Sea Term 2009: Captain's Blog

---

February 2009 S M T W Th F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Jan 2009

Saturday 07 February

"'Man's incurable loneliness' is tolerable. But nowhere to go on a Saturday night is not."
-Mason Cooley, 1933

0700 ET/1200 GMT Position
Latitude 18-18.0 N Longitude 067-18.0 W
USTS Kennedy's updated track: Sailwx Track

Air Temperature 23.5 C
Sea Temperature 26.1 C
Sea State 2
Barometric Pressure 1020.2 mb and rising
Wind NE @ 25 kts
Visibility 10 miles.

Division I Watch
Division II Alternate
Division III Maintenance
Division IV Training

Captain's Log 7 February 2009
by Captain Tom Bushy

The winter weather in the Caribbean can range from 'beautiful' to 'beautiful and windy'. The wind was always an asset to the old Spanish galleon driving toward Cartagena in the 17th century. But today, it just becomes an inconvenience. The last two days we have had at least a force seven northerly and northeasterly wind. Yesterday was cloudy and cool, and last night it manifested into heavy rain showers. We did some rolling as we crossed over Mona Passage between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

This morning our plans were to do anchor drills in Mayaguez again, but the strong northerly wind was going to make that problematic. Between the wind astern for the cadet anchoring or the presence of a swell in the harbor, it would not have been a optimum training experience. We are hovering off the west coast of Puerto Rico now and will re-evaluate our decision later this morning. The skies are trying to clear, and the wind is dropping as the barometer rises - but they must all continue in those trends for some hours before we can safely engage in the harbor entry.

I think that the weather has put a form of doldrums over the ship. I know we are in the sixth week of hard work, but we have a solid two and a half in front of us. The cadets also have been put in a situation where they must select their duty assignment once the ship ties up in Buzzards Bay. That kind of puts an "it's over" message out. But we still have the best port ahead of us. St. Thomas, with the Caribbean's most beautiful beaches, is only five days off. Like the weather, we'll just have to wait it out.

Blue Marlin, Salt Water Showers, Lifeboats, & Anchors...It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This!
by Cadet 1/C Peter Beuth

Cadets have continued to find themselves very busy with the normal rotations of watch, training, and maintenance. Starting tomorrow however, the usual is going to go by the wayside as we begin to conduct anchoring drills and lifeboat lowering exercises. Tomorrow morning we will be anchoring, or 'dropping the hook' three separate times so that each watch rotation can get some practice bringing a ship into an anchorage and actually anchoring the vessel. Once the three anchoring evolutions have been satisfactorily completed we will be conducting lifeboat lowering exercises. Due to the fact that the lifeboats on the starboard side sit above the concrete pier in Buzzards Bay, they haven't been lowered to the water and exercised recently. Tomorrow (Saturday) we will do just that, inspecting and lowering the starboard side lifeboats and essentially taking them for a test drive. This will provide a great opportunity for sophomore and senior deck cadets to get practical experience with the handling of lifeboats and for engineering cadets to work with the lifeboats to ensure that their machinery is in proper working order. Upon completion of the lifeboat drills we anticipate sitting at anchor for all of Sunday and into Monday morning. Sunday is our second Sunday-at-Sea, and we will all be relaxing, just as the ship is resting at anchor. She has been working hard and deserves a rest, just as we all do.

There were a few funny sights today on board TS Kennedy. First off, 1/C Eddie Wiseley hooked into a blue marlin this afternoon. Surprisingly, the line held for about twenty seconds and we got the fish to jump three times before the resulting shock load on the line broke it about halfway to the fish. Secondly, this afternoon we were plowing through solid ten foot seas on our port bow and numerous freshmen cadets spent time on the boat deck forward getting drenched by the vast amount of windblown spray and apparently enjoying every moment of it.

SEA TERM BY THE NUMBERS
by Cadet 1/C Peter Beuth

11.25-number of nautical miles we are off the coast of Haiti as I am writing this piece.
0-number of clouds in the sky this morning.
6-number of days until we reach Saint Thomas, USVI.
4-number of days we will be staying in Saint Thomas, USVI.
16-number of days left until return to Buzzards Bay.
87-our high temperature in degrees Fahrenheit for today.
8-the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit this morning back home in Massachusetts.
79-the difference in degrees Fahrenheit between here and home. (JEALOUS??)
Too many to count-number of cadets with sunburns.
0-number of kids complaining about their sunburns. (Hey, it could be worse. Could be windburn or frostbite.)
3000-number of photos I've taken on sea term this year.
172-number of photos posted thus far on the Sea Term pages.
3-number of photos I have of myself! Oh, the irony.
1-Number of CD's of photos that have made it back to the states through the mail system. Oh, the disappointment!
Thousands-number of flying fish sighted so far.
6-number of cadets who received Class II mast reports for alcohol related offenses as of the 3rd night in Puerto Rico. (Dramatically less than in previous years.)
9-number of hours it takes to get to St. Thomas by ship from Puerto Rico.
9-number of days it is taking us to get there. (Hey, it is a training cruise).
2-number of fish caught on board so far this sea term. One mahi mahi and one yellowtail snapper.
1- number of blue marlin hooked up and subsequently lost today.
3-number of times it jumped.
160ish- number of pounds several people estimated the fish to be.
7-number of basketballs lost over the side so far.
12-height of seas in feet yesterday afternoon.
34-wind speed in knots most of today.
3-number of days cadets have been without smoking privileges.
2-number of days we will be anchored off of Puerto Rico conducting anchoring drills and lifeboat lowering exercises.

LINKS:
Official MMA Photography

Christiaan Conover Blog Page
Buzzards Bay Weather
MMA Parents Association

Departure Photos
Cape Cod Times Online Departure Photos
217 Photos of TS Kennedy's Arrival in Tampa

Should you have an emergency and need to contact someone at MMA regarding your cadet or a crew member, please contact Commander Stephen Kelleher:
Commander Stephen Kelleher
508-830-6485 (daytime)
508-364-6217 (Evenings/Weekends)
seaterm@maritime.edu

If Commander Kelleher is not available, you may contact me at any time:
Captain Allen Hansen
508-269-0925
ahansen@maritime.edu

Parting Shots...Do They Really Want To Come Back?

Yes, They Do!

Printable Page