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Sail Training with the Hartsbrook Waldorf School

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Good morning everyone. We are off and sprinting in very fine fashion. The crew is doing a tremendous job of pulling everything together. We just finished a very soggy cruise with a group of young adults from the Hartsbrook Waldorf School. I was so impressed by their maturity in the face of adversity. We had three straight days of rain, which I would call adversity for 8th graders, but these folks stood their watches in the rain without a whimper or a complaint.

Our sail training program introduces all the elements of watch standing including standing a bow watch, sail handling and trim, knots and nomenclature, and steering. The domestic chores, galley duty and cleaning heads, are also a piece of the puzzle of shipboard life. The pictures here are from the last day when the sun finally came out and we had every kind of weather imaginable… sun, wind, fog… and even an afternoon thunderstorm. The students had sails down and the vessel secured in minutes and the storm tracked just to the north of us quite uneventfully. I could not have asked for a better drill to reinforce the importance of knowing every line on the schooner. Back in Camden we laughed as the vessels we built raced across our small cove to the proud budding naval architects waiting on the beach. Congratulations to all of the students for a job well done!

Have a great day. Be well. Do good.
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Unknown said…
From my vantage point here in the sunny summery south it looks like everyone was well pleased that the sun finally came out.

If I can remember back to the 8th grade I think the closest I came to a trip aboard a schooner was a half day on a party boat fishing for fluke in Long Island Sound. I'm not complaining - that trip is one of my fondest memories of my time with my Grandfather.

I think those kids had a great adventure I know I won't let rain spoil my time aboard.

I've got a countdown calendar on my computer desktop which shows I've got only 31 more days until I board. I expect Maine weather when I'm in Maine so have it ready for me. Wet, dry, sunny, cold - I'll be prepared.

Don't tell the crew too much about me or they might desert to Mt. Desert Rock.
June 2, 2009 at 9:14 PM
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