It was only a matter of time…

These “posters” have been making the rounds on the internets and it was only a matter of time before there was one created for tall ship sailors.  It’s funny and pretty true (especially the last panel).

#961 Baggywrinkles

Like with any industry, tall ship sailing has a terminology all its own. Nautical words can be really silly and you can’t help but wonder who the person was that looked at this:

Hey Becca!

and thought, “I know! Baggywrinkle! Perfect!”

Baggywrinkles are  used to prevent sail chafe in the rigging and can be seen at the spot where the sail comes into contact with the standing rigging. Without the baggywrinkle there for protection, the sails would chafe and develop holes.

It’s also great to gauge the reaction when you tell visitors what it is. There is the skepticism (“Baggywrinkle? Really?”) or the blind acceptance (“Ooooooh, OK”).  Either way, a baggywrinkle saves your sails and cuts down on repairs and, to a sailor, that is awesome.

Have an idea or a story you want to share? Email it to me at erin@tallshipsamerica.org and I’ll add it to the blog with props to you.

Major credit to 1000 Awesome Things for the inspiration

Photo Credit Matthew Maples

#962 Getting Seasick

Once of the most common fears I hear about sailing on a tall ship is of getting seasick.  While this can be debilitatingly true for many, for the most part I find that people talk themselves into the nausea. Seasickness is generally thought to be the physical reaction of our body trying to balance out the disconnect of what we are feeling (the motion of the ship), and what we are seeing (a still world). 

Sailing isn’t all sunshine, full sails and dry feet. Sometimes, you have to accept the bad with the good. Good being that you are having this sailing experience, building on your skills and learning how to deal with setbacks…but at the cost of your lunch.

However, like many uncomfortable things, seasickness doesn’t last forever. Once you get your equilibrium back, you can finally enjoy your tall ship experience knowing that you just went to a deep, dark place to come out on the other side stronger and with a great appreciation of ginger. And that first moment when you realize that you don’t have to feed the fish anymore? Awesome.

(For a not-for-lunchtime video from the Mythbusters team on the best cure for sickness, click here or you can just click here for the results.)

Have an idea or a story you want to share? Email it to me at erin@tallshipsamerica.org and I’ll add it to the blog with props to you.

Major credit to 1000 Awesome Things for the inspiration

#963 Boat Waving

Photo Credit Matt Maples TSC 2007

What is it about being on a boat that makes you want to wave to everyone? When I am in a car, I don’t feel the urge to wave to people in the lane next to me (perhaps there would be less road rage). Out on the water, I am a waving machine.  Perhaps it’s a solidarity thing – here we are, out enjoying the day on the water, and we are overwhelmed with a feeling of friendship. No matter what you are doing- working aloft, competing in a race, just sailing along, or in a Parade of Sail- there is the boat wave. It says, “Aren’t we lucky? Isn’t this awesome?!”

Waving to Halifax - Photo Credit Matt Maples TSC 2007

Have an idea or a story you want to share? Email it to me at erin@tallshipsamerica.org and I’ll add it to the blog with props to you.

Major credit to 1000 Awesome Things for the inspiration

See the related post at 1000 Awesome things  – #424 Boat Waving

#964 Being the new guy (or girl)

It’s not easy being the new guy. Even if this is your15th tall ship or your first, there is a period of adjustment. You may understand what needs to be done  but there is a whole new dynamic to a ship that you have to merge into. At the outset, you are hovering around the periphery as you get your bearings, or mustering up the nerve to jump in and help. 

It’s when you stop hovering and start doing that an almost imperceptible change begins to take place.  You no longer see yourself as the newbie and instead see yourself as part of the whole. You are part of the team that sails the ship – learning new things, teaching new ideas, living a new adventure. Everyone has been the new guy at some point in their life, but not everyone gets to be the new guy on a tall ship.  Welcome to the ship board family, it’s awesome.

Have an idea or a story you want to share? Email it to me at erin@tallshipsamerica.org and I’ll add it to the blog with props to you.

Major credit to 1000 Awesome Things for the inspiration

See the related post at 1000 Awesome things  – #415 When you’re not the new guy anymore

#965 Your Bunk

It’s not much, but it’s yours. On a ship where everything is communal and there is not a whole lot in the way of privacy, your rack is your sanctuary (except if you’re hot bunking but that is a later post). That first night in the bunk is tough, no doubt.  When you are used to a double wide mattress, the harsh reality of one barely bigger than a ThermaRest (TM) can cause a restless and bruised night’s sleep. 

When I was on EAGLE, the racks were three up in my area with the bunk above you less than 10 inches away from your nose. I was really nervous about waking suddenly and whacking my head. Luckily, that never happened but getting into and out of the middle bunk was a lesson in acrobatics, flexibility, and stealth.  I slept like a baby, however, go figure.

Like all new things, sleeping on a rocking and creaking ship takes some getting used to. But that one night, when you are so exhausted you fall into your rack and are rocked to the best sleep you have had in nights,  is the night when you realize that your bunk is awesome.

Have an idea or a story you want to share? Email it to me at erin@tallshipsamerica.org and I’ll add it to the blog with props to you.

Major credit to 1000 Awesome Things for the inspiration

#966 Singing to pass the time

 

This past weekend, I was in Los Angeles to help out a friend with a scare-you-senseless haunted house.  There were about 90 people (over half of whom were tall ship sailors) on site as part of the tech crew, construction crew and scarers in the house itself. Everyone met up at a parking garage to take a shuttle over to the site in the afternoon. There was a bit of a snafu with the shuttle and we ended up waiting about an hour on Level 2 of the garage, anxious and excited. Instead of grumbling, someone had the foresight to bring a guitar and everyone burst into sea shanties.

Much, much later that night, after the party had ended in the wee hours of the morning and all the paying guests were stumbling and shuffling their way out the gates, we were sitting around serenading them as they waited on line. We must have looked like we were having fun because people kept leaving the line to crash our party. Sorry, folks, sailors and crew only.  It was a great way to end the night and reminded me of the fact that, whether with a piece of  twine practising  knots or just singing a favorite shanty, on a boat or on land, tall ship sailors are so good at keeping themselves entertained and that makes them awesome.

Below is an example of a shanty from our annual conference in Cleveland a few years back – Read the original post here - Hank goes into a bit of detail about the history of the song and then the singing starts at about 1:15

 

Have an idea or a story you want to share? Email it to me at erin@tallshipsamerica.org and I’ll add it to the blog with props to you.

Major credit to 1000 Awesome Things for the inspiration

#967 Bosun’s Whistle

Back in 2008, I was at the TALL SHIPS CHALLENGE® event in San Diego and we had the opportunity to host the Colombian naval tall ship, GLORIA. As the ship was arriving, Colombian’s thronged the dock, waving the country’s flag and singing along to the 11 verses of the national anthem. All the while, the crew was standing on the yardarms and the shipboard cannons were blasting. It is still one of the most impressive arrivals I’ve seen. Our information booth and education center was set up along the dock next to the ship so we got to observe shipboard life up close.

An interesting aspect was, for the first time, I heard a bosun’s whistle being used for all commands, not just for the pipe aboard or general call. No words were exchanged as the crew went about their duties according to what was piped. Because of it’s loud pitch, the whistle can be heard over the sounds of the ocean, bad weather, crew activity, etc. In subsequent years, I have seen this on other naval ships, but that year was the first time and it was fascinating to see that tradition (one that goes back to the 13th century) still at work in our modern fleet. That is what makes tall ships so intriguing, this blend of the traditional and the contemporary. Learning how to appreciate how far we have come, and yet embracing these time honored practices and taking pride in our history is awesome.

Have an idea or a story you want to share? Email it to me at erin@tallshipsamerica.org and I’ll add it to the blog with props to you.

Major credit to 1000 Awesome Things for the inspiration

#968 Swim call in the middle of the ocean, out of sight of land

 

Swimming in the Atlantic

On the one hand, it is exhilarating and just plain fun to have a swim call. On the other, the ocean is most definitely not a swimming pool and it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of it and your ship is so small, just floating there with “nothing” underneath it.

From Nelly, Tall Ships America Summer Intern 2009 -

“It’s one thing to swim outside of your swimming distance from land. But, when you cannot see it [land] at all…! Especially when you borrow that kid’s swim goggles and peek down, and the vastness of the ocean opens up. It gives you the heebie-jeebies! Your legs look tiny! Then you look at the the hull of your ship, your huge tall ship that houses you, your friends, enough food to cross the ocean, plus all the equipment, and it’s TINY! I can hardly look! It gives me goosebumps.”

Hull of a boat is seen from underwater-Sami Sarkis

And that is when you realize how amazing your situation is. Yes, you are a tiny object in the middle of the ocean and yes, it can be overwhelming at times. But  this ship, your fellow shipmates, your collective skills, knowledge, and teamwork have tamed Poseiden, at least long enough to let you go for a swim. Awesome.

Thank you, Nelly, for the awesome idea!

Have an idea or a story you want to share? Email it to me at erin@tallshipsamerica.org and I’ll add it to the blog with props to you.

Major credit to 1000 Awesome Things for the inspiration

#969 Watching the sunrise/sunset day after day

Photo Credit, Matthew Maples

Every day, without fail, the sun rises and the sun sets. You can practically set your watch to it. And yet, every day, I miss at least one, sometimes both, of these solar events. Sun rise because I stay huddled under the covers until the last possible moment, and the sunset because I live in a city and there are usually buildings in the way. I can see the clouds change color but generally miss seeing the sun finally sink below the horizon and the stars come out. Also, taking the time to sit and watch the day begin and end, unfortunately, only happens when I schedule the time in. Sad.

But on a ship, you have nothing but time and no tall buildings to get in the way of watching the sun do it’s thing.  The 4-8 watch is usually pretty popular because you get to watch both sunrise and sunset. You take the deck in pitch black and over the course of four hours, watch the sky turn from a deep purple to pinks until the rays reach over the horizon and the sun starts to rise. By the time you go to bed, it’s full on daylight.

Later that day, you watch the sky take on fiery reds and oranges as the sun sets, muted pinks give way to twilight and stars start to twinkle until, surprisingly quickly, it’s night. So much change in such a relatively small amount of time. And you get to watch it happen every day. Awesome.

Thanks, J, for the idea!

Have an idea or a story you want to share? Email it to me at erin@tallshipsamerica.org and I’ll add it to the blog with props to you.

Major credit to 1000 Awesome Things for the inspiration