On Thursday both cruises were a great ride. The winds were light and variable all day and then we had the afternoon evening rains and thundershowers.  The waves were less than 1 ft.

The weekend looks great with westerly and southwesterly winds in the forecast.  This will make for great cruising.  We will stay 3-4 miles off the beach and take advantage of the winds coming off the beach and the waves will be 1 ft or less.

Steering by the compass: USCG requires all ships to have Able Bodied Seaman on board.  This is because there are numerous specialized duties on board ship that they are trained and certified to perform. The most important of course is firefighting and Ship evacuation in the case of an emergency. But one of the skills they must master is steering the ship.  You may think the Captain “drives” the ship….not true…he only tells the “AB” what “course to steer”.  This is a challenge and is a bit of an “art” to master.  I have some seasoned AB’s that can steer to 1/2 of a degree on the compass!!  Then we have the “serpentine” helmsman…these are the new AB’s in training…..We usually have a senior AB stand by with them and this is only done when well out to sea…..Their skills are checked by looking back at the wake……”serpentine” is called out to remind the AB in training to that he is not doing so well…….:)

 

Capt Tim