Location: Underway to the Azores
We sailed through the night! A well-sought-after and joyous accomplishment. While we love Argo and all she can do (i.e., motor us through dead wind patches), she is happiest with her sails up, and so are we. We greatly enjoyed the peaceful break from the engine’s whir and grind and even put up the fisherman, which brought our total number of sails up to 5! Unfortunately (though unsurprisingly), the wind died down again in the late afternoon, and we struck all the sails except for the best one of them all (i.e., the forward staysail, of course).
Earlier in the morning, the deck was abuzz with students quizzing each other on the running rigging lines and studying for our Oceanography quiz. Amanda very graciously went through the various topics (the history of oceanography, the chemical and physical properties of the Earth, the marine provinces, and the different types of sediment) with the accompaniment of cute, fun drawings on the whiteboard. After lunch, the Time King emerged again in all his glory, and our clocks were moved forward another hour. The afternoon was filled with classes–more specifically, we took our Seamanship rigging quiz and our first Oceanography quiz. From what I can gather, both quizzes went pretty well for all of us, so clearly, the morning paid off.
While dinner was a little on the latter side today, good food can’t be rushed, and that’s certainly what our Head and sous chefs gave us. As I write this, at 19:39 on July 8th, a beautiful sunset is beginning to develop and bathed in its golden rays. Our dishy pit is alive with music, splashing, and laughter. It’s a good time to be sailing across the Atlantic, even if we have no wind.
Side note: shout out to all the PSCT students (Charles, Will, Maya, Drew, Sammy, and Phoebe) for passing their coal rigs exam yesterday!