Hurling kids

Dogged watches so that our buddies could be part of watch. Before we left the dock we did a deck wash and had the kids paint some of the boat, chain plate and whale board. Set all the sails again and had the kids do up and overs, which was the exciting part. Watching the chaperones freak out and as the kids climb down they had to clip in every step, which is more dangerous. The director of the program was aloft and she threw up from the main top, gross but hilarious. Kids ended up throwing up the rest of the day and not feeling well.

The rest of the day we whore and take all over the place and anchored for the night.

Little Frog supervising.

Leaving Chicago with kids

Today was my doom; we got 10 kids and were going to be with them for 4 days. When they arrived we each were given a buddy and they were suppose to follow us around and we were suppose to teach them. They were from some school in Kentucky and this was some big trip before the school year started.

Got off the dock at 11 ish, set everything on the boat so the kids could enjoy it. After lunch we went over drills, MOB and abandon ship. We then struck and furled everything, got on the dock in some small town in Wisconsin and the 4 to 8 watch had to play with them. That was A watch, we all just sat on the dock and glared at the kids as they played games with the Roseway crew who is use to kids.

Half day

The morning was hot but Katie and I hung out, went through the stained glass at the pier and stopped by Friends of Goodwill, surprisingly more space down below than I thought, they also have a wood-burning stove. Did the last shift for tours, ended at 6 instead of the usual 9 so we ended up putting everything away so we’d be ready in the morning.

Brooke sent us a care package; there was lots of candy, some pictures and everyone got their own little gift. Jesse got sunglasses and I got scented bubbles, and she specifically told me to annoy people with them.

Deck prism.

Tiller.

Wood stove.

More walking

Had the whole day off, relaxed most of the day and did nothing for most of the morning. Dustin and his family showed up and I showed them a few boats then walked around for the evening looking at the city.

Europa.

Real Pizza

In the morning I had tours and Dustin helped out, it’s easy enough to stand there and talk about the capstan and a few other things, it’s when people get a little more in depth. Had the afternoon off and we walked around the city, State and Michigan Street, grabbed some coffee, saw some giant eyeball and talked about the old days.

Met up with Dustin’s parents and had real Chicago deep-dish pizza.

Dustin climbing.

Maybe where they are filming Transformers.

Lego store!

Old friends

Had a slow start in the morning, but it’s not often that one gets the chance to sleep in. Jesse and I walked along the lake to the Surgical History Museum; he was really enthused about going there. The museum was interesting, had a lot of old tools and cases with surgical tools for cutting people’s extremities off, my favorite thing was a wheel chair.

Picked up Dustin and had him shadow me while we started tours, at 6 Katie, Dustin and I went over to help the Lynx with a day sail because they were short handed. I felt slow because I didn’t know where their lines were, but it was a good day. Their braces and halyard were so easy compared to ours; it’s amazing how easy everything was. We even helped put the boat to bed when we got back to the dock; Katie and I climbed and helped furl their topsail. It was dark and we were trying to figure out how they tied their gaskets, but ended up doing it the Bounty way.

The amazing thing about their rig was that the ratlines are considerate of how big of a step people take and how wide their feet are, it was really comfortable to climb. Getting up to the crosstrees were weird because you have to climb over the futtocks you don’t have much of an option and they are really skinny.

And there were more fireworks tonight; they are having them every night of the festival.

Pill cutter.

Glasses.

X-ray.

Alex on Lynx about to fire.

Mast hoops.

Fireworks every night.

The city

Tours in this port are going to be crazy, from 10 to 2100, so we’ve split the days in half and are sharing with the watches. Starboard took the morning shift and had the late afternoon off. We ended up opening early and there was some silly crew parade that ended up throwing off the rotation, but it was a great day, the weather was perfect and I was excited to be in Chicago.

Jesse and I walked to Millennium Park where there was a water fountain that he’d been talking about for a long time that he wanted to see. It’s like little LED lights behind glass bricks, there are images of people’s faces and it changes every five minute or so and appears as if they are shooting water from their mouth. There was also a huge shinny jellybean, you can walk under it and inside it is concave and appears as if it’s so much farther away than it really is.

Walked around the city for the rest of the afternoon and got Chinese food for dinner. Called Dustin and talked about when we were going to meet up, I went to high school with him and haven’t seen him for two years.

The bean.

Face fountain.

Ferris wheel.

Chicago

Had a long day, but watch was entertaining because I steered from the capstan, had a lot of energy and just kept walking around, the helm was happy. B watch got to put up the topgallant yard this morning and it went super fast, took less time then when we put up the royal. Did sail handling for work party in the afternoon and picked up some news crew at 2 for the parade of sail into Chicago.

We luckily got to furl everything on the way in instead of doing it at the dock. Finally got stood down after 2000 and went to the crew lounge, they have a super nice shower truck, snacks, candy, soda, tv and video games.

Little Frog playing with wood.

Tom and Jenny at the helm.

Robin filming.

Walking around.

Putting up the topgallant mast.

Fully rigged!

Lynx.

Parade of sail.

Chicago.

Navy Pier.

Off the dock

Getting off the dock was super slow, had to wait to be pumped out. Justin worked on the topgallant yard all day so in the afternoon when I had work party Jenny and I helped B watch, I stood watch and she did the chores.

Tours

Had tours today from 10 to 6 and merchandise was stupid. We got new sweatshirts, but they are all rainbow colored so we had to sort through them. Made raisin bread at the end of the day.

Day off, sail on Roseway

Finally got to go sailing on another tall ship, Katie took me on Roseway, she had worked on them before and knew some of the crew and the Capitan really well. She’s a really easy boat, raising her gaff was quiet easy, but there are two halyards to move it, the peak and the throat. Doing day sails on her is easy, but I wouldn’t want to do three times a day.

After the sail we grabbed Jesse, went out to lunch and walked around the town, very small and not a whole lot to do. Ended up calling it quiets for the day when it started raining and relaxed back at the boat.

Roseway.

Crew mugs on Roseway.

Dwight, Roseway's Captain.

Lynx.

Museum's wheel house.