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| Date:
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Friday, August 14,1998
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| Position: |
Latitude 49 degrees 35.0 minutes North; Longitude 170 degrees 12.9 minutes West
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| Entered By:
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Teacher Aboard Carol Zajano
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LIFE AT SEA
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Our second week at sea brings cooler weather and a change in diet as we sail northeast to Seattle. The entire crew is dressing in layers for warmth. Many deck hands make a fashion statement with their hats and gloves. Pamela has loaned me a pair of gloves for night watch. This is only one of the many acts of kindness that I have been shown by the crew. All of our lettuce has been consumed, so our salad is usually a type of cole slaw made from cabbage. Tina is making hot oatmeal for breakfast, hot soups for lunch, and delicious breads for dinner that really hit the spot after working on the cool and misty deck.
Many of the crew are taking turns using the bucket washing machine on deck and the solar drier to do their laundry as we sail. Jen even has her hair cut on deck by Chris. You really can do almost anything aboard ship that you can do on land with some thought and effort.
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We are following a Swedish Watch schedule:
A Watch - on 7 AM to 1 PM
B Watch - on 1PM to 7 PM
C Watch - on 7PM to 11PM
A Watch - on 11PM to 3AM
B Watch - on 3AM to 7AM
Then the schedule repeats, so that every third day is the same. There are four people assigned to each watch shift. Each shift must report to the stern of the ship by the helm 10 minutes before the hour. A mate is in charge of each watch reporting to Captain Miles. The Chief Mate, Wes Heerson, is responsible for my watch, A. The Second Mate, Jen Huggins, is in charge of B Watch. The Bosun, Chris Flansburg, is accountable for C Watch..
The safety of the ship is the responsibility of the watch on deck. The on-coming watch must be ready to relieve at least five minutes before watch change. It is the responsibility of the watch on deck to call the on-coming watch. Watchstanders should have a knife at all times and a flashlight at night.
Before the off-going watch leaves the deck, the watch officer assures that the deck is cleared of mugs and that the galley is cleaned.
Duties of the watch rotate fairly and include lookout (who stands at the bow looking for ships or other large obstacles in the water), helmsman (steers the ship according to course given), writing log entries, conducting weather reports, and conducting boat checks on an hourly basis.
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Maintenance is done from 1PM to 3PM, weather permitting. This is when the ship is painted, sails are mended, chafe gear is formed and baggy wrinkle is made. Leather chafe gear is used to preserve the mast. Baggy wrinkle is used to protect the sails from the standing rig.
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TIME
There are 24 different time zones around the world with a one hour's difference between zones that are side by side. As we sail east we continuously lose an hour with every 15 longitude or meridian lines we cross. When we crossed the International Date Line at 180 E longitude our day became yesterday, we enjoyed August 12, 1998, twice. Our longitude changed to 180 W. Sailing from Tokyo to Seattle across the Pacific Ocean we travel through 9 time zones. Time zones are shown on a time zone map. The continental United States has four time zones.
THE PACIFIC
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Going across the Pacific is fascinating! The ship is sailing, the time is changing, and the ocean currents are moving. The Pacific Ocean's surface can change from calm and mirror-like to wild and treacherous. Most waves at sea are caused by the wind. The surface of the ocean can also be changed by colliding currents. Ocean currents are massive bodies of water that travel long distances around the world. A current is something like river in an ocean. The major force that produces the currents is the wind. There are seven main ocean currents and thousands of smaller ones. They move in large, circular streams at about walking pace(1-5knots). In the Northern Hemisphere, currents move in a clockwise direction.
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The major currents of the world's oceans link up to make five giant loops of moving water called gyres. These circle different oceans, such as the North Atlantic, the North Pacific, and the West Pacific. The current with the wind is helping to sail us eastward to Seattle.
The crew has seen several ships pass near us on the radar screen but only one close enough to see at a distance. One whale has been spotted. Several pods of dolphins have been sighted playing and feeding off the bow. Dolphins learn about their environment, navigate, and find prey by using a technique called echolocation. A dolphin searching for food will send out long-and short range sound signals or clicks. The returning echoes tell the dolphins where prey can be found. As the dolphin closes in on prey, it uses much shorter clicks to gain wore detailed information about its target.
Beneath the ocean's surface is an amazing landscape. The ocean floor you see at the beach is usually a flat bed of sand. The larger underwater view of the Pacific Ocean is filled with mountains, trenches, plateaus and ridges as well as vast sandy plains. The Pacific Ocean is the world's largest ocean and covers 64,200,000 square miles and makes up 32% of the earth's surface. The Pacific Ocean is also the deepest ocean with an average depth of 12,900 feet.
The Mariana Trench is the deepest part of the ocean floor at 35,800 below sea level near the Philippine Islands. If you turned Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain, upside down in the trench; it would sink more than a mile into the sea before touching bottom.
The light that strikes the ocean is either absorbed or broken up and scattered back to the surface. Blue and green wavelengths of light are scattered more than red and yellow ones, and this gives the ocean its blue or green appearance.
YOUR THOUGHTS
- Make a daily schedule for yourself , include things you do at home and at school.
- Write a short paragraph telling what job you would like to have on watch and why?
- Create a mural of an ocean with a group of friends and label the landscape forms.
- Read about an animal that lives in the ocean and share five facts that you learned with your class.
- Think of three ways to welcome a new student your class, share your ideas with your teacher.
- Draw a picture of a hat that you would like to wear while crossing the Pacific Ocean.
- How should a class leave their room at the end of the day? Make a chart telling how with your classmates and teacher and post it in your classroom.
- Are there any other ways to travel from Tokyo to Seattle besides a tall ship? How would you travel? What would you pack? Design a travel poster to advertise the trip.
- Draw a picture of yourself at your favorite time of day; doing what you like best.
- The wind has a great effect on a sailing vessel. Write a paragraph telling about a time the wind has effected your life.
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