Charlie's Awesome Blog
Location: Sorong -> Kri, Indonesia
My first Sea|Mester blog was on Feb 17, 2023. I sat in Vela's charthouse as we approached Bonaire after a couple of days at sea. As a student, I remember the sights, smells, and emotions that living on program gave me. My first Sea|Mester family truly changed the course of my life. During my time as a student, I can recall sitting on the bowsprit wondering if one day I too could work as a Sea|Mester staff member and deliver these life-changing experiences to new cohorts of students. The past 3 years of my life have been dedicated to this endeavor, and now, as I sit in Argo's charthouse, having sailed 24,000nm, crossed multiple oceans, and understood what it truly means to live, this is my last Sea|Mester blog.
To love a profession is a very special thing, with every gust, wave, and dive I fall ever deeper into a lifelong affair with the sea. Now, as I look back and think about the change that has been made in my life, I hope that my passion has transferred into every Argonaut I've had the pleasure of teaching. The current crew has put up with my voice explaining coordinates, tides, and courses to steer. I've taken my first groups as a dive leader in Moor'ea, and walked the bustling streets of Rome keeping a gaggle of students from being run over by lime scooters. Thank you for changing my life, Sea|Mester.
But enough about me, what happened today?
After a long night of provisioning, we woke up to a Sorong sunrise, watching cargo ships, fishing dinghies, and old gaff-rigged sailboats sitting peacefully in the harbor. Breakfast went down a treat, and as we finished cleanup, Argo's crew got ready to make sail and get underway. While down below was getting 40/40'd, Shane and I went spelunking into the Laz and quickly tightened up on the steering gear. Once our helm was good to go, we raised sails on anchor and had the privilege of sailing off anchor and onwards to Raja Ampat. As the main sail team sweated her up, shoutout to Harrison and Julian for an impressive non-stop hoist; students were chattering amongst themselves about how exciting and special it is to actually be in Indonesia, halfway across the world from most of our homes. I of course have to agree with them. Since leaving Antigua in January, I can finally say that Argo has fully crossed the Pacific Ocean, and I couldn't be more excited to explore all that Indonesia has to offer. As all the sail teams topped booms and set sails, we rounded our port lateral mark and sheeted out for a beam reach while the jib was thrown up. Leaving Sorong's anchorage, we had a straight shot right toward Kri Island.
When a sailor is enjoying the day's sail, a common phrase thrown around is "Champagne Sailing." I do believe our sail yesterday would show up in the dictionary for champagne sailing. With a jib, forward stay, main stay, and mainsail, Argo blasted along at 8 knots. The waves were small enough so that we did not feel a thing on deck, and Argo's heel was a pleasant couple of degrees on a port tack. The sun was out, the islands were waving us off, and we had a sail that I haven't had for a long time on Argo. As we got through lunch, a delicious pasta salad prepared by Rachel, Andrew, and Sophie, students shuffled down below for navmaster, leadership, and marine biology. Tensions were high as in marine biology, a dreaded test was taking place. As the first test takers made their way back on deck, the faces of shell shock set into their eyes, I could see a smirk curling up Professor Nacho's lips. Just kidding, I know everyone did great, and there are some seriously good marine biologists onboard.
After about 6 hours underway, we came into Kri Island and tacked up the channel before dropping sails right outside of our mooring spot. Slowly motoring up to our ball, we launched Nopadome (Nopes, the dinghy) with Noelle, Julian, and Rachel, who were tasked with tying up Argo to the ball. This is a task that is easier said than done (as with anything on Argo). The current was absolutely ripping, and the sun was setting, making this maneuver's margin of error a little slimmer. The bow team remained very composed, as lines were thrown down to the dinghy. While Nopes was being thrashed around by the current, we decided to drop lines to pick up myself and Harrison. Now with 5 people in the dinghy, and yours truly driving, we collected our lines and drove out to the ball, where Noelle and Harrison waterboarded themselves attempting to pick up the mooring line. Noelle went to battle and opened up a small little loop in the lines that I could just about thread our dock line through. We then tied up another around the ball using the ol' round turn with a bowline technique and reversed Nopes out until we ran out of dock line, at which point we held station while Shane drove Argo up to meet us. On the bow, we had teams ready to collect both lines at the same time. As Argo approached, Julian and Harrison got the lines up to Argo's bowsprit; we narrowly avoided a porpoise pounder to the noggin, and Argo was tied up and ready to bed.
As we finished up squeeze and cleanup, Argo's crew were tired from a hectic day, and as our heads hit the pillow, we were grateful to have had the opportunity to give this program and this vessel our undivided attention.
Until next time,