Sunday:
Again, it was time for another Upward Bound trip.
It was decided that we were going sailing. It all
began on a Sunday night. Where we boarded the
Ernestina. It lay in the water docked next to its
sailing partner the Spirit of Massachusetts. We
had already had dinner at Quincy Market. All of
the gear was brought on board, everyone was
excited to find their bunk. Ryan was dissatisfied
with her bunk stating it was much too small for
her. Gina switched with her, being only 4'5"
she fit perfectly. After getting settled we had
an all-hands meeting. Everyone gave a small
introductory statement about themselves. This
consisted of there name, what town they live in,
and if they could be any one in history who would
they be and why? We were also divided up into
three watch groups (A, B & C). A watch group
is basically in charge of running the ship during
their watch time. At all times there needs to be
someone at the bow of the ship as a lookout, a
person at the helm to steer the ship. Every hour
you need to do a full boat check. This consists
of a sweep of the heads, all cabins, the bilges,
a complete deck check, and an engine room check.
There was a brief orientation of the ship and
also the safety equipment on board. The crew
kindly let us sleep the first night while they
rotated through the anchor watch.Monday:
Monday morning we were awakened promptly at
6:30am. Watches began and so did other routine
things such as chores and the daily run down.
Each watch went through an orientation during the
day. These orientations involved learning about
first aid, the history of the boat, and many
other things. Throughout the day watches kept the
boat running smoothly as it should be. The only
thing that could be seen was the ever so blue sky
with the matching ocean. The Spirit of
Massachusetts and the Liberty Clipper, another
boat joining us, sailed along our side. Both
ships eventually passed us. After dinner the
people who were not sailing the ship learned the
stories of a band of pirates from history. We
also invented stories of what pirates' lives
would have been like. Finally after a long day of
sailing, Casey was at the wheel as we came into
Provincetown where we anchored the ship for the
night. After we lowered all the sails, we were
really tired. By ten at night many were asleep,
while a few rotated every hour for anchor watch.
Tuesday:
We awoke at 5:00 am to start our watch. Our
teammates just got off their watch, so they
awakened us for our duties. We were in charge
until 7:00 when breakfast was ready. We went
around every half-hour doing a boat check. We
were anchored, so one of our jobs was to check
the anchor to make sure it isn't running against
the side or gone. We also go into the galley to
make sure the freezer and refrigerator are at the
right temperature. Along with all of that we make
sure the boat isn't moving. We have three
landmarks we check. The mate chose three points
on shore that don't move and we use the compass
to check our position every half hour to be sure
we don't drift. If it is different we know we are
moving or turning in the waves. This is repeated
every half-hour. Chores were a major part after
breakfast, cleaning the galley, washing the
floors in deck and below. Everything needs to be
moved and scrubbed. Finally all of that was done,
and we went ashore to Provincetown for a couple
of hours.
To get to land we used small
motor boats. Once we were on land people had
trouble walking with their sea legs after they
first got off. We went to the Pirate ship museum
where there is all this stuff they're pulling out
of the ocean from the wreck of the pirate ship Whydah.
Some of the things that we saw were the Pilgrims'
Monument, museums, shops, etc. At about 12:30 we
started to head back to the boats for lunch and
continue sailing.
Once on the boat many students
got the idea of going swimming and with the
captain's permission, the students got their
wish. Many jumped off the side to cool down after
we raised the mainsail. Once again we could sail.
The water was cold but refreshing after being on
the land under the sun and raising the huge sail.
After jumping repeatedly from different heights,
the students pulled themselves aboard the deck to
dry. Twenty minutes had passed and we now needed
to sail on.
Next we had classes or some had
their watch time. While one group controlled the
boat, another towed a small net over the side to
catch plankton to look at under the microscopes.
B-watch found and caught a giant bug, a Japanese
beetle we think, and we caught it to keep it safe
til we could release it on land. This was all
going on while we were also doing an activity. In
the activity we played a game where we the name
of a sea animal taped to our backs and we had to
guess which sea-related animal we were by asking
questions about where we lived and what we ate
and who eats who, etc. We were everything from a
whale to a seagull to a sea cucumber. Then we
made a web and figured out who was affected when
one animal dropped out. It was hardest figuring
out what a diatom is and who it's related to.
Before and during dinner we
watched the other boats sailing with us-they
looked romantic in the afternoon sunlight. [You
can see our track over Stellwagen Bank in the
chart image to the right.] And we watched for
whales. Some people on A watch heard some whales
spouting or blowing but it was too dark, even
with the half-moon, to see the whales. Some
people also learned some new constellations while
looking at the stars on night watch.
Wednesday:
In the morning we were all pretty sleepy at
breakfast but we did our chores and then some
people took naps. We had a choice of 3 activities
in the morning-writing and journaling for
ourselves and for this web story, making up a
legend about our voyage and turning it into a
play, and completing our seamanship challenges.
The play involved pirates and whales and
Ernestina saving the day.
Captain: Sophie Morse
Program Coordinator: MaryHelen Gunn
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