Baltimore to Charleston, May 2017

We left Baltimore, bound for Tall Ships Charleston, on May 13^th.

While the boat is traveling, it obviously doesn’t make any sense to have everyone on deck, so it makes sense to have a structured watch system in place, that way there is always a group of professional crew with a mix of passengers awake and operating the boat. The way watches work aboard Pride II, there are three four hour watches throughout the day, and we never dogged the watch. The Chief Mate would run the 12-4 watch, the Second Mate ran the 4-8 watch, and the bosun had the 8-12 watch. When you are not on watch, you are either off watch or on standby. The standby watch will typically be called up to help with sail-handling maneuvers, and the off watch is only called upon for jobs that require a lot of hands, or during an emergency situation.

For this particular transit I was on the 4-8 watch, with the Second Mate, Engineer, another deckhand, and two paying passengers as our guest crew. Personally this is also my favorite watch to be on, because you there is an opportunity to experience sunsets and sunrises, and there is a lot of change that happens during this watch. For all the other watches you are either on deck in the dark at night, or on deck during daylight hours. Since we had the Engineer, we had the biggest watch, but it also meant that we ran the generator at 0600 and 1800 everyday.

Seeing as this was the first day of our first transit, we had everyone up on deck for the first six or so hours. This gave us the opportunity to teach the guest crew how to set and handle sail. They got a big taste of the amount of work it takes to run the ship, and the first day can often be a little overwhelming to a newcomer. We broke into watches after sailing around Baltimore Harbor, and then heading south past the bridge. I was then stood down after lunch and was allowed to go down below to rest before my evening watch. I did end up staying up on deck, because our ship’s photographer rented a small plane to fly out and photograph us passing Annapolis and headed to our first festival of the season. I thought it would be pretty cool to see, and I was hoping to be in the pictures. 

The first 24 hours were pretty calm. Coming into Day 2 of the transit, my watch was on as we left the Chesapeake Bay, and it was pretty interesting getting to hear all the radio chatter between the shipping vessels entering the channel. When you’re traveling by way of boat, you really get a first hand look at the way goods are moved from port to port, and in my opinion it’s really cool to see. We did come within a stone throw’s distance of a buoy, but that was the most “exciting” thing to happen on that watch. We didn’t get called up at all throughout the day, and our evening watch was also pretty calm. We did manage to catch Mahi Mahi during our evening watch, and none of us were really fisherman... But I tried fresh raw fish for the first time, and our cook was able to add it to the dinner he was almost finished making.

Day 3, was a day spent constantly monitoring the weather as we began to approach Cape Hatteras. This particular cape is known as being a “danger zone” during every transit up or down the coast, and it has to be timed properly and well-prepared for. We were called up to help reduce sail during our off watch to help reduce sail area just after lunch. During our afternoon/evening watch we realized that we should hold off to avoid seriously bad weather ahead. At this point it was 1630 and our captain made the call for us to heave to. We were sailing under the mains’l, fores’l, stays’l and tops’l. We called up the standby watch to strike the fore, and then we backed the tops’l and stays’l, backing the forward sails like this essentially makes them act as brakes in a sense. With the sails on opposite tacks, it helps to avoid any forward momentum. We sat hove to off of Bodie Island Lighthouse, where a former crew member was able to talk about us with all of the visitors, as well as snap a few pictures of us off in the distance. We were there for a few hours. Around 0100 my watch was called up to help set the fore and strike the tops’l, and the boat continued on her merry way.

So far, this had been a pretty good first transit for a new crew learning to work together. It was a bit rough, but there were many opportunities for sail-handling in heavier conditions, providing good learning experiences. On Day 4 we passed Cape Hatteras in pretty good conditions for the boat. Nothing else too crazy happened on this transit. But that night our captain decided to take us a little farther offshore to kill time before the festival, and give us more offshore experience before we would be racing against other boats in the next leg. 

The morning of Day 5 was spent coming closer to Charleston, and my watch was called up when we entered the harbor around 1100. We navigated the Cooper River to a slip in a marina near the festival grounds, giving us the chance to be out of the public eye for a night, while we put the boat to bed, filled water and connected to shore power. We also got a chance to get off the boat and explore Charleston together with our Guest Crew. 

Fair Winds and Following Seas,

Brandi Lynn

My Second Season with Pride II

I had zero notice that my position was no longer available aboard Virginia.

I wasn't really sure what I would be doing in the next week, let alone the sailing season. At this point, I had already interviewed for a seasonal position aboard Pride of Baltimore II, but I knew that I would not hear from them for at least a month. I decided to ask my sailing friends on Facebook if their were any immediate job opportunities in the industry. Days after Christmas, and everyone was home for the holidays, so I didn't expect to find a job anytime soon. Within an hour of posting on Facebook, I had two job offers. One offer was from a Captain of 

Pride II, they had one position open for

a winter maintenance deckhand! I 

considered this fate and told him I would be in Baltimore January 1st, giving me two days to pack everything and drive to Baltimore. I didn't think I would be able to make it home again before the sailing season, so I also made sure to bring my live-aboard and sailing gear. I should also add that this winter maintenance position didn't include housing, so I reached out to a friend's aunt, and she graciously agreed to let me stay in her guest room for the next two months. Everything worked out absolutely perfectly, and I really appreciate the fact that I'm in an industry where I can get offers quickly and be somewhere at the drop of a hat. I also want to add that one of my other winter maintenance deckhands, was actually from Norfolk and was my camp counselor years ago (2007). Small world.

Photo taken of me by Pride II 

Communications Assistant: Patrick Smith

The next two months, my job was a mix of sanding and varnish all the time. Constant brightwork maintenance is just a fact of working on a boat, let alone a wooden boat. I met some new, exciting and fearless sailors, but the days and weeks definitely started blurring together. Occasionally one of the mates would walk through and ask one of us if we wanted another project, and just being offered a new task for the day felt like a promotion. We varnished spars and blocks, polyurethaned soles and countertops, touched up

white paint down below.

At some point in January, our captains pulled us 

aside and offered jobs to those that had applied for the sailing season. I got offered a deckhand position, and was really excited to have another sailing season with this beautiful boat. There was a good mix of experience amongst seasonal crew, ranging from a week, to a couple years, to five-eight years in the industry. We also learned that the 2017 season itinerary included participating in the Rendez-Vous 2017 Tall Ships Regatta. I plan to write 

an entire blog entry dedicated to this, so stay tuned!

The first few months of the season were all up-rig, down-rig and private events, we also participated in Light City Baltimore. Due to us changing out rigging, but also needing to be fully rigged for the festival, we got a lot of experience up-rigging and down-rigging the boat. We sent the main topmast up, knowing we would be replacing the main forward runners in another two weeks, which would require us to bring the main topmast down again. We sent the fore topmast up once, realized the shrouds were on backwards and brought it down again. Two weeks later we replaced those shrouds and had to bring the fore topmast down again with the yards still rigged. Mid to late April we finally finished up-rig and tuning everything, giving us a few weeks to do daysails, visit Annapolis and get a full press shakedown sail with the crew before heading down to Charleston 

for our first festival!

Fair winds,

Brandi Lynn

Fall and Winter in Norfolk

Wow! Turns out I haven't posted an update in two years, this needs to change.

So since I last updated you guys in 2016, I'll give run-down of what I've been doing and where I've gone. I'm going to separate this into a few posts, to avoid one enormous blog post. 

After leaving Lynx, I spent a few months at home in Norfolk. Schooner Virginia was recently purchased by Sail Nauticus, and I was able to pick up some part-time work on the boat. That part-time work also included a lot of volunteering, because I didn't know what to do with my free time while I wasn't living on the boat. I was able to sail the Harbor 20s quite a bit, although I wasn't a member so I was only able to go out when I could find a member who wanted to sail. I also got to try my hand at match racing a couple of times, and had a blast. I made some really great friends in Norfolk during those couple of months, I still try to keep in touch and talk to them occasionally.

                       

During my time on Virginia, we down-rigged most of the boat in one day. This was due to the large number of volunteers we had, it would NOT have been possible without them. This was also my first time working on rigging projects with volunteers, and it was really great to have more leadership responsibilities. I should also add that the schooner Harvey Gamage was in town that week, and the crew came over to spend a few hours helping us out! It just goes to show how strong the camaraderie is in the tall ship community. 

We were able to build a winter cover for the boat in November-December. We only had four crew, two of us being part-time, so it was definitely a bonding experience and included quite a bit of volunteer work as well. The boat had been sitting at the dock uncovered for two years, so building a winter cover was ideal for us to get some refinishing work as we got into the colder months. All of her brightwork had gone completely blonde and was flaking off in places, so the refinishing she got was overdue. Due to some funding issues that I won't go into detail about, they could no longer pay me at the start of January, so I decided it was time to move on. I will continue my update in the next blog post!

My view for these couple of days wasn't terrible

Our Captain actually designed this mast platform for the mast oiling project, the carpet made great chafe gear around the inner portion of the platform while against the mast. It was really hard to hang it from a halyard in a comfortable and balanced way. He spent a few days on it sanding both the masts, and I followed behind with oil.  

My mast oiling setup, deck bucket with lots of lanyards and rags!

The Norwegian Sail-Training Vessel Statsraad Lehmkuhl came into port in November, and I went over with my friend Coraidh and was able to get a tour and climb aloft! I wanted to include this because I took my GoPro with and got some great pictures of the harbor. 

Fair winds,

Brandi Lynn

Nantucket Summer

Hey y'all!

So I just want to take a second and apologize for my lack of blogging! I'm going to make an effort to try and be more organized and get at least one post a month.

So since I last wrote you I finished my contract aboard Denis Sullivan, spent a couple months sailing and downrigging Pride of Baltimore II, started the sailing season aboard Lady Maryland this spring, and spending all summer aboard Lynx!

I hopped on Lynx in Annapolis at the start of May, and had five days to get familiar with the boat before we transited north for the summer. The transit up the coast was so tiring! We were on a two watch system, so there was a lot of time spent on working and no downtime to enjoy the transit. We stopped in Newport to take a break and spent a day there. I was so excited to explore Newport Shipyard for the first time, and honestly I felt like a kid in Disneyland. The next morning we got up at 6 am, bound for Nantucket! That was a really nice short day transit, and we didn't break into watches.

 

 Comanche, a supermaxi breaking all the monohull records.

 

 Enjoying a yummy lobster claw in Newport. My parents

never taught me not to play with my food...

 Lynx, at the dock our first day in Nantucket.

Nantucket is Lynx's summer home port, so we arrived in May, but Nantucket was just getting geared up for her summer tourist season. So we spent a week here, running educational programs with local Nantucket schools. We decided to do some traveling around New England before the real start to the summer season, so we sailed up to Newburyport, Portland, and Boothbay. We returned to Nantucket mid-July to start our two months of daysails, charters and educational programs here. Throughout our time here we also did overnight trips with students from local schools. We did two week long overnight programs with high school students, and two three-day overnights with rising ninth graders.

While sailing off Chatham, we happened upon a pod

of fifty whales bubble feeding!

 

 

Did some much needed maintenance in Portland, Maine 

 

Went out sailing on Wendameen in Portland!

Went to Boothbay Harbor Windjammer Days!

In my two months here, I have absolutely fallen in love with Nantucket. I was so skeptical at first about living on an island thirty miles out to sea, but it is such a one-of-a-kind place. I find myself having trouble putting into words exactly what I love about this place. I spent my time off at the beaches, in coffee shops, at Cisco Brewery, exploring 'Sconset, and watching so many sunsets. It is so relaxing here, and although there are a lot of tourists over the summer, there are many places you can go that aren't as "well-known". Now I'm going to bombard you with some of my favorite pictures from the past two months.

 

 Lynx sailing on Nantucket Sound

  

 Driving the small boat while escorting Lynx up the Mystic River

 

 

The most beautiful sunset I've ever seen.

 A couple pictures from Nantucket Race Week

 

 

Taking a tour of Ocearch

I don't want to speak too soon, but I'm really hoping I'll have the opportunity to return to Nantucket next summer! 

xoxo,

Brandi Lynn

A Letter of My Tall Ship Experiences

I apologize for not posting regularly, lately I've been pretty busy preparing for my first live aboard position on Denis Sullivan. The past 4 weeks have been jam packed. I've been working my butt off at J. Crew, taking on as many hours as possible to save up before my trek out to the Midwest.

So I never talked about this on my blog, but back in January I went up to Baltimore to volunteer on the Pride of Baltimore II. I had the most amazing time, getting some experience living on a ship and making friendships with the crew members. I learned SO much during my time in Baltimore. I learned how to splice, helped remove the martingale for some touching up, did some rust busting of the sheaves while others applied coats of ospho and worked on varnishing the blocks. Their blocks are maintained on a three year cycle, with one third of the blocks being fixed every maintenance season. I helped to move around some of the spars in preparation for the winter cover they call "Sparlandia". I went out on the headrig one morning to help secure the cargo net. If only I had stayed longer so I could have done some work aloft...  I regret not writing about my experiences sooner because you'd probably get a lot more insight into what it was like.

 

This gangway proved to be particularly dangerous at 2 am, during low tide, with a lack of hand rails, and covered in a sheet of ice. Luckily there was a line attached to use for stability...

The mug I used during my stay on the ship. 2 months later and I still find it hilarious.

On a whim, I decided to email the President of the Board of Directors for Schooner Virginia. If you aren't familiar, she is a recreation of the Chesapeake Bay Pilot Schooner. Last summer they had to end all educational programs and let go of the live aboard crew members due to financial instability, so she is now docked out on the Norfolk waterfront and currently up for sale. Since they cannot afford paid workers, they rely on most of the maintenance to be done by volunteers, hence my decision to volunteer. During my free time I go over and do boat checks, pump the bilges, do some rust busting and repainting, make chafe gear for docklines, fix faulty hatch-tops. Its been overcast and the threat of rain has been pretty constant this week so unfortunately we haven't been able to varnish some areas in desperate need of attention. Hopefully we'll be able to accomplish some of the varnish work next week.

 

As I said earlier and mentioned in a previous blog post, I've also been busy preparing for my move to the S/V Denis Sullivan in Milwaukee. I am a mix of so many emotions. There is the excitement of having my first live aboard position. And of course the anxiety of meeting new people that will become my crew mates. There are so many things I fear. My biggest fear is not meeting everyone's expectations. I have continually growing experience with tall ships, but I wouldn't call myself experienced. I was a deckhand on the American Rover, a three masted topsail schooner, but I'm still pretty green. The more I think about it the more nervous I get. Thank god for my years of camp experience. I think I'd be a wreck if I didn't have experience with limited personal space. I can't wait to just be in Milwaukee already. I found out I was going to Baltimore less than 12 hours before I left, so while the past two months have provided me with more time to prepare for this journey, I also have more time to worry about it at the same time.

Every time I tell people that I plan on taking time off college to pursue a sailing career, I get the usual questions: "Why?", "When are you going back to school?", "Are you sure you can handle living on a ship with so many people?". They kinda grind my gears a little because I'm doing this because I want an adventure. I don't find living a normal lifestyle to be fun or exhilarating... I want to be able to fit all of my belongings in a duffel bag and travel the world and have new experiences. I see the start of my sailing career as the start of all of this. There are so many directions my life can go because of this, and I can't wait for it. All I know for sure is that life is truly what you make it. If you tell yourself "I can't live here because I don't like such and such", how will you grow as a person? You are closing yourself off to so many possibilities just thinking like that.

xoxo,

Brandi