And so begins our journey

Kevin Murray, Captain

We are underway! This is the moment the crew has been looking forward to for days, weeks, months or years! The crew is broken up into Staff and Students but we are all becoming one community. It has been wonderful to see everyone jumping into our work together.

Here is how our day started: Cat and Gracie set us up for success this morning with a delicious meal of pancakes and fresh fruit. Following breakfast, we rolled right into emergency drills. We charged our 2 fire hoses and gave everyone a turn being in control of the nozzle.

B watch is in charge of sail handling during drills and got to be the first watch to set a sail! (The forestaysail or forestays’l) Once we completed our drills, it was time to prepare to get underway! Each student was paired up with a staff member and given a specific role.

Getting a 134’ brigantine off the dock requires some specific choreography and the crew of S307 performed well. A half hour after that, we were clearing the final channel marker for Papeete harbor, Ben is on A watch and was the first student to take a turn at the helm. Evan and Shay helped to quickly get our fishing lines out as well.

I have been thoroughly impressed by the crew’s diligence and curiosity. The student’s efforts during the shore component and remote shore component are really paying off.

Next up: star gazing in the South Pacific!

Kevin Murray, Captain of the SSV Robert C. Seamans

P.S. Hi Bonny, Mom, Grandpa and anyone else that might be reading this back home!