-Mark Twain
This is possibly my favorite quote. Recently I decided not to go back to college this semester. I don't know what it was, but something inside me just said that I should not take classes. So guess what? I didn't. I applied to be a deckhand on a tall ship, and I'll be traveling the Great Lakes this year aboard the S/V Denis Sullivan. It may seem crazy. It might seem like I'm dropping out of college just to sail, but I don't see it that way. Let me just give you a summary of my thought process.
You see, I was in a sophomore year slump. I started to realize that I was spending so much time doing the same things everyone else was. College is four years of feeling poor all the time, waking up late for class, going to parties and somehow managing to save your GPA in the last few weeks of class. I just wasn't enjoying it. I felt stressed and depressed, so I knew I needed to make a change.
I was working on a charter schooner here in Norfolk, and I met someone that worked aboard the Pride of Baltimore II. I immediately became so interested in tall ship sailing. I learned the basics with my deckhand position on the American Rover, and decided I wanted to get into this world of tall ship sailing myself. If you aren't familiar with tall ships, they are pretty much large sailing vessels with high masts and often topsails, they are also more traditionally rigged vessels. You really just know one when you see one. There are so many tall ships in North America, traveling the East Coast, West Coast, and Great Lakes.
The crews that keep these ships running are full of amazing people. Sailors are adventurous, brave and interesting. All the traits I want to possess. Often the crew is made up of deckhands, a bosun, an engineer, a cook, a first and second mate, and of course the captains. There are other positions of course, but these are just some basic job titles. Life aboard a tall ship really fascinates me. I want to live in a bunk the size of my bath tub, I want to take watch shifts, I want to go aloft and furl sails, I want to climb out on the headrig. But most of all, I want to travel and meet people. That is exactly what this job will provide me, and I am so excited.
I also failed to mention that I am not dropping out of college. I'm simply taking time off to really decide what I want to do with my life. I'll most likely end up going to college somewhere else in a year or two.
So I know that most of you who will read this will probably have no idea what I'm talking about. But if you do, and if you're interested in learning more about tall ship sailing, feel free to ask me!
