Location: Underway to Bermuda
Ahoy sailors,
Welcome back to another day of passage life on Vela! So the past few days have been rough for a lot of our crew. There have been lots of salty faces, bodies on the floor, and chunks flying. But today, Vela has rallied. After getting a good night’s rest and some delicious pasta last night in our bellies, everyone woke up feeling good. My watch team, Team 2 (or The Troopers), had the noon-2 watch, which was nice since it was also lunchtime. For lunch, Leoni and Ethan worked hard down in the galley to make us mac n’ cheese and sausages.
After lunch, the waves weren’t making life below deck much easier, so we decided to have class up on deck. We had a really nice Leadership class led by Mackenzie, where we learned about The Social Change Model. Everyone shared their past experiences working in community service and working together to understand how our actions affect our community. Towards the end of our time in Leadership, a few crew members helped take down the jib. We were all watching as Colm and Meghan, and Calum wrestled the sail…and as Colm’s PFD inflated when he got dunked under a massive wave.
After this eventful start to the afternoon, Leoni led an Oceanography class up on deck, where she gave us time to work on our group projects. Meghan, Mackenzie, Maddie, and I are all working together to research the amount of plastic we see throughout our voyage. We have taken turns to record the amount of plastic we see floating by every day or so, and luckily we haven’t seen much. After classes, Watch Team 3 took over the helm, and the rest of the crew went below deck to take naps. For some reason, naps on passage just hit differently.
After a group nap time, it was time for dinner. When I stepped up on deck, I was pleasantly surprised by the calm sea-state and beautiful sunset. This evening was definitely the nicest sail we have had yet this passage. Everyone was present and sitting upright for dinner, which was a first, and we were able to make it around the circle for the squeeze. Overall, today has been a great day for the crew and for Vela, and it looks like we are all finally getting our sea legs and sea stomachs back.
To my mom and dad, all is great at sea! I’m wearing my hat and sun shirt every day and reapplying sunscreen on the hour, haha:) But seriously, this is quite the adventure. We haven’t seen land in almost two days but instead have been greeted by flying fish and the occasional bird passing by. It’s rained a few times, but it’s almost refreshing since it is a free freshwater shower. I can’t wait to share all of these memories with you soon. Love you so much
To Skye…Maddie may have replaced you for the time being (but Max says that that is false, and you have actually been permanently replaced). Not really though, I miss you so much, and I can’t wait to see you soon!
Photo 1: Our hero Colm taking one for the team as he takes down the jib
Photo 2: Professor Mack teaching us about The Social Change Model
Photo 3: Us being super excited about The Social Change Model