Sea Term 2009: Captain's Blog
"Childhood is an adventure both for children and for their parents. There should be freedom to explore and joy in discovery. The important discoveries for both parents and children seldom come at the points where the path is smooth and straight. It is the curves in that path to adventure that make the trip interesting and worthwhile."
-Lawrence Kutner, child psychologist and author.
"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered."
Gilbert Keith Chesterton, British author. 0700 ET/1200 GMT Position
Latitude 32-36.0 N Longitude 067-18.0 W
USTS Kennedy's updated track: Sailwx Track Air Temperature 20.5 C
Sea Temperature 18.9 C
Sea State 3
Barometric Pressure 1015.0 mb and falling
Wind SSW @ 27.0 kts
Visibility 5 miles. Division I Training
Division II Watch
Division III Alternate
Division IV Maintenance Captain's Log 19 February 2009
by Captain Tom Bushy The chess game with meteorological gods continues. Yesterday we speeded up a little to help get in step with the well defined swell to the south. Throughout the day the wind died, the swell veered around more to the southwest. As sunset came, we were riding comfortably with an impressive speed of advance. This morning, as the wee hours passed, the ship was rolling more and more, and by sunrise we had a good force seven southwesterly wind, developing seas, and of course, that nasty swell, working right against it. So, once again, we look for better conditions for the ride with a conservative approach to fuel consumption. So, we slowed down. Right now our speed has dropped to about 11 knots, but the rolling period has remained the same (a function of vessel stability actually, but that's another lesson). As I ordered the slow down, I sensed disappointment by the cadets on bridge watch. Why? Was the slow down going to delay our arrival in Buzzards Bay? It seems that this voyage should become known as the "Cell Phone Cruise of 2009." I heard on the bridge this morning that the cadets want to get up to Cape Cod Bay as soon as possible...so they can use their cell phones! I know communications are important. In fact, in today's world, they are essential. But...let's see? Buzzards Bay to New York - nearly 100% cell coverage. South Florida to Tampa - cell phones coverage about 75% of the time. All around Puerto Rico (San Juan and Mayaguez) - 100% coverage, and finally Virgin Islands - 100%. If we did a careful analysis, I am betting that the cadets and crew had cell phones at their disposal over 25 days since leaving Buzzards Bay. Other stats reinforce this theory - out of 590 possible email users, we only had 221 - which is a 75% reduction from last year, and the use of external messages such as WLO New Orleans is down to nearly zero. Now Moms and Dads, brothers and friends - don't misunderstand me. As I have said before, I call too. But this concept of high frequency of availability is an unrealistic expectation for the seagoing life. I would not want to be on the receiving end of the cell phone roaming charges and over-use minutes. If any of you have a horror story of out-of-control bills, please share them with me so I can attempt to alert "bill payers" in the future (anonymity assured). Oh yeah, we passed near the Cayman Islands - and as I recall from five years ago, they were $10 per minute! Thanks. 
Approaching 35 degrees North Latitude
by Cadet 1/C Peter Beuth Today we are pitching fairly heavily on board TS Kennedy as we have a 10 to 12 foot northerly swell in the water, left behind by the large North Atlantic storm currently departing to our north. High pressure has set in and we are enjoying what is sure to be our last day of warm sunny weather. The forecast for tomorrow spells major changes as we approach 35 degrees north latitude...in line with Cape Hatteras...with south to southwest winds of 35 to 45 knots and seas 15 to 20 feet in the forecast. I'll tell you, mother nature sure isn't going to make it easy on us as we try to study for our finals which will be taking place on Friday. Bow watch was secured today as we took several rounds of heavy spray over the bow while plowing ahead through several large, open ocean groundswells. For the first time this year we finally took a couple of rolls during dinner that were big enough to cause culinary chaos in the mess deck (hence, mess deck) as cups, trays, and a chicken drumstick or two went flying. Preparations are underway for our arrival on the morning of the 22nd as cadets have been cleaning the ship, packaging up materials, and organizing the storage compartments as neatly as possible so as to make the upcoming offload evolution go by as smoothly and quickly as possible. As far as packing up our individual belongings goes, we will not be doing much of that until the night before we return to Buzzards Bay since we still must stand our final Captain's Inspection. All cadets have also been made aware that everything they carried onboard on Day One must also leave with them on the 22nd. In the past there have been problems with cadets leaving massive amounts of garbage and unwanted materials behind in the hold to be cleaned out later. This year we have been warned that it will not be allowed. If we have trash, we will be required to deposit all of it in the dumpsters waiting on the pier next to our berth at the campus. Finally, the rumor mill has been operating at full speed over the last few days. Everyone wants to know, "Are we anchoring?" "I heard we are going up through the canal and then back down it to campus." "Someone said we are changing course to avoid the storm." "I heard this, I heard that..." Its been nonstop! However, what I can tell you right now is that we are still on track for arriving at the State Pier on campus at 0743 on Sunday, February 22nd. You can still expect to see TS Kennedy making her approach heading westbound in the Cape Cod Canal from the pier by about 0715 or 0720. Since we should be in the vicinity of the coastline later on Friday or during the day on Saturday you can expect to begin receiving very excited phone calls from your son, daughter, or other family member sometime around then. As many of the cadets have been saying..."all we have now is three days and a wake up." 
Northbound
by Captain Tim Brady Well, I've been promising a guest entry into the Captains Log so here goes. Although this was my ninth sea term in the past ten years, there were plenty of new happenings from my perspective. Most importantly it was my first extended (mini-cruise excluded) time at sea on a ship with my son. Seeing things through fresher eyes has been interesting. The trials and tribulations of the "youngies" are often brushed off with, "Well, we went through it so they have to go through it." While there is merit to that traditional argument it certainly is not a logic pattern that would get you far in many other venues and we should try harder to explain WHY we do it. For example a 4th class cadet on sea term will take a wide ranging array of classes in Marine Transportation, Marine Engineering, Marine Safety and Environmental Protection, International Maritime Business, and Emergency Management/Homeland Security. Each of these classes give a test that accounts for some portion of a cadet's final grade. In some cases the test is given on the last day of that subject's training; in some cases it is given days or even weeks later, according to the Exam Day schedule. In any case, the cadet will then wait, days or even weeks for a grade (coded by the students ID #) that will magically appear on a list outside a training office. At this point the cadet may not remember much about the test or what the subject matter was so reviewing mistakes is basically a moot point. In past years, as Training Coordinator, I have never been asked to review a 4th class grade. Yet all these grades are compiled again into a spreadsheet that weights everything accordingly. In addition to test grades the youngies will get graded on Deck Watch, Engine Watch, Deck Maintenance and Engine Maintenance. These grades also magically appear on lists outside of offices and contribute to the Final Grade. Throw in daily inspections of holds, bunks, personnel, endless formations for accountability, weekly drills, changing watch schedules ("What do you mean I'm on at midnight?!") and scullery duty and the picture gets even more confused. The 3 day breaks (1 day spent on watch) in tropical ports often seem to lull the unwary 4th class cadet into a state of misguided relaxation as the sea term quickly rolls back into workaday mode. Don't get me wrong about the treatment of the Fourth Class Cadets. The system keeps them busy, helps them learn and indoctrinates them into life at sea. It's important that we don't minimize WHY we do it. It's mainly to see that they all come back safe, sound and better seasoned sailors. I am happy to be able to say that I spent a six hour kayak/snorkel tour with 40 of our cadets (mostly 4/C) and they were gentlemen and ladies of the first order. This is not something that would happen with just any group of college students. Our students are not perfect but the respectfulness and focus we see is not an accident. It's WHY we do everything we do! 
You Know It's Almost The End of Sea Term When...
by Cadet 1/C Peter Beuth ...they run out of coffee cups and have to start using wax juice cups for the hot coffee.
...the cream cheese has hardly been seen in recent days.
...Captain Benway starts warning those with celestial navigation left to complete about hurricane force winds and 30 foot seas.
...they tell us to notify our families about our offload/watch assignments in Buzzards Bay, yet we can't because, strangely, Seawave email goes down right when we need it most.
...cadets cell phones won't hold a charge anymore because they've been on for almost two months to be used as alarm clocks, all the while searching for service.
...there are no more basketballs.
...it gets colder.
...the starboard side of the ship looks better than the port side.
...the cantaloupe they put out is brown in the middle...heck somebody will eat it, right?
...all cadets talk about is having their own room at home again.
...the gym gets busier as cadets want to somehow get back in shape in four days before seeing their girlfriends or family.
...the ECDIS shows our ship in the middle of the Atlantic with our ship's heading aimed straight for home.
...the adjutant is overwhelmed with people wanting to change their offload/watch assignment.
...your knife is just not as sharp as it was last month.
...your flashlight is using up the last of your batteries.
...you have permanent wrinkles in your clothes that have been crammed under your rack for the last month and a half.
...seniors spend countless hours playing "washer toss" to ward off boredom.
...you've heard Kenny Chesney blaring out of the speakers on the helo deck for the 26th time in the last week.
...cadets are haggling over cigarettes.
...cadets sleep as much as possible just to make the last few days go by that much faster.
...all the freshmen talk about passing Cape Hatteras, and big storms, and suddenly 12 foot seas become 24 in their minds.
...you wake up, you see Cape Cod, all the bare trees and snowy ground...and you say to yourself...S%@T.
...you wake up, you see Cape Cod, all the bare trees and snowy ground&and you say to yourself...heck, yeah! Can't wait to ski and board!
...you see people at the east end of the canal waving as you enter the canal, and then a mile later you see the same people waving, and then again a mile later.
...they call "first line."
...you see somebody, somehow managing to carry two duffel bags, a back pack, a laptop, all their uniforms, and their toolbox down the gangway at the same time.
...they pipe your liberty call but you can't get off yet because that idiot dropped all that stuff in the middle of the gangway as he was getting off.
YOU KNOW IT IS THE END OF SEA TERM WHEN YOU WALK OFF THE GANGWAY INTO THE WAITING ARMS OF FAMILY AND FRIENDS, KNOWING THAT YOU ARE ALL THE BETTER FOR YOUR EXPERIENCES DURING SEA TERM 2009. 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...
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