Alpha 1 Day 8: Incredible Teamwork & Leadership On Challenge Day

written by Alpha mate, Erika Florian
July 1, 2017

Today was Challenge Day! Here at Sail Caribbean, it is our goal to make sure each student is self sufficient and able to work with their team on their boat. On Challenge Day, we put this fully into practice and hand over full control of the boat to the students! Each crew had to wake up their staff onboard and spearhead breakfast as well. The four students in leadership for the day got to go to the staff boat for a captains’ meeting to figure out a plan for the day and how to go about leaving the mooring field.

We had a really amazing sail up to Trellis Bay; the teamwork was incredible to witness as it was inspiring to see the leaders take charge and develop their skills in a group format. We picked up a mooring ball at Trellis Bay, enjoyed our lunch, and shuttled to shore to get a tour of Aragorn’s local art studio. We got to see one of the potters “throw” (make) a few mugs and pots, and tour the metal art work shop. They both were so interesting, and most were keen on buying souvenirs in the shop, all of which were native to the Caribbean.

We all shuttled back to the boat, took some time to jump off together, and showered up for the evening. We cooked stir fry for dinner, and chores were completed all by the skipper of the day’s command. Overall, Challenge day was a great success. Our boat discussed at our evening’s boat meeting that we need to work on more specifics with sailing, and tidying up the boat without being asked to. We are all really looking forward to seeing the progress continue for the rest of program.