Location: St. John, USVI
Today is one of those days you don’t remember sitting, which is one of my favorite types! It started with Tim going up aloft to snag a peek at the radar before we headed out to Trunk Bay for the ONLY UNDERWATER NATIONAL PARK SNORKEL TRAIL! The trail consisted of information placards UNDERWATER about local organisms, such as my absolute favorite trunkfish.
After the snorkel, we packed up Argo and set off for an adventurous afternoon sail. Our first attempt ended abruptly when we noticed a small rip in the mainsail. So we decided it was time for leadership with Jay and a fun activity where the students competed in a puzzle that consisted of building spaghetti towers that needed to hold up a marshmallow. After the sail was repaired, we decided to make our second attempt, which happened to be very successful.
First, we raised the full power and might of the mainsail (which we have not done yet (we have only raised a reefed main)). Then we raised our main staysail, forward staysail, jib, got crazy with the flying jib, which we have only raised once, and then the cherry on top, the creme de la creme, the sun on a cold, windy day, we wait for it, raised the fisherman sail! For all of you out there thinking, whoa, big woooop. IT IS A BIG WOOP. I personally have not seen that much sail on Argo since I was a student back in 2013! 2013! Twenty thirteen…If you are wondering what it is and why it is so special, I’ll let you know. It is a sail not usually hoisted on Argo because of its precarious perch very high in the rig. It is a pretty large sail that fits way up next to the main staysail, which is why it is an inverted triangle. Try this, draw what you think is a sailboat. Go ahead and draw one. Now for fun, draw a boat with two masts, okay now add sails. The fun part is our sail in the middle goes up on a stay, instead of on a track up the mast, so there is a big gap, which can only be filled with….you guessed it, the fish! After our 10 knot sail, we motored into Maho Bay under a beautiful blanket of stars and a comet as we finished dinner and our evening squeeze. A great ending to a jam-packed day!