Location: Elba, Italy
Argo and her crew rose at 4:30 am this morning in order to depart the port of Civitavecchia before the 5 am arrival of ferries and cruise ships. Outside the harbor, as we rolled around in the waves, the crew hauled and sweated lines until four of Argo’s six sails were all the way up. Then, for 73 miles, each watch team was given the chance to take the deck and command of the ship and learn how Argo runs underway. Following lunch, we learned the roles of each watch team in a fire, abandoned ship, and man overboard situation. Then, to the surprise of the crew, a large fender was discretely thrown overboard in order to put into practice our newly learned man overboard responsibilities. As we sailed into Elba that afternoon, the new crew of Argo felt the wonderful feeling of exhaustion from a glorious day of sailing the Mediterranean Sea.