Day 4 - June 27th, 2013

Good morning to all!  Today is the fourth day on this epic 9-day journey. We began this day with the breakdown of the camp site and a nice little breakfast. Then it was off to the sailing. Once aboard Sigsbee, the kids started off with the practicing of knots used a lot on board – including the slippery clove hitch, the bowline, and the stopper knot. Once the sails were set, the kids got to work. Just like yesterday, there were lessons on navigation and lessons on the Chesapeake Bay, estuaries and water quality. Since the watches were split yesterday for the two lessons, they switched places today. Port watch now got their lesson on the Chesapeake Bay while Starboard watch got their lesson on navigation. 

After the rotations of the kids in starboard watch for their three hours doing navigation, it was time for lunch. Now after lunch, the kids were given a very nice lesson on how one “drives” the boat, and how the winds work in unison with the sails. They learned more about tacking and gybing (two methods used to turn the boat with and against the wind), and how the wind splits on the main sail, creating more presser on the leeward side, and lesser pressure on the windward side. They also learned a lot more about wind speed, the speed measurement of the boat in knots, and even more about the shapes and sizes of the different clouds in the sky – and what it meant for our sailing. To go along with these lessons, they were given reminders of the commands that relate to the turning of the boat – these include the captains yelling of “Ready About” and “Helms Alee”. After this lesson, there was a small break before there next lesson. What’s the next lesson? All about oysters! The kids got to learn a lot more about the keystone species of oysters. They were informed of their importance in creating and maintaining habitats in the Bay, and how there have been restoration projects to increase the population of the oysters throughout the entire Bay. 

Finally, we arrived at our fourth site. Once camp was setup, the kids got to hang out, play some games and relax some of the afternoon away. Then came dinner – which I must say was awesome. Once dinner was complete and all the dishes had been cleaned, the kids were surprised with an awesome treat. I’ll give you a guess as to what their treat was. Here’s a hint, it’s lovely, cold, yummy, and typically eaten with some type of syrup or “dressing”. Did you guess yet? Yes, the answer is ice-cream! We all got to enjoy some self-made ice-cream as dessert tonight. And yes, I did say self-made. To make our ice-cream, we used ice-cream balls. We filled the balls with the necessary ingredients, and began to roll and/or shake the balls to mix it all up. Since this process had to be done for about 15-20 minutes, we made it interesting by sitting in a circle and creating a story while we shook. Whoever had the ball in their hand had to continue the story from where the last person left off. Our story was by far one of the most unique and fantastic stories I’ve ever heard – it had magical flying ponies, nations being formed, and ended in a hunger game styled ice-cream making contest. After our wonderful story telling and home-made ice-cream, we made our circle for the night, and discussed things we liked about our day, and the things we wanted to improve on. We explained our plans for tomorrow and called it a night. So until tomorrow, take care.