School Work or Squall Work?

Courtney “Beans (or Beenz?)” Boucher, B Watch, Deckhand

I'll keep this short and sweet because I only have 20 minutes until dinner which will be closely followed by a busy evening watch, bringing December 17th to a close. I'm chugging some coffee and wearing long pants below decks for the first time on C306, and now that Halloween has passed it's beginning to feel like the winter holiday season for the first time. It's a mere 23 degrees Celsius and very damp- frigid!

Pre mains'l strike, post jib furl in the rain.

Today, I happily got demolished by a squall. I stood on deck, foulies nowhere to be seen, along with shipmates in varying layers of waterproof clothing, and watched as rain line after rain line came for our home. We had eased the mainsheet, struck the jib, turned downwind, then struck the mains'l  to prepare for the gusts, or downdrafts, that come with squalls. It was just past 1430, our daily all-hands muster time on the quarter deck, so all souls on board were gathered to lend a hand or to learn a bit more about squall theory! Yes, the class that closely follows that daily all-hands muster was cut short due to students working and playing on deck, but as Anna put it, "You might only get one chance to watch a squall come for you on the open ocean, but you can study any time!"

Edit: After standing the above mentioned evening watch, I can confirm with enthusiasm that it was, in fact, busy.

This shout-out goes to SEA's biggest social media fan, Soph!! I misss you:)

[Courtney "Beans (or Beenz?)" Boucher, B Watch, Deckhand]