Journals from the week ending February 28, 1997
Extreme Excitement
Jon Dillon, 2/24/97, aboard ship...When the call “all hands high” for sail maneuvers is made the atmosphere onboard Concordia is electrified. Whether we're tired or not, we must reach deep down to find our last bit of energy. Finding that energy, for most, is not that difficult, because the satisfaction of sailing is far more gratifying than lying in your bunk. Once everyone is on deck, things get rolling at a very high speed.
As students on a sail training ship, we are expected to take part with all our energy and enthusiasm in sail maneuvers. Some students may be unmotivated due to being tired, ill, or lazy. Bosun Bill expects us all to be a part of sail maneuvers. He needs everybody to bring this piece of art together. When the first job assignments are handed out, the students excitedly take to their positions. Some of the jobs include flanking, easing, and hauling. The students fulfill these expectations with ease. Some enjoy the challenge of hauling on a halyard or sheet, while others enjoy the leisure of easing a downhaul or a clewline. The excitement that is generated from everybody working as a team or crew runs extremely high. This excitement is what does it, what brings sail maneuvers together. Once our masterpiece is finished, we all, despite our tiredness, feel the same emotion. No matter what your job, everyone feels it. When it is all said and done, we look back and let this feeling soak in with a sense of pride.
Sail Training
Ron Jensen, Faculty Essay, 2/12/97, aboard ship...
The term 'sail training' conjures up images of people hoisting sails and trimming them to suit the wind. On Concordia, this a big part of life onboard. Students gain experience in sailing training by attending classes every three days. In the sail training class, we look at the theoretical aspects of what we do to sail the ship. Studying the international buoy system, the international rules of the road which define who has the right-of-way when vessels meet, and how sails really work helps put some real understanding into the day to day occurrences onboard.
In addition to the sail training class, each day students are assigned two hours of day watch and two hours at night of mariner’s watch. Day watch is a 'hands-on' time mostly doing varnish and paint work around the ship and being involved in sail maneuvers. As many of the students have learned, ships require a lot of maintenance and a considerable amount of time is put into this side of shipboard life. Mariners watch at night involves standing look-out on the bridge wings, checking for ships in our path, and doing sail maneuvers. Students stand watch at all hours of the night because it is a legal requirement under the international regulations for the prevention of collisions at sea. Most of the hoisting and trimming of the ship’s sixteen sails is done during the day. If the weather for the next twelve hours is unknown, it pays to reduce the number of sails for sailing at night. Handling sails at night (although we do have lights on the masts) can be risky