By Jacinta Early, Onboard Educator
L-R: Caitlin (Deck Hand), Amanda (Cook), Robert (Apprentice), Pete Seeger, Adam (Education Intern), Emily (2nd Mate), Jacinta (Onboard Educator) and Aleythea (First Mate) in front.
The last week of July and the first week of August saw our two multiday programs, Young Women and Young Men at the Helm. These Clearwater leadership programs run for three days and consisting of learning specific skills of how to function the boat as well as each group having a focus of either Watershed, Ecology, Navigation, or Maritime.
After all this, we had a few new additions to the crew who have settled in and who have all previously been either crew members or volunteers in the past.
Tips on how to indentify our new crew:
The two new apprentices are Gina and Robert. Gina has a sweet tooth like no other, and Robert can be spotted sporting a moustache and a guitar.
The new Cook onboard is Amanda, who can be observed up on deck either side of meal times with a mandolin and a smile.
Caitlin, who is a longtime Clearwater crew as a volunteer, apprentice, Young Women – and Young Men at the Helm leader is now Deck Hand and can be found with a mandolin, too.
We are awaiting the arrival of our new engineer, Tom, who lived in Melbourne, Australia for 5 years –where I lived before I moved to be part of the Clearwater family. Whether this works in my favor or not is another question all together.
Caitlin in the brine barrel scrubbing with the head of a deck brush while Robert holds on
This week had late starts and lots of maintenance, which included an intense scrubbing of the Brine Barrel. This barrel is filled with salty water which we use for deck wash morning and night. The commitment of the crew can be seen when we willingly hang upside down and crawl inside of this smelly barrel scrubbing it intently.
Anyone coming onboard within the coming weeks is going to experience a freshly-oiled deck and a brine barrel which has never been as clean as this!
This week ended on a high with Pete Seeger coming to visit us twice in the one day. He shared with us stories of the old lawn mower factory, how they used to wash the deck 5 to 10 times a day, and checked out down below.
At 8:00PM that evening, when we returned to Beacon, Pete was standing at the dock watching us throw lines as we safely came into port for the night. After a long week of sailing and maintenance, it was a fantastic way to end our few new crew week.
