Teacher Aboard Logs

The Atlantic Ocean

Home of whales, sharks, dolphins, flying fish...huh? Flying fish???!! Yeppers, we've been watching flying fish zoom past us every day! They are the funniest things to watch as they skitter across the top of the water. Sailors often find them on the deck of their boat at dawn. They're attracted to the light and fly right up over the rails! Several have landed on the deck at night and Fernando, one of our guest crewmembers, cleaned and cooked three of them for lunch yesterday.

The others we rig as bait on our fishing lines. By the way, we still haven't caught a fish, but we keep hoping. Our speed has picked up over the last few days, so it will be hard to catch anything.

We sailed 217 miles over a 24-hour period and then 208 over the next two-hour period, so we're making good time. That's a lot of miles for a sailboat! Keep in mind that from Madeira to Puerto Rico is about 3,800 miles the way we are going! We have to head south and hope to catch good winds to push us west.

Map by Mapquest. Click on the image for a larger view.

Let's see what's happened since you read my last log shall we? On Saturday October 21, we were sailing at about 9.4 knots, on a heading of 190 degrees south, with the wind blowing at 13 knots. We were really happy to have some wind because we spent Thursday and Friday just flogging along with almost no wind.

We passed the Canary Islands located at 28: 52.68 N and 17: 37.98 W. Can you tell me which island we were closest too? By Monday, we had reached 23: 00.55 N and 018: 05.035 W. Where were we then? I always thought the Canary Islands were named after the Canary bird. Not so! The name actually comes from the word "canis" (as in 'canine') because of the wild dogs they found on the islands!

Map by Mapquest. Click on the image for a larger view.

Rain clouds covered the islands and we had a long way to go, so we waved goodbye as they shrank from sight. I was having a great time as night fell. The sky was so clear it felt like I could reach out and touch the stars. Once it was dark, we could see the bioluminescence in the water. It was fantastic! Everywhere the boat churned up water, we could see tiny explosions of light under the surface! Too cool! But the best was yet to come. I was forward on the boat standing lookout, when the first mate came to tell me we had visitors. Dolphins!! They were streaming in the water by the boat. Because of the bioluminescence, they looked like silver rockets in the water! It doesn't get much better out here! Since then, we've also had a grand time watching the flying fish as they zoom through the same stuff in the water.

Chores, chores, and more chores

One thing I've learned on this leg of our journey, is that if I were just a passenger on board; I'd die of boredom! As much as I love the water, it becomes repetitive hour after hour and day after day. Mind you, I'm not wishing for any monster storms (we've had enough of those!), I'm only saying that it can really be monotonous without things to do. Not to worry though; there are PLENTY of things to do aboard Pride II! For example, our watch ended last night at 2300 hours, and after tidying things up and taking up some slack on the preventer, we went below to sleep.

At 0615 we were up, and at 0630 eating breakfast. At 0750 we were on deck to relieve the "C" watch, but first we had to strike the jib tops'l (one of its lines had chafed through and needed repair). We took up some more slack on the preventer and "C" watch went below. Once the repair was finished, we had to reset the JT (jib tops'l) and I found myself huffing and puffing to help hoist the sail. I REALLY need to get more sleep!

It was my hour at the helm, so I relieved the helmsperson and tried to settle into a groove of steering "full and large." This means that we sail by the wind keeping the sails full, and the wind indicator at 120 degrees or larger. Once I was relieved at the helm, I thought I might be able to sit and finish the draft for this log, but OH NO...the First Mate (who's also my watch officer) told me we were going to scrub the boat down. Just what I was looking forward to!

One engine was cranked up, the fire hose connected, the decks sprayed, and we began to scrub the sides and deck of the boat. How I've dreamed of moments like these! So romantic, so wet, so yucky! There I was, in shorts and t-shirt, thinking, "if only my students could see me now." I'm thankful there were no cameras out at the time! Seriously though, a great deal of work goes into maintaining this boat, and I'm only exposed to bits of it. As much as I joke, I never mind any of the chores I'm assigned. I learned a long time ago that work is work, and it all needs to be done. On a boat like this, the maintenance is a round-the-clock routine.

Yesterday, I helped sand the cabin top to prepare for varnish. Everything from lines to paint gets replaced while underway, so she continues to look as good as she possibly can.

I just looked at the "future machine" (what we call the GPS) and it says we have about 10 or 11 days until we arrive in Puerto Rico. Of course, this is only an estimate based on what the boat is doing right now, but I have my fingers crossed! There are a few things I'd like to share with you while we're out at sea, and that includes meeting the rest of the crew! Here are my two latest subjects - the engineer and the first mate!

The Engineer

John Shellenberger is the ship's engineer. He was born in Silver Spring, but now at the age of twenty-nine he lives in Baltimore. His family lives in Scaggsville, Maryland. John grew up surrounded by a heritage of life on the water. His great-grandfather had schooners in the York River and would sail them up to Long Island Sound to seed the oyster beds after they'd been depleted. Since John was the only grandson of a waterman, he somewhat reluctantly learned crabbing, oyster tonging, netting, and all the other associated skills. As a youngster, he would rather have been off doing other things, but now that he looks back, he can appreciate everything he learned! He learned his engineering skills from his father who is an engineer working on government contracts.

John earned a degree in Film and English Literature with a minor in Civil Engineering from the University of Miami. After college he worked as a bike messenger in Miami for a time, then did free-lance film jobs while working on a farm that had a travelling rodeo! He drove their trucks for a while until he became roommates with a friend who was working and sailing on boats.

Interestingly enough, he never sailed until he joined Pride II five years ago! His first boat work came on Lady Maryland where he helped with maintenance. Next, he helped rebuild the Minnie V, a skipjack. When the projects was finished, he was offered a position as mate. He sailed from the spring until October, and did two Kidship sails and an evening sail every day except for Tuesday and Thursday evenings. In December 1997, he joined Pride II on its trip to Asia. He sailed with her until they reached Japan, then flew home in November of 1998. He taught sailing at the Living Classrooms and then worked as a carpenter during the winter maintenance on Pride II. In May of 1999, John worked on U.S.S. Constellation as a rigger. He also managed to squeeze in some time to work for Living Classrooms again and rebuilt one of their vessels! Whew! By this time, John had earned his 100-Ton Inland Master License with a Sail Auxiliary, and his AB Special with Sail Aux.

His future plans may include becoming a captain of his own vessel. He returned to Pride II the last week in February 2000 as the engineer to ready the boat for the Tall Ship Race and the journey to Europe. When asked what he likes the most about this vocation, he replied, "It's nice to just get away, although it's tiresome being on display constantly." What he likes the least is "...fixing the head (toilet)!" When he gets home, the first thing he wants to do is go out with his friends. I imagine he'll also head home to see his family and his pet Akita, "Taco." For now, he'll just bide his time as we head for his favorite port of all - Puerto Rico!

The 1st Mate

The position second only to the Captain is the first mate. That slot is currently filled on Pride II by 35 year old Christopher Flansburg. His mother was born on a Native American reservation in South Dakota, and he also has roots to Germany! His home is now in Utah where he has worked in the desert with the Youth At-Risk program several times throughout his career.

Christopher finished high school and entered the 82nd Airborne Division of the Army out of Fort Bragg. In 1983 he was involved with the invasion of Grenada, and in 1985 he was a member of the MFO (Multinational Force Observers) sent to the Sinai Penninsula for five months.

After four years in the army, he traveled in Europe taking odd jobs as he could find them. He found himself in Eilat, Israel on the Red Sea. He managed to find a job working on day lunch charter boat for several months. In the spring of 1989, he journeyed to Turkey with his best friend, Neal, where they found a job working on Amorina, a Swedish sailing vessel. On board, they had two small Lasers (fast one-man sailboats) and he finally learned to sail! From Turkey, he managed to find a few delivery jobs as well as a trip home to work in the desert again. He also to toured Mexico and Guatemala. Talk about a seasoned traveler!

In San Diego, he found a job working with the Youth At-Risk program aboard the vessel, Tole Mour. They sailed from California, through the Great Lakes, and down to Florida where he applied for and received his AB license (Able Bodied seaman license). Later, Tole Mour offered him a job as 3rd Mate and he sailed with them from Florida to Newfoundland, through the Panama Canal to Hawaii. It was on Californian, rigged much like Pride II, that he worked his way from deckhand to 1st Mate, earning his 100-Ton Near Coastal license.

In 1997 Christopher joined the Pride organization as 2nd Mate and sailed on the Great Lakes tour. He then moved to Harvey Gamage where he was the 2nd Mate and then returned to Pride II for the Asia tour as the Bosun. (The Bosun is responsible for the rigging of the ship.) He jumped back and forth between the two vessels once more and worked as 1st Mate on both.

His favorite thing about this profession is working with the crewmembers. He believes they have a better outlook on life because they have more respect for their lives. He finds them to be well read, interesting, and able to do a wide variety of jobs (I can vouch for that!). His least favorite thing is the lack of a solid "home." Christopher would like to take some time off after this trip to learn blacksmithing. (If anybody needs a handy apprentice, call the Pride office in Baltimore and ask for the contact info for Christopher Flansburg!) He'd like to settle down for a bit and see what that sort of life is like!

Well, it's almost time for lunch and I don't want to miss that! I think we're having tuna fish with clam chowder. I'll need to send this off after lunch and then take a nap since I stand watch again from 2300 to 0300 hours. Ouch! I'll send another log next week - maybe we'll have caught a fish by then! Until then, I'll say Adios!

Your Teacher Aboard,
Lee Vogtman

YOUR THOUGHTS

1. Why couldn't we sail directly from Madeira to San Juan in a direct line?
2. What are the "Tradewinds?"
3. Can you plot all three sets of coordinates in this log?
4. To what country do the Canary Islands belong?
5. What creates "bioluminescence?" (We are discussing two different theories here. If somebody has the definitive answer please email it to Europe@pride2.org!)