Philadelphia Ship Preservation Guild

I want to thank all the people that followed this blog. The crew,Gazela and most importantly, the Guild appreciates your support.

If Gazela sounds like the place you've been looking for, come on down to Penn's Landing and check it out for yourself! You can get involved in so many ways, whether it be volunteering, becoming a member or donating.

For more information, visit our website at www.gazela.org
(Check out more Alexandria photos there too!)

Wednesday 24th: Sassafras River to Philadelphia

After another, and our last evening abroad, we woke to the call, "all hands!" It is going to be all hands for the last day, and our final leg home. The ship is expected at Penn's Landing around 1700.

We started heaving the anchor 0800. After only one riding turn on the drum, the anchor was up in just 30 minutes. The crew gets more efficient and effective every time we have anchor.

We had a fair current for our transit through the C & D canal. Our speed was 11 knots during our run through the canal, which made the Captain happy because of the traffic behind us and coming in from the other end.

We exited the canal at around 1130, and turned north bound in the Delaware River. The Captain and mates seem to be at ease today, I guess it's because they have travelled on the Delaware River so much, they don't have to worry about navigating and teaching the crew at the same time.

We passed Marcus Hook at 1300 as we were getting the ship ready for Philadelphia. The decks fire hosed and the brass is getting polished.

The Captain says he wants all the sails set for our arrival in the harbor. When we left Philadelphia seven days ago, we only had one sail in the rig. Now, we have just about have all the sails ready. We might as well show them off.

The cooks getting the left overs ready for an early dinner tonight. Some people will be going home when we dock, while others will continue to live on the ship.

We passed Gazela's home port so we could allow people to see us in action. We controlled the sails as we turned around to dock. Everyone worked together one last time to get Gazela safely home.



....................................................................This trip was not what I expected, it was so much more. We learned on this trip that we weren't working hard for your watch leader, mates or the captain, you were working for Gazela. It is so inspiring to be with so many diverse people who are working towards a common goal.

I want to thank the captain, mates and crew for welcoming me on Gazela. They were patient with me when I asked about the simplest knot and were always willing to offer advice as I was thrown into the trip with very little experience. Before the trip I didn't know where I would stand, but know, I am an active member.



.................................................................This will be an experience that I will never forget.
-Abby Fazio

Tuesday 23rd: Heading Home

After cleaning up the deck from last night’s thunder storm, we turned north into the Chesapeake Bay at midnight. We motored into headwinds all night and were passing Annapolis at day break.

After breakfast the crew turned to, with the morning wash down. Every morning rain or shine, the off watch crew pulls out the fire hoses and cleans the deck while others use deck brushes and sponges on the rails and deck houses.




....................Then comes the fun work. While underway passing Baltimore, our bosun (Mr. Sawyer) puts the crew to work hanging the last two square sails, the Topgallant and the Course. The Topgallant is the one all the way on top, and the course is the one on the bottom.



...........................We arrived at the mouth of the Sassafras River at 1115 and put the anchor down at 1121. Ships work continued until 1600. The 1st mate, Patrick Flynn, was the first to jump overboard when swim call was shouted. Everyone had been working hard all day, and this is our last night out before returning to Philadelphia.

Tomorrow morning we will get up at 0700 and start heaving the anchor. We will arrive at Penn’s Landing under full sail at 1700.

The crew that left Philadelphia with Gazela only a week ago, are no more. The crew that is returning is better for the experience; getting the ship ready, rigging the ship, hosting over 2,000 guests in just two days, enduring a severe thunder storm, and so many new friendships made.




...................None of us are eager to return just yet, but we have to get back to our normal lives, and also get the ship ready for the next trip.

-Abby Fazio

Monday 22nd: Alexandria to Philadelphia

............................Somebody once told me, "Sailing a boat is 95% boredom and 5% sheer teeror." Although sailing a boat is far from boring, there are moments of something close to terror.

Gazela left Alexandria at 4:00 am. We cleared the bridge at 4:30 am. The bridge won't open after 5:00 am because of rushhour traffic.

We had a great day sailing down the Potomac River. We were climbing the rig and hanging on more sails. I even went out in the rescue boat to get a picture of Gazela at her best.

As usual, we had a great dinner by Paul, our cook. He made his own style of sheperds pie, which was great. We topped off the meal with icecream.

We were expecting an afternoon rainstorm,and by the time we were finished eating, it began to drizzle.

By 7:30 pm, I went below to write a new entry of my blog.

All of the sudden, I heard the rain pounding and orders being yelled. I closed my laptop and ran up on deck.

The rain was coming down so hard that you could barely keep your eyes open. We had zero visibility for 30 minutes.The crew quickly went from line to line pulling the sails down. There was thunder and lightning, and you could barely hear orders from the captain over the rain and the 45 miles per hour wind.

After the 30 minutes of organized chaos, the sun came out and we had a beautiful sunset. I heard the crew saying that the storm was their favorite part of the trip.




.....................It is amazing that after just 6 days of being together, the old and new crew worked so well together, in such severe conditions.

It's midnight now and we are just exiting the Potomac River and heading north to the Chesapeake Bay.

I will have to send this blog Tuesday morning due to laptop complications. My hurry to close my laptop during the storm could be the reason.

You never know what a day on a ship will bring you,
-Abby Fazio

Sunday 21st: Red Cross Festival

We had a better weather today for our second and last day at the Red Cross Festival. I mentioned yesterday that visitors were still coming on board when I was writing.
Our final head count yesterday was 1025 people! Today we had even more, 1257. It is very rewarding to be able to say your part of the crew and share Gazela with others.

Today the crew did a lot of rigging the sails with our bosun, Rob Sawyer. As you can see in the pictures, it takes a lot of people and a lot of work to just put up one sail.







......................................................................(in above picture: Joe Schuck and Biz Goldhammer)



We will be getting underway at 4am. We’ll be leaving the docks in time for the bridge to open at this time.

-Abby Fazio
P.S. Happy Father’s Day Dad! xoxo

Saturday 20th Alexandria

............................................................We docked Gazela in Alexandria a little after midnight last night.

Gazela was open to the public today from 10am to 6pm. During this time, about eight crew members were in uniform and welcoming visitors. This is a time for visitors to walk the decks of Gazela and learn all about her. We had t-shirts, posters, eye patches, necklaces, hats and more to sell. All donations go to Gazela.


After I got in uniform, it rained and rained. We were told to evacuate the visitors for a short period of time due to the lighting. However, once again, the clouds cleared and it was blue skies there on in. Hundreds of people came to the Red Cross Festival to enjoy other activities and explore the Gazela. Some even got a chance to put on a harness and head up the rig.


Our goal was to start rigging more sails. I climbed up with Dan Coppock Rob Sawyer(in picture) and we got to work. I had an amazing view of the capitol, the Washington monument, and other buildings in Washington D.C.




(in picture: below, right to left,Abby Fazio and Dan Coppock, above: Biz Goldhammer, Lukas Fauset, and Rob Sawyer) The crew on deck let children and adults set the fore topmast staysail, ring bells, stand behind the wheel and perform ship duties.(Eric Lorgus, President of the Guild, shows visitors pictures of Gazela)




..................................................It is now quarter to 7 and we are leaving the ship open to the public until 8pm. We had 964 visitors today and counting!



(Janice Aaron at the wheel with visitors)






..............................................................From Alexandria,
-Abby Fazio

Friday 19th- Sunny Day!

We woke up to the sun today. It was hot on deck, but the wind from the water kept us cool. Since we were still anchored, we had an instructional lesson on how to bring up the anchor. It is a really big job and dangerous too. Each chain link weighs about ten pounds, so hauling the anchor up is hard work. The crew took turns bringing up the anchor at 8am. We were underway by 9am.
Captain authorized setting the 2 Jibs (the outer jib and the fore topmast staysail and the main staysail.)





............................................................Around noon, I was below deck receiving my camera. I saw Captain carrying Oscar (our man overboard dummy) to the galley roof. While I was heading up on deck, someone shouted, “man overboard!” Oscar was thrown overboard. Everyone reacted appropriately and performed their specific tasks for that “emergency.” Our rescue boat was lowered to retrieve Oscar and the sails were taken down. Oscar survived with minor injuries.
It is important to have emergency drills to avoid chaos. We want to be prepared for anything. As I mentioned in earlier blogs, everything on Gazela is a learning experience.


During my work hours, I strapped on a harness and climbed out on the bow sprit to hank on the inner jib with Rob Sawyer, Biz Goldhammer, Ana Bachmanova and Dan Coppock. It didn’t feel like work at all, sitting on the bow sprit and climbing around in the sun.





Lukas Fauset climbed all the way up to the top of the main mast rigging the main upper topmast staysail halyard.




......................................................We will be docking tonight in Alexandria, Virginia at midnight.

Next time, you'll be hearing from me from the docks of Alexandria,
-Abby Fazio