By Jacinta Early, Onboard Educator
“Cuddles the Hogchoker”
This week was a full-on sailing week with all different kinds of sails! We had Five Education sails, two group sails, one public sail and a 5-hour photo shoot. The training day for the volunteers was packed with education training, boat safety training, how to be line leaders, and a “man overboard” drill. The drill had me steering the yawl boat for the first time with Sammy, onboard education intern, and Zach, sailing apprentice. All in all, we did a fairly good job of getting the patient (Joe the Fender) with the yawl boat and returning him to the safety of the sloop Clearwater.
We were also able to go seining at Alpine, NJ, which was the first time I caught not only one, but two hogchokers and causing everyone to laugh at my excited jumping up-and-down. By the end of the day all of the volunteers were exhausted and ready for the next day of sailing.
Our transit from Alpine to Brooklyn Bridge Park started at 6AM, (which meant early wake ups!), and we were able to make sure everything was prepared for the first education program of the day. After a successful education program with beaming sunshine, we got ready for the transit to Chelsea Pier for a group sail in the evening. All the Chelsea Waterside Park Association members were a pleasure to sail with, chatting and laughing with the crew. Unfortunately mid-way through the sail, the sky opened up, causing everyone to get soaked. Not that this dampened the mood at all!
We continued on with our week at Brooklyn Bridge Park and then at 79th Street where we had education programs galore. The weather was temperamental as ever, with one sail starting out with so much rain, we all had to take shelter down below. It cleared up as quick as it came and by the end of the sail there were a few crew members (including myself) starting to go a lovely shade of crimson.
Volunteer Greg and Education Intern Sammy teaching The Young Women’s Leadership School about watersheds
The photo shoot with the American Girl Dolls was a new experience for all of us. The youth intern onboard had been collecting them since she was really young and was beyond excited to see what happens behind the scenes. All of the crew involved with the photo-shoot were helpful with raising the sails and even sweating the jib halyards. The week ending with a public sail was a nice way to finish off our bit of everything week with the weather holding out and us zooming away from the looming thunderstorms.
