It’s spring and the weather has been windy! Today was yet another Small Craft Advisory posted which means that the Townshend and her crew were staying safely ashore.

We started the day as we always do with a check on the weather. Although most of us had noted the wind on our way into the classroom, we headed out to the end of the dock to make our official observations. We determined that the wind was blowing at Beaufort Force 6 (22-27 knots) from the Southeast. We guessed that the sea state was about 2-3 foot waves.

We used our time ashore to make some serious progress on our zine. Each of us spent time researching and writing up information on our marine birds and then sent these to Audrey who is putting the zine together. It was really nice to have some focused time in class to make this happen.

When the weather gods give you wind, what better to do than a squall drill? After snack, we reviewed sail parts. Then we packed up our exposure suits and sails and headed down to the longboat.

reviewing sail parts and reefing

We numbered off our crew and practiced our count-off. Then we climbed aboard. As Captain Sonia announced the squall drill, we had to find our partners and help them into their exposure suits. Not any easy task on a 26 foot long boat!

After that, we reefed and set our sails. It was a challenge with our exposure suits on and the crew prepared without help from Chrissy or Sonia. Bowlines, reef knots, yard bends, cleat hitches and coiling were all required to be successful.

Before we knew it, class was almost over. We struck and furled the sails, then headed back to the bosun’s locker with our exposure suits in hand (or wearing them). As usual, we took time as a group to reflect on the day. We were challenged by being restricted and warm in our exposure suits, being tired and low energy, and not getting to go boating. We enjoyed being outside in the wind, successfully completing our squall drill, having time to work on our zine, and having fun with each other.