Jon T. Howard - North Atlantic Gyre Blog #15

We woke up today with a light drizzle and though the sun has been trying to break through, so far it hasn't had any luck. It looks like we will be staying an extra day in St. Thomas while we wait for some equipment but the plan is to depart tomorrow late morning. We spent yesterday going through the ship with the captain getting detailed instructions on where every thing is and how the Sea Dragon operates inside and out. Everyone was assigned life vests and foul weather gear that is coordinated to our bunks. Mine is #17 and it's very important to create complete order because in the event of a sudden change of weather or an emergency we all need to be clear about where things are and the proper procedure. Captain Clive Cosby from the UK has been very thorough and is great a teacher which makes any of the work and learning so much better. The one thing he has stressed more than anything is safety and taking every thing about our assigned tasks serious. After our morning of training we actually

took the Sea Dragon out sailing for a while so we could all learn how to operate the wenches and sails. The ships owner Ron Ritter who sailed the ship down from England took photos and video from the dingy as we went through some basic maneuvers with the sails on the Sea Dragon. So far so good and I really love getting as involved as possible. The experience the captain and his first mate John Wright have is lifelong and I hope to learn as much about sailing as possible on this voyage. We will all be working around the clock doing 3 man crews of 6 hours on then 6 hours off during the day and 4 hours on and 4 hours off and 4 hours on through the night. They have stressed over and over that rest and down time will be very important as well as eating well and drinking large amounts of water. Well I must report back to the ship for some duties...