It is a longstanding nautical irony that when surrounded by an impossible amount of water at sea, it is fire that poses the most serious threat.  The Bear and her cadets are well-prepared for such an emergency.  Most cadets are, in fact, trained in firefighting.  This morning, a few of them were getting cozy in their fire fighting gear under the watchful eye of Makahla Downs in the Deck Training Locker.  “Are you guys all comfortable with your SCBAs?” She asked.  No one complained, but they looked hideously uncomfortable.   Comfort aside, the Self Contained Breathing Apparatus allows one to enter confined spaces with little or no oxygen in order to prevent fires from spreading.  “They make everyone a stud,” said Downs. 

[Makahla Downs supervises SCBA modeling]

That was enough to entice the Follow The Voyage team to try one on.  Except instead of a SCBA, Downs offered me a marine survival suit.  The Gumby Suit.  In the wide-ranging kingdom of maritime dress, the Gumby Suit is the court jester.   “But it would be very beneficial against the power of the sea if we were to abandon ship,” Makahla told me as I lay on the floor, shimmying into what seemed like an oversized, unquestionably unstudly wet suit.  "You'd be glad to have it." Probably.   (Note to cadets from Captain Weinstock: when you get a job don't call it a Gumby suit).  

[A marine survival suit]

One deck above, professor Tom Trice summoned the power of the sea to shed light on the spirit of European Romantic thought.  “It evokes terror and fear,” he growled as a big wave sent a rumble through the lower hull.  The timing was impeccable.   I thought it might be fun to give his wide-eyed Cal Poly students a chance to experience the awe of nature from behind a Gumby Suit, maybe clear the desks and have a low stakes wrestling match, but I wasn’t in a position to make suggestions.   

In the engineering lab, cadets Burrows and Corliss were putting together a motor controller, which seemed to pose little fire threat at the moment, assuming they remembered the difference between a wye and delta wiring configuration .  “It’s not a risk,” Corliss assured me.  But was he positive? “I’m positive.”  A few moments later, he showed his experience (involving something about a fire-obsessed chief mate named Rambo from his commercial cruise last year) and added: “Maybe. You never know.”   

[Cadets Burrows and Corliss]

Things on the bridge mostly involve water.  Today there was a sudden late morning course change that made the navigational display look like a massive C+ term paper.  Who was responsible for this jagged purple line?  Someone had mistyped a waypoint coordinate!  No: a freshman had taken a false reading!  No: the helmsman from the previous watch had passed out! Everyone refused to allow Follow the Voyage document this travesty with a picture until:  “Actually, the captain temporarily shifted us into the waves in order to reduce rolling during lunch.” 

Let this be a lesson: Follow the Voyage always, always gets the scoop.

-JSF

[Lots of reading from the seventeenth century for Soquel.  She stole some sleep in between classes this afternoon]