Captain's Post

“Sailing is going slowly in the wrong direction at great expense”

Usually we begin the spring term with several short stops to the BVI.  This year the Education department and I decided to start with a bit longer sail—I suppose it has to do with building a crew out of a diverse group of students.

Our first passage, after the “shakedown” to Buck Is., was to Sint Eustatius, only ninety nautical miles. But this it the Caribbean and that means that this time of year the wind blows steadily from the east—the very direction we needed to go. So, you can drive 90 miles in an afternoon, fly it in a minute, or sail it—could be as little as 10 hours for us in perfect conditions. As it was, though, it took us 5 days of tacking to weather.

What is the point? Everyone learns something from this: to slow down, be patient, appreciate the beauty around them, to do all they can when things aren’t going their way, and to count on others to do their best in turn. That working and waiting for something is ok, even better most of the time.

Students came to the ship with different ideas about what this voyage was for. We will depart “Statia” with a crew who has a good idea what it means to them.

  Fair winds, Captain Flansburg