Fall 2002 SEAmester East Journal
Sent weekly from sea by students on-board SEAmester ...
SEAmester Log, Part 2
Off Cape Hatteras, N.C.
October 22, 2002
by Aaron Cahall
If you had a week to spend in Mystic, what would you do? Probably just
about everything we did. While no one on board seemed thrilled at the
prospect of spending another 4 days or so as part of the historic seaport,
we did try and make the most of it and see what we could while we waited out
some bad weather coming up the coastline.
Sunday night we spent at the Planetarium at the Museum, learning about how
sailors from ancient times until now relied on the stars for guidance in
navigation. We saw some of the tools they used and a lot of the night sky in
the planetarium. There was a lot of information put out in a very short
amount of time, but it had been awhile since I've been to a planetarium so
it was still fun.
Over the next few days we killed time however we could, in between classes
that went on as usual. Some of the crew and the students decided to do some
laundry, and almost all of us stocked up on showers while we had the chance,
getting ready for a few days without. The days were just as long as before,
but now that we weren't moving or doing very much, we all really felt it,
and by Wednesday everyone was ready to get underway.
That morning though, we took a walk up the road to the Mystic Aquarium,
where the Bio Survey class got the guided tour from Prof. Chris and the
other students wandered around, looking at what they chose. I'm told there
wasn't anything too extraordinary there, but being a Journalism major and
not a Marine Science major like everyone else, I was pretty impressed. I
particularly liked the sea lion show, and the Beluga whales, though I hate
to say it, I thought they'd be bigger.
Thursday morning we got the word that we'd be leaving with the tide around
5 p.m. The mood on the boat changed dramatically, since we all had something
definite to look forward too. Since then, I've noticed it's funny how news
like that gets passed down; the captain gives us a general idea of what's
going on and what's expected of us, but no one is always exactly sure how
far out we are, or how much is ahead of us. Personally I like it that
way--trips always seem longer when I knew where I am on a map.
The day was our warmest so far, warm enough that Charlie and I were even
able to get away with shorts for a few hours. By 5 p.m. everyone was ready,
the bunks were stowed, and we got underway, though at the time we weren't
sure if it would be to Norfolk or straight on to Beaufort, N.C. Baltimore
was definitely out, which is too bad since I had wanted to see some friends
and family there, near my hometown of Bel Air, MD.
We sailed around Montauk point during the night, and by morning were
sailing west parallel to the south shore of Long Island. We even caught a
glimpse of the New York city skyline, several miles to starboard. Once again
we sailed through the night, passing by Atlantic City around 10 p.m.
(Someone even compared its red neon lights to Hell....I can see that, I
think.) I came on at 4 a.m. with the rest of B watch, and by 9 p.m. we were
anchored off Cape Henlopen, DE again to wait out foul weather coming up the
coast.
The Sprit stayed there overnight, and there wasn't much to do while we
waited. That afternoon though, was our Pin Chase, something we had heard a
lot about, but had no real warning on. The Pin Chase pit all three watches
against each other, in a race to see who could go through a stack of cards
with lines and knots on them the fastest. Everyone psyched themselves up for
it in whatever way they could, some by studying, some by napping, and some
by wearing their boxers on the outside of their pants. The members of
A-watch decided to intimidate the competition into submission by donning
a...unique....outfit. Foul weather boots, long pants under shorts, the towel
wrapped around their necks like a cape--it was worth a lot in merit, anyway.
Win or lose, flying around deck with a cape on was a once in a lifetime
experience.
So the competition began. I'm not sure what went on in the other watches
but I was pleasantly surprised with B watch; everyone knew their lines and
no one really stumbled very much including myself. I didn't pay too much
attention to the other groups but it seemed like the same was true there.
There were plenty of stories later about what went on though. John got
creative when handed a card with "charlie noble" on it. The crew was looking
for him to go to the stove pipe. John ran over to Charlie Crebs. Not close
enough for them, but a good laugh for everyone else.
One of the cards that was in each stack and that I got in B watch was
"pickup line." I thought they wanted me to walk over to a line, and pick it
up. But the idea was to throw out a pick up line to the nearest deck hand. I
came up with the first thing I could think of, and it was probably one of
the worst things I possibly could have said: "If you were a new hamburger at
McDonalds, you'd be the McGourgeous." I'm not sure whether people laughed
out of humor or horror. Julie didn't seem impressed.
In the end, B watch won, by not much at all. Our great reward was first
crack at the single shower in Beaufort, something I'm sure we'll appreciate
much more once we're actually there. The rest of the day went by fast,
highlighted by watching the second part of Horatio Hornblower that night.
The next morning, Captain laid down the plan for the next few days. We
weren't going to Norfolk after all, and would be going straight to Beaufort.
Because we had been under power, or motor-sailing, to Cape Henlopen, we had
only about 20 hours of fuel left for the main engine and generator power,
which we needed for lights. So, we'd be sailing the whole way there. As Cap
said, "the honeymoon is over." But after so long tied up to a dock we were
all still ready to be moving, and that morning we raised anchor and sails,
catching a good wind out of the bay, which then promptly died once we were
at sea.
It was exciting for me personally to see that part of the coastline. Almost
immediately I saw Rehoboth Beach, DE, and the Indian River Bridge, all
things I remembered from driving to vacation every summer at Ocean City, MD,
which we ended the night off of. I couldn't quite make out any particular
hotels, but it was interesting to me that this is the closest to home I'd be
on this trip.
I'm writing this on Tuesday night; we've been under sail and falling into
the routine of life on board for four days now, and so far everything is
going well. C watch has been head-rig cleared, and everyone is close behind
them in that. Most of the classes have had their first test or essay due,
and we've been plugging along each day at a pretty good speed--tonight
someone said they had the Spirit up to 10.2 knots, not too bad at all. Also,
the big highlight of the night was an F-14 flyby during dinner; we passed an
aircraft carrier and escort yesterday night and had been hoping to get
buzzed, and even the crew was excited when it happened. We're expected to
make Beaufort late tonight or tomorrow morning, and though we're all
enjoying the sailing, seeing new places is just as exciting. That's about it
for now, just wanted to mention that I've added some things below that have
become running (but not necessarily good) jokes in our time here. Everyone
on board is well and sends best wishes home.
Inside Jokes so far:
Sparkle Pirates
"Wa-ta-tay my domi"
Fraggle Rock theme song (and singing just about everything else on forward
lookout)
High-pitched heaving
Log 1: Danielle Thibault
Prof. Hamilton's Journal Archive
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