RCS Day One

As exciting as it might be, I think I'm going to gloss over my arrival and initial adventures in San Francisco. I flew in, and after wandering around Market Street in the city on a tangent adventure, I made my way to the Embarcadero and the Pier where the ship was docked. My lack of success on that tangent adventure resulted in my being 2 hours early to the ship, and was very politely told that we would not be getting under way till the appointed time. So, I had to go find stuff to do for a couple of hours.


Two hours later, I was welcomed aboard along with a small crowd of other budding sailors. I was happy and surprised to see a Maintenance Crew member from the Maritime Museum in San Diego, my friend Scott. I have to say that it was nice to have him there because I noticed that most of my fellow shipmates had connections with other tallships, mostly the Los Angeles Maritime Institute, home of the Exy and Irving Johnson. Also, I was glad that I had included my crew shirt in my kit, allowing me to represent my museum amongst all these LA people. Scott had his shirt too. SDMM was very well represented.

We were all welcomed aboard, and the rules of the ship were explained. We were to be divided into 3 watches made up of 6 volunteer crew (us), a deckhand, a science officer, and a mate. Scott and I ended up in A watch, along with Rita, Alan, Kathryn and Ed. Our deckhand was Nicky, our intrepid science officer was Austen, and our mate was First Mate Pamela. We had a pretty good group. After 7 days together, I have to say that I think we all worked well together, got a long fine, and were in general a pretty good watch.

B Watch consisted of Gerald, Geoff, John, Dave, Steven and Jennifer. I think that their Mate was Carter, deckhand was Amanda and scientist was Skye. C Watch consisted of Doug, David, Bob, Don, Joan and Malcom. If I got B Watch right, then C's mate was Kate, deckhand was AJ and scientist was Sarah. (note: I welcome any corrections to my account.)

Aside from the watches and assigned crew members, there was Captain Binh, visiting Captain Terry, the stewards, Shawn and her assistant Lil, and the engineers, Ted and Seth. They were all called The Others, to be awoken at certain times, to join the off watches for meals and so forth.


After introductions, we were given our bunk assignments and were sent off to stow our stuff and get acquainted with the ship we were going to call home for 7 days. The next few hours were a bit of a blur for me. We left the dock and proceeded out into the Bay, with a nice amount of wind to sail by. We were introduced to the organized chaos of setting sails and maneuvering around the bay. We were rudely tailgated by a touring catamaran and after an hour or so of zipping about on that gorgeous day, found ourselves just off of Sausalito. While the Captain secured the ship at our chosen anchor point, I stood there staring at the incredible view of the Bay, with the city on one side, and the Bay Bridge stretching across. I've only been to SF three times, and this visit was without a doubt the most beautiful.

I think dinner happened at some point, and the rest of the evening was given over to safety proceedures. Each watch had assigned duties in the event of an emergency. Ours included manning the fire hoses, launching the life rafts, getting the launch into the water, etc. Then the entire crew was introduced to the Emersion suits (formerly known as the survival suits). I've seen them before on the Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch, where the fishermen in the Bering Sea were required to be able to put them on. We were told two minutes was the goal, and the ship's record was 17 seconds. As this was said, the captain walked past and muttered "with a whole jar of vaseline". I don't know how long it took to get mine on, but I think it was pretty fast. I didn't lay down on the deck like everyone else, I just stepped into it and pulled it on. Once that was done, we put away all the gear, and the crew (non-volunteer) kindly took the night watches and let us all go to bed for a full night's sleep. This was the last normal night for us. We went to sleep on a quiet ship with a clear night sky above us and a flat calm bay.


I went to bed in my top bunk, with its port hole looking out at the lights of nighttime Sausalito. Wake-up was at 0630 hrs, Thursday morning. Goodnight.

7 Days On The Robert C. Seamans Pt. 1

It is 12 am and I am sitting here dearly wishing that I was elsewhere. I get this way after going on a trip somewhere, but I think this is a little different. Instead of wishing I was in Wales or France, I wish I was standing on the lookout bench at the prow of the Robert C. Seamans and halfway through my turn as forward lookout. I miss the feeling of standing there, holding onto the stay with the jib and the fore stays'l rustling above me and the bow dipping deep and rising high in the swell. I actually had a moment at work when I dearly missed the feeling of the ship responding to the turn of the rudder, and the 5 degrees rudder angle I just put on to compensate for the 8 ft Pacific swell messing with my course ordered. I miss the midwatch (11pm to 3am) and the sound of the water flowing past the ship during the night. I miss the quiet of the rest of the crew asleep, minus my watch, and the moon lighting everything so well that we didn't need flashlights to do the on-deck boat check. I miss the starry sky and being far enough out to sea that we couldn't see land. And even though it was my first time out to sea, I think I have some small idea of what countless others before me have felt and expressed in so many songs and stories about the sea. I can't wait to go out again.




Over the next few days, I will give a daily account of what I did and what I went through on that awesome trip. Above are a few pictures I took on my trip. More to come.

Ta!