Q&A with Concordia
From the week ending April 11, 1997
Do you have a dress code?
...Sun Coast Middle School, 3/28
by Charlotte Redway, 4/7
A. Yes and no. When we are sailing between ports, we are allowed to wear whatever we want. Some guys wear skirts (like the ones worn by Polynesian men) that they bought in the ports of the South Pacific Islands. Some students wear the same clothes for a week at a time. (If someone tells them that they stink they change.) Some people like wearing clothes that they have made.
During day watch we have to wear a harness and closed-toed shoes for safety. When we arrive in port we have to wear our red shirts and blue work shorts—that might change when it gets colder. Sometimes we have land programs where we have to look nice, so we wear skirts and the boys wear pants. We’re representing the ship, Canada, and the country we’re from if it isn’t Canada so, we want to look nice. Our uniform also has foul weather gear that is useful on night watch.
...Sun Coast Middle School, 3/28
The day the Concordia met with a pod of whales, we came within two nautical miles of them. I climbed aloft to get a better view of the whales and the sunset. The sails were set so I was able to stand on top of the raised royal yard—the highest lookout point possible. Jon Justice was up there already, working on the blocks. He pointed out a group of three whales straight ahead, and more individuals to port and starboard farther off. Jon’s total count came to 10 whales in close proximity to the boat.
One morning, a few days later, while we were doing aerobics, Isabelle Roux was standing watch on the bridge and sighted a lone whale close to the ship. She estimated it was within a hundred yards to starboard the first time it surfaced. We all ran over to see what was going on. When I saw the whale it was a couple hundred yards off. I could see its dorsal fin and its whole back rise out of the water. The whale surfaced a few more times farther and farther off before disappearing beneath the calm sea.