Location: Underway to the Galapagos
Hello from the Pacific! Today was another awesome day underway to the Galapagos, which started with the 8-12 watch for watch team 3. I got to spend the first hour at the helm while Renee and Niko had a mini dance party in the cockpit to keep me entertained, which I greatly appreciated. I had time to grab some boatmeal and refuel before our watch team was sent up to the bow to raise the flying jib. We got the sail halfway up before realizing that the preventer needed to be reattached, but after a few tries, we succeeded, and the flying jib was up. Getting to head out on the bowsprit with Riley while underway was definitely an exciting moment and a good start to the morning; looking back to see all of Argo behind us had both Riley and me a bit awestruck.
Before we could get too comfortable, Gabe sent us over to the forward staysail; it was time to practice some sail handling. Amanda helped us out with a useful way to remember where the halyards live for all the sails, hence “go to port for fish and jibs,” and we quickly got started with bringing down the forward staysail. Renee and I had a rough start with the downhaul, but we rallied quickly, and our 2-6ing at the top of our lungs was the call heard around the boat. We had the sail down and back up again just before 11:00, so Gabe decided we needed to send someone on a boat check before going again. Watch team 3 being watch team 3; we decided to prove him wrong: we were going to lower and raise the forward staysail in 12 minutes. Niko sprung into action, leading the sail raise. A hectic 12 minutes later, filled with some karaoke singing of “this Gill is on fire” in honor of Gillian’s impressive solo work on the halyard, and 11:00 struck with two of us ready for a boat check. Needless to say, I was definitely really proud of all of watch team 3 and our enthusiasm this morning.
Lunch was a delicious sandwich bar prepared by Elle and her sous chefs, followed by an exciting Seamanship class full of practice problems for our NavMaster course. Marine Biology followed, where we got to see the organisms on our Galapagos fish ID quiz. The class definitely left us all excited to see some of these animals in real life in just a few days. Soon enough, it was time for deck showers. Bella’s contagious laugh distracted us from the slowly approaching wall of rain that we were sailing into, and we ended up having a great time showering.
Dinner was a bit of a rainy mess, but everyone soon warmed up with delicious curry and rice, and the rain was a welcome respite from the past few days of increasingly warmer weather as we near the equator (!!!). Watch team 2 kept busy bringing down the flying jib for the night, and their enthusiasm despite the rain brought everyone’s energy up. After a quick squeeze, everyone broke into their jobs for cleanup, and we are now heading into another round of watches for some and a bit of well-needed sleep for others.
Pictured:
Enjoying the evening rain
Sam at the stern
Niko, Renee, Nick, Ezra, and Frankie working on some plotting practice