Alpha 1 2015 – Day 5
Alpha 1 2015 – Day 5
written by mate, Alex Armson
Today, aboard Venture, Sara was our captain and had Jenna as her navigator and Julian as her mate. Sean and Michael made amazing french toast for everyone so it was a good start to the day. It was challenge day today, which meant that the boat was in total control of the students! Renee and I swapped places with the students and acted like children, which annoyed the kids, but was still hilarious. We dropped the ball, and Sara did a great job of controlling the boat around the mooring field.
We were sailing from Soper’s Hole to Great Harbor on Peter Island and it was a pretty long sail upwind. We had to do a lot of tacking which we found difficult and time consuming, but we ultimately got a lot of practice and mastered it eventually. After a while, Ellie and Mike took over the helm and Jenna and Julian did a great job of navigating. During the trip, Sean’s hat flew overboard and we attempted a man overboard drill but unfortunately were too slow and it sank. What a shame! But now Sean can always know he has a lasting connection with the Sir Francis Drake channel. Daniel finally got to do some water sports on the poparazzi which he was really excited about! The poparazzi is an inflatable tube, which the students hang on to as a RIB pulls you along in the water. It’s fun and thrilling as the students try not to fall off. Mike and Jack also had their turn and managed to stay on the whole time!
Over on Xeres, Kevin reported excellent teamwork from his crew as well! Skipper of the day, Drew, mate, Katie, and navigator Aiden, worked together with their crew, directing awesome maneuvers and completing a great sail. Even though it was can be quite a tough and long time sailing upwind, they completely rocked it with eager helping hands from Oliver, Betsy, Katie, Kenzie, and Hazel. Sails were raised and lowered with ease and let in and out meticulously. Afterwards, they were rewarded by the Poparazzi as well! Dean, Matt and Drew were definitely the most excited about the fun rides.
It was another great day and our crew did a great job of working together and solving problems without the help of the captains. However, we still need to work on tacking and upwind sailing. Our miracle moment was when we finally got to go to bed after such a busy but exciting day!
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”32″ gal_title=”Alpha 1 2015 – Day 5″]
