Today was the last Girls’ Boat Project class before winter break. It was a fun day to celebrate us and all we’ve learned so far.
You might not know that the NW Maritime Center houses the maritime collection of the Port Townsend Public Library. This special room, called the McCurdy Library, is upstairs in the yellow building. Most of us in the Girls’ Boat Project are avid readers, so we started our day with a visit to the library and time to peruse all of the treasures there. After looking through tales of adventure, nautical history, and books on tools, boat design and knots, each of us left with a book to read over the break.
Then we headed off for our next challenge- the exposure suit obstacle course! We worked in teams on properly donning an exposure suit, moving over and under obstacles, tying knots, throwing docklines, and backing a dock cart. It was a lot of fun and a reminder that skills can be harder to execute under pressure.
At the end of the day, we returned to our classroom for a potluck of delicious foods we brought to share. We also watched the incredible film Around Cape Horn. This is an amazing account of the square rigger Peking and her travels around the horn in the 1920s. If you’ve never seen if you can find it here . We had lots of thoughts and questions afterwards.
We spent the last few minutes playing pictionary. It was a great reminder of all we have learned this session.
Happy Holidays and we will be back in the New Year!
