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