Early Alpha, Early Charlie, Early Foxtrot, and Early Sierra, Day 3: Anchoring at Lee Bay
Day 3
Once again, the BVI mornings were flooded with the sound of hungry birds and well rested teens ready to take on the day.. but even more ready for breakfast! On the menu for breakfast yesterday: breakfast burritos. The breakfast teams whipped up a delicious ensemble of food to fuel their crew members with energy for the day ahead.
With bellies full and the sea calling their names, one-by-one vessels dropped their mooring ball (untethered themselves from the mooring ball) and headed out into the Sir Francis Drake Channel to raise their sails and head to Lee Bay. With their first sail successfully under their belt, crews felt right at home raising their main sheets (main sail) and unfurling their jibs for only the second time on program! Skippers of the day assigned various positions to work as a team while raising full canvas. Wind-spotters, relays, main sheet, and monkeys were all needed to successfully harness the ever impressive power of the wind.
While underway, a steady waft pizzeria could be smelt throughout the channel, as those on lunch-prep were hard at work in the galley (kitchen) creating some masterful pizza bagels! Following an energy refuel for our crews, staff instructed kids on their first anchoring lesson. Perhaps the most shocking fact for students new to boats was that anchors no longer resemble those of old pirate ships (be sure to ask your students about why that is)!
Before anchoring, crews swiftly completed some final tacks (change course by turning a boat’s head into and through the wind) furled their jibs, and dropped their sails. Their next tasks… anchor. Anchoring is tricky but very useful skill for sailors to have. It requires patience, math, a sandy seabed, and some handy crew members. In order to successfully anchor as a crew, Skippers assigned positions for the task at hand. Like a pirate movie, splashes of anchors and clinks of chain-links could be heard echoing through Lee Bay as boats dropped and set anchors for their stay in the bay.
With anchors set (digging the anchor into the sandy seabed to securely hold the vessel) students set out for some well deserved snorkel time before showers and dinner! After seeing the ocean from the surface all day, a refreshing duck below brought many smiles and wonder on many faces. Some creatures spotted on the snorkel include sergeant major fish, Christmas tree worms, pipe fish, eels, and an octopus!
Following the snorkel, winding down for the evening began. Different genres of music fluttered over the bay’s waters as crews showered for the evening and settled in for dinner. Dinner for the evening kept up with the Italian theme as spaghetti bolognese was presented by students for the fellow crew members. Not long after food was consumed and the only remnants left were tomato sauce marks on cheeks, the day’s daily boat clean commenced. Swiftly proceeded by the nightly boat meeting and a swift lights out to rest up for the next day.
