Francis Beaufort, 1805, an Irish Royal Naval Officer created this scale to relate wind speed to observed conditions.  Today when Bravo students arrived, it was a Force 5 (more wind speed in knots than the Coast Guard allows for us to go out).  When the students left for the day, it was less than a Force 3…  Sometimes the prudent mariner doesn’t push their time or their experience.   We had a great day anyway!  🙂  (see below)

What we did instead involved checking off skills on our maritime skills list — knot tying (square knot, bowline, Zeppelin bend to name a few), rowing commands, and other skills like MOB recovery and weather observations.  We also started a brainstorm to help us understand the things we’ll need to prepare for our four-day Journey in May!  See the brainstorm list below:  

At the dock, we set all three sails and practiced reefing!

Our theater students (“Neverending Story” OCEAN play starts this weekend!) Zinnia and Hunter left early for practice and the rest of us talked about our next environmental project, perhaps another beach cleanup, perhaps another Zine…  We ended the day on the beach with a team building blindfold challenge.

Lots of favorite moments today included setting the sails and the challenge.  We’ll hope for less wind next week so we can go sailing!