I spent most of the spring wishing it was July and hot outside. Out on the water with the wind blowing it basically feels cold all the time, unless it's 90 or above. So even when it felt warm on shore we'd get out on the boat and I'd wish I'd worn warmer clothes. Well, it turns out July was kind of a bust, sailing-wise. Whenever we could go out there was no wind, and when we were stuck at work or otherwise engaged it would start blowing a little better. The result of this was that we didn't sail much in July and August. Still, we got out mountain biking quite a bit and stayed busy planning our wedding.
A friend of ours, Timbah, had been working on the Ocean's Classroom schooner, the Harvey Gamage, all spring and summer and we had really been hoping to get out on it at some point. That opportunity came at the end of August, but unfortunately Cody couldn't take any time off of work. I decided I wanted to see the ship even if it meant going on my own, after all, Timbah would be there! So I booked an Amtrak ticket down to New London, CT, to meet up with the Gamage when the last round of summer students got off. We'd be sailing north to the ship's home port in Portland, ME, and it would take about 3 days. I found out a day before leaving that Timbah's sister Winnie would be coming along , too, and we were on the same train down to CT.
We got off the train with some indistinct directions on how to get to the dock we would find the Gamage at. We looked out across the water and saw a huge white boat - was that where we wanted to go? We stopped a lady on the sidewalk and asked her if that was the Gamage, pointing at that ship. "You mean the Eagle?" she asked. Umm, maybe not . . . we kept walking. As we grew closer we realized that the ship we were looking at was the USCG Eagle - it's like, 3 times longer than the 129 foot Gamage. Not quite!
We found the dock that we thought was right and sit down to wait. A woman was also waiting to go north on the Gamage, and as it turned out she was the Captain's wife! She also has a captain's license and had some wonderful stories of sailing all over the world. When their kids had been young they had sailed a 39 foot trimaran down to the Caribbean for 14 months! I loved that story. I asked her the question I ask everyone who's sailed South along the Atlantic coast - Intercoastal of offshore? They had gone intercoastal because they'd had small kids, but she voted for offshore! I love hearing that, who wants to putt along on a 2-stroke engine through a crowded waterway when we can sail in the ocean?!
Anyway, the ship arrived and, after the kids had unloaded, we hopped aboard and were off! We were broken into groups with the crew member we were guests of (in our case Timbah) and told what would be expected of us. It was much more naval than I'd expected. Honestly I'd had little expectations, but I had sort of thought of it as a pleasure cruise. As it turned out, we'd be working just like any crew, in 4 hour watches, doing whatever work needed to be done, including cleaning the heads and steering the boat!
We had an easy day and had a short watch the first day on the boat, then headed off to get some sleep. We were roused at 3:45 AM and told that we had to be on deck in 15 minutes for watch. "uhhhhhh . . . ok." And honestly, that morning watch was so freaking cool. There was a strong wind coming out of the north and the waves were kicking up. Watching the sun rise over the Atlantic was amazing. We had hauled the sails up the day before - quite a production on a ship as large as the Gamage, let me tell you, but we were mostly just burning diesel to get to Portland on schedule, given the northerly wind.
Around mid-day we stopped to drop anchor in Buzzard's Bay. Due to the unfavorable wind and the timing of the tide we couldn't go through the cut. We had to wait for the tide to change. It was a lazy day sitting around the ship after we'd completed our work. Timbah asked the first mate permission to go swimming while we were at anchor and she consented, so me and Winnie suited up to go with him. As we were swimming around in the very warm water I was reminded that Jaws took place off the Cape, and that this was shark territory! Okay, I'm being overly dramatic, but sharks are scary. Just as I was telling myself that I was being silly the first mate leaned over the railing and yelled, "Timbah, you and your guests have to get back on the boat right now!" Oh god, I thought, there's a shark! We're going to die! I hustled and swam back to the ladder, but Timbah and Winnie were swimming at a more leisurely pace. We climbed back on deck and the first mate told Timbah that she was very angry at him because he hadn't asked permission for us to swim with him. Ummm, what? Wasn't that implied? Well, as it tuns out she didn't like Timbah, which is ridiculous because he's a really kind and remarkable person, and she just wanted to be mad at him. My Jaws fantasy slipped away. Oh well.
Later that evening, after we'd hauled up the anchor and proceeded toward the canal, I got an email from Cody that his mom had a health scare and was in the hospital. I was terrified, and felt horrible that I was off on a cruise while everyone in the family was having such a scare. It turned out to not be anything serious, but it sort of put a damper on the rest of the trip. I was beside myself until I finally talked to Cody and learned that everything was going to be OK. If it wasn't for Winnie and Timbah I probably would have jumped off the boat and tried to swim to Boston. That wouldn't have ended well.
I was, needless to say, a little preoccupied for the next day and a half I spent on the boat. But we still had fun. At one point the wind switched and started coming up from the South and we really got the sails going. Raising and lowering sails of that size is amazing. It takes an incredible amount of cooperation and well maintained equipment. At one point Timbah asked the captain if I could climb the rig - the ladder leading up from the outside of the deck to the top of the mast. I made it about halfway up and decided I was all set. It's crazy up there with the boat rocking and the sail moving around! I can't imagine having to climb up to the crow's nest in a storm to fix the rig. <shudder> Terrifying. But I was glad I went up, even if I felt like a weeny for only going half way.
We ended up anchoring outside of Portland for the night because it's a very tight harbor to navigate a huge ship like the Gamage through. We were woken at first light to haul up the anchor (the windlass was broken and we had to use a series of block-and-tackles and a lot of muscle) in the rain. That was quite an experience!
We got into port and me and Winnie walked to the Amtrak station to take the train back to Boston, then jump on the commuter rail home. When I finally got home at 6 PM that night (Cody called me to ask me to pick him up some beer - I think he needed it after the weekend he'd had!) I was beyond exhausted and so relieved to see everyone home and healthy. Whew, what a stressful weekend! But I learned a lot on the Gamage, ideas to try on Tri-oomph. Little things, like how to clean dishes without using much fresh water. But also a new confidence being out in the ocean. Being on a huge wooden ship made me feel like Tri-oomph is a toy, but that also makes it seem a lot more manageable. And it made me really want to go sail our own boat!
Dawn on watch.
Look at that canvas!
The deck.
That is one mighty anchor. 500 lbs, plus 150 feet of heavy chain.
Our location at anchor.
The Gamage in CT.
I climbed that!
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