the night we had 2 hour watch shifts, ending at 0700 hours. Each shift was responsible for hourly boat checks, lab checks and weather reports, and checking the anchor every half hour.

Favorites parts of the day:
Noah: looking at plankton – zooplankton (comb jellies and the other numerous tiny animals) phytoplankton. 
Jack: running the sails.
Charlotte: helping with the sails and sitting on deck.

Tessa, Violet, and Charlotte, A Watch