I AM DONE WITH COLLEGE
AHHHHHHHHHHH!
I had a great time celebrating with the literature and writing department, who have adopted me as one of their own. The students and professors are all awesome, and over the past few semesters they’ve showed me how much fun literature and writing (because English is elitist, yo) can be.
After a sell-out weekend at TCAF, I’m suuuuper excited to announce that Baggywrinkles #4: The Plank is now available for all and sundry both online and in physical form! Download the PDF for free via Gumroad, read the rest of the comic on my site, or purchase a print copy via Storenvy. The possibilities are endless!
This is a very important comic in the world of tall ships. Educate yourselves!
“No, we do not have a plank aboard.”
“Or a crow’s nest.”
“Please don’t shout, ‘ARR!’ at me.”
“Avast has a legitimate meaning, don’t go yelling it willy-nilly.”
“This is not a pirate ship.”
Today was fantastic for sailing! At first it seemed like there wasn’t going to be any wind at all. I (as the youngest person on board) had to resort to doing the “wind dance” and even went so far as to whistle. It didn’t seem to be taking any effect, but once we were clear of Point Loma the breeze picked up, and we were ripping along at ten knots! Obviously, it was all thanks to me. The video shows how loose the leeward shrouds were in that wind.
I spent the morning doing various little repair tasks on the Californian—fixing lashings and spot-serving. Most of it was taken up looking for the right size seine twine and some parcelling, which were remarkably difficult to find.
‘Killick, Killick there: what’s amiss?’
‘Which it’s your scraper, sir, your number one scraper. The wombat’s got at it.’
‘Then take it away from him, for God’s sake.’
‘I duresn’t, sir,’ said Killick. ‘For fear of tearing the lace.’
‘Now, sir,’ cried the Captain, striding into the great cabin, a tall, imposing figure. ‘Now, sir,’ - addressing the wombat, one of the numerous body of marsupials brought into the ship by her surgeon, a natural philosopher - ‘give it up directly, d’ye hear me, there?’
The wombat stared him straight in the eye, drew a length of gold lace from its mouth, and then deliberately sucked it in again.
‘Pass the word for Dr Maturin,’ said the Captain, looking angrily at the wombat: and a moment later, ‘Come now, Stephen, this is coming it pretty high: your brute is eating my hat.’
‘So he is, too,’ said Dr Maturin. ‘But do not be so perturbed, Jack; it will do him no harm, at all. His digestive processes -‘
At this point the wombat dropped the hat, shuffled rapidly across the deck and swarmed up into Dr Maturin’s arms, peering at close range into his face with a look of deep affection.
Asked by cosmiccelery
Oh my gosh, LJ! That was such a long time ago! Hi! :D
Volunteering at the Museum is super easy! Just show up Sunday mornings around 0815 aboard the Star and we’ll give you an introduction to the ships! If you survive the first day (it’s not that bad, really), you can start doing maintenance. I recommend Marge’s painting crew.
We’ll now be having sail qualification testing quarterly, so the next time that happens you can try to qualify for sail crew. There’s a written portion with history of the ships and square-rigger sailing theory, all of which can be found in a manual you’ll be given. There’s also a knots and belay portion, tying seven different knots and belaying a line to a pin. And there’s the physical. Just to get on the deck, you have to do a vertical and horizontal haul of 75 pounds. To go out on the jibboom of any ship (except Surprise) you have to do the haul and hang from each hand for five seconds. And to go aloft (and on Surprise’s jibboom) you have to do all of that plus one pull-up.
It took me two years just to get on the sail crew, and another year to become top qualified (but apparently I was slow. Also, had to wait to turn 18). A lot of people get discouraged that they can’t go sailing right away, but if you stick with it and keep coming back, you’ll make it!
And right now is a great time to join. The Star’s 150th birthday is this year, and we’ll be taking all of the ships out in November. If you can make sail crew by then you’re almost guaranteed to get on the Californian for the sail, which allows for a great view of Surprise and Star!
I do hope you join! It’s loads of fun and we certainly need more people getting involved.
Herman Mann was an ass.
It appears as though I can only make progress on essays after dinnertime.
Which is unfortunate, because I also like to sleep.
Hello, there! My name's Katherine. I work at the Maritime Museum of San Diego, where I get to sail some lovely ships.
Here I post about my adventures aboard Star of India, Surprise, and Californian, as well as an array of other nautical things. Enjoy!
