A tall ship adventure aboard the Bark EUROPA

The American Sail Training Association welcomes Matthew Maples back into the blogosphere fold. We are pleased to announce that he will be living and sailing on board the Dutch sail training ship, Europa, from Bermuda to Charleston, Boston and Halifax. In addition to being a part of the crew, Matt will be contributing frequently to the blog A Young Man and the Sea:  A summer of high seas adventure aboard the tall ship EUROPA allowing readers to live vicariously through his writing and amazing photographs.

Read the first blog entry and read Matt’s bio by clicking on the page tab  “SAILING EUROPA” above, or by going to the following address www.tallshipsailing.wordpress.com.  Be sure to sign up to recieve email updates! You don’t want to miss a moment of this tall ship adventure!

Cool breezes as VIRGINIA heads home

From ASTA Intern Amelia….

     Thursday on the 12 to 4 a.m. watch we had 9 knots of speed but still some seasickness.  The students worked hard to fill the rotations of helm, lookout, rough log and boat check.  My rotation was rough log, so I walked the students through determining course ordered, course steered, wind direction and speed, sea direction and height, cloud type, and air temperature.  It was a little challenging explaining wind and sea direction in the dark, but the students worked hard and powered through.  Getting them through the rough log, I may have built more character than the students that watch, Ms. Cole joked, as I stopped to grab some water.

     Later that day, there was great excitement during our afternoon watch when
dolphins appeared.  There were not just one or two, but eight dolphins jumping and twirling around in the ship’s wake.  Some were speckled, others gray in color. Soonafter, we caught a Mahi Mahi on the fishing line, and student Zach cut it up for us.

    After rounding Cape Fear, Cape Lookout and finally Cape Hatteras, the seas have calmed and left us with a steady wind.  It was wonderful to wake up to a cool afternoon breeze instead of sweltering heat, and you could see it in the smiles of the students how big of a difference it made.  With seasickness lessening, students have started building leadership as Junior Watch Officers (J-WO).  The J-WO organizes the watch and leads rotations, making sure tasks are completed on time.

     During watch, Ms. Cole (1st Mate) led lessons on dead reckoning, and the students have picked it up quickly and incorporated it into their rough
log.  Instead of using the GPS to determine our position and plotting it on the chart, students read our nautical miles traveled on the taff rail and log it into the rough log.  Combining the distance traveled with the course steered, students then plot our position on the chart using this “dead reckoning” method.  On the watch change every four hours the watch leader plots our GPS position.

     When not on watch, students have been learning their knot tying, compass points, aloft safety and rigging in order to be cleared to go aloft.  It has
been great to see the students helping to teach each other as they pick up more and more information.  Their goal is to see the July 4th fireworks aloft in Norfolk!

Race Four Update – Day 4

As we head into the long holiday weekend, here are the most recent standings from Race Four:

“Are you Nelly?”

    “Are you Nelly?,” the voice asked as I woke up and to be quite honest, I wasn’t sure. “It’s time for your anchor watch,” she said.

      ”My what?” I thought. I had no idea where I was, I put together that I was on a boat because the red light from the chart room was glowing into my bunk and I have been living on one ship or another for the last month.

      When I remembered that I was on the Schooner Virginia anchored out in Charleston Harbor, I realized I had fallen asleep in all my clothes so all I had to do was fetch my shoes and my glasses as I headed up on deck. I was still a bit dazed as I whacked my knee on the ladder, loudly announcing my presence on deck where I met Nate, the deckhand, and three students. Nate had them show me the landmarks we were taking bearings to and brief me a bit on an anchor watch. This is when I realized that I had slept through the crew muster that night but anchor watch was a breeze. We checked our position and bearings to makes sure the ship stayed in place and was safe before we were relieved after an hour.

      It’s been interesting being an intern deckhand onboard as I find myself both learning alongside the students as well as teaching them. Early the next morning, we hauled the anchor and set sail out of Charleston and it was all hands as each watch completed their chore for the day, cleaning the ship from top to bottom. After lunch, C watch, my watch, took the deck. As the day went on, the students held up very well. The first day is always daunting because your whole world is turned upside down as you now share a space the size of a three bedroom house with 23 other people. Even in off watch, students were learning knots and lines, many doing so to obtain their aloft clearance. After a short class on sail theory, Casey, our educator, led charades (with flip flops and a giant ladle as props). Before we started we took a tally to see who had booted the most that day and Melanie outshone her fellow competitors with twelve times. The best part is she is also the student with the biggest smile on her face.

      In my continuing schooner education, I went aloft to help sea stow the main gaff topsail – a sail that still feels very new to me. There’s not much space up there for two people to stow it and the Virginia definitely has a narrower ladder than I am used to so it was a touch scary. But going aloft never disappoints. The sun was setting and even in the rolling seas I was very glad to have gone up.

      Today, Amory had been sick all morning and was immovable from the leeward side. I brought him some crackers and was able to convince him to help me with the rough log, where we record our position, and sea and weather conditions. Most of it we could do on deck, so I let him stay on deck as I went to record what we had collected. When I came up the ladder, he was resting his head on his arm right outside the opening. “Amory?” I asked.  “Eighty seven,” he responded. He is the youngest on board and had revisited everything he had eaten in the last twelve hours and still remembered to get the temperature, even when I had forgotten. That made my day.

 -Nelly

At sea on Schooner VIRGINIA

Nelly and Amelia are both on board Schooner Virginia for this leg, the first time they have sailed together this series. Keep reading for Amelia’s update from the ship.

Race Four Update – Day Three

After a wet start, the vessels are underway and sailing toward Boston. I hope the weather is better at sea than it is here in Newport! Torrential rain, thunder and lightning are on tap for the rest of the week.  Aaah, New England in the summer. Here are the overall standings (on corrected time) for the race as of this morning:

A little rain never hurt anyone…especially a sailor

It was a wet and wooley race start out there on the ocean tonight. I am still swaying from all the bumping and tossing our 30ft Dory took.  The race participants are on their way to Boston along with Jennifer, our Operations Coordinator on Spirit of Bermuda, Nelly and Amelia on Virginia, and Matt on Europa.

Acrobats, Drums and Air Shows

Jolie Brise_Amelia Smith

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was great to come into Charleston aboard Schooner Virginia on Thursday, sailing in with an amazing harbor view of the tall ships that had already arrived.  We arrived in the late afternoon, and after dropping sail, tied up near Tecla.  After a long voyage at sea, Virginia celebrated with a crew dinner in town.  We spent the evening walking around the quaint and historical city of Charleston, and though it is hot and humid, nights sleeping on deck have been cool and comfortable.

An international soiree in Charleston

Nelly

                Amelia and I went to the International Soiree last night.  The set up was perfect, they had food, refreshment and music set up along the dock with all the Class A ships open and festively lit.  The Capitan Miranda was one of the ships hosting the public and was having a private reception on the aft lower deck.  The crew was gathered on the bow playing music and dancing. They had drums, whistles and were occasionally accompanied by the ship’s horn.  There wasn’t enough of a breeze to match the heat even at ten at night.  As the crew danced with their drums, people watching from the dock danced and clapped along.  With all the cleats and eyes on the deck, the dance floor was a bit small but the crew made it work without tripping on the gear. 

The chocolate pancake dance

From Nelly…

Nelly up in rigging putting Penetrol on the foremast to prevent chafing

As we sailed out of Hamilton and around the island to the start of Race Three,  we were joined by hundreds of yachts, dinghies and even jet skis.  It felt like a royal escort.  

 I hate to admit it, but I couldn’t tell you when we crossed the starting line.  I had never set foot on a schooner before and I was often concentrating so much on what I was doing, mostly hauling and trying not to fall over, that I wasn’t always sure exactly what my hauling was achieving up in the rigging and by the time I was done I needed to move to another line.

 The last I was aware, we were waiting for the other race committee boat to get into position.  Then we were setting more sails and tacking, which involved a lot of hurry and hauling while trying not to slip on the deck. 

When Severe Weather Strikes

By Amelia N. Smith

 Dark clouds and lightning surrounded Schooner Virginia. It brought stinging rain in sideways sheets, stirred up the phosphorescence and decreased visibility just after dinner Sunday night. As the wind reached upwards of 55 knots, the ship’s bell began clanging eerily, adding to the chill from the shift in temperature. After 11 hours of lightning off in the distance, the sun rose in the east, a warm breeze came back and swells calmed down. Here are some thoughts and explanation from the crew about experiencing a storm at sea on a tall ship: