TSSG 2008 Voyage Log

Today we gathered together for a sail in San Francisco Bay at Hyde St. Pier before we took a 10 day break from school. When we arrived to Hyde St. Pier everyone seemed to be holding so much anticipation and new found self. There was also an aura of confidence, independence, and empowerment that lurked through each girl’s facial expressions.

Before setting sail on the Alma, we met with Ruth Ann Barratt, a volunteer, and Heidi Hill, a TSEA board member, at the Visitor’s Center. Ruthie came to record our journal entries as we read them on a microphone. It was pretty cool that she could take voices and make magic with them. Hopefully the next time we see her, she will have the finish product.

The Alma’s technique of setting sail was quite different than Westward, but it didn’t take much for us to adjust. We all sat around and chatted about our return back home, how we had been adjusting, and just different little things that we encountered while away from one another. I was really excited to have had the opportunity to regroup with my girls because I know that out of everyone, they would definitely be the ones to understand the great and fulfilling experience that I had on Westward.

Written by Ellissia Hill

Coming back home from the trip was, for lack of better words, interesting. Although all of us were sad to be leaving each other, we were all excited to be home and to see our families. We were all emotional when we saw our parents and friends at the airport. I was completely overwhelmed with emotions. So overwhelmed that I began to cry and laugh at the same time, not knowing which of the two I felt more, sadness or happiness. Seeing my old friends, my mom, and my boyfriend was and still is nice, but I can’t seem to shake the feeling of being out of place. As happy as I am to see everyone, nobody seems to understand me the way they used to. Beginning this trip, I knew that I was going to come back a changed woman, but I never anticipated I would change so drastically. I found myself wanting to be with all the girls that were on the ship with me; wanting to call them and tell them everything about my day because I knew that they would be able to understand me more than anyone else. Every time I tried to explain my trip to other people, they just didn’t seem to really understand what I was talking about. I can’t blame them but it made me feel more alone and I longed for the tall ship girls even more. It also made me realize how much the other girls and I have learned and gained from this trip as well as the extremely strong bond we have with each other.

By Christina Gomez

I have been home from the voyage for a little over a week now and on Thursday I got invited to go on the Tall Ship Academy Women’s Challenge with my mom. The Women’s Challenge is a four day sailing trip in the San Francisco Bay where woman have the chance to explore outside their comfort zone and learn how to sail.

We arrived at Pier 40 to meet up with the rest of the women and the crew of the Seaward and by 6 o’clock, the sails were up and we were heading to our first destination. The first night we got to know each others names, had an awesome dinner and were all excited to enjoy this new experience. The crew decided to give the women a break by letting them sleep-in through the night instead of having them stand anchor watch, but their luck ran out the next two nights when they didn’t get to enjoy a full night of sleep after having a long day of hauling on lines, cleaning, and stretching their minds to a whole new world.

Throughout the 3 days, the ladies said that they never expected to learn so much or experience as much as they did. We all got the opportunity to learn knots, navigation, safety equipment, basic skills of sailing and much more that I know will stay with a lot of us forever. It was so great to be able to share my passion and learning experiences with my mom, and this trip just brought us that much closer as mother and daughter and as friends.

Written by Ami

Starting position: 25 27.7N, 079 57.5W
Rhumb Run in last 24 hrs: 100.2nm

West Palm Beach here we come! These swells will not stop us from getting to our new destination on time. We can see sites of Miami, Florida and know that we’re close
Tonight was scary, others would say exciting. The waves were around 12ft high, and it wasn’t very fun steering at the helm. The swells sent the bow slamming down, spraying the whole boat making everyone on the stern feel as though they were getting launched over and over again.
On the 16th , we were all hands at 6 in the morning. It took us a couple of hours to make our way into Riviera Beach (near West Palm Beach) and get our spot at the docks. When we finally got there and furled all the sails, Nettie and Molly got the crew and us ice cream for all the hard we had done (of course they didn’t forget themselves). Silence fell on the group while students were in the process of eating ice cream. Next we headed down below to start packing!

Starting position: 23 52.7N, 79 33.9W
Rhumb Run in last 24 hrs: 148nm

Today in class we learned that a cold front will be heading our way with winds that would becoming right at us from the northwest, when of course we are trying to go northwest to get to Florida. When the front came it came hard and strong and you would think that we weren’t just coming from the Caribbean Islands. How we were all bungled up in everything we bought that was warm. We also learned that we will not be making it to our destination in Fernandina Beach, Florida. That means that we may end up in Miami, or somewhere else because we don’t have enough fuel to make it to up as far as Fernandina Beach. So now we are just playing the waiting game with where we can go.

Written by Erika Monroe