Ahoy!

Well we have officially crossed back over the International Date Line and are no longer one day ahead of the West Coast. Today is our second June 22nd (today is called 22B, yesterday was 22A) and yesterday we completed our annual Sinbad Games competition. For those who are new here, the Sinbad Games are kind of like ship olympics. All divisions get the day off to compete in various challenges for the coveted prize - to be the first division allowed to leave the ship when Sea Term ends on July 8th! Participation is entirely voluntary and not required, but appreciated and encouraged. 

We kicked off the day with a hunt for King Neptune - the division who found him on the ship was granted 8 extra points for their scavenger hunt score.

Following King Neptune's departure, we continued on with a push-up contest which was one third of the triathlon. 

1D - push up contest

2D - push up contest

2E - push up contest

3E & 4E - push up contest

We then moved on to the Bucket Brigade - divisions must compete one-on-one to fill a trash can at the end of a line of cadets. The buckets at the start are thrown overboard to collect seawater, and cadets must then transfer the water from bucket-to-bucket until it reaches the trash can. Whoever fills the trash can first wins (there are holes in some of the transfer buckets on each side). 

2E and 3D - bucket brigade

4D close up

2E - working together

1E vs. 4D - bucket brigade

1E beat 4D :)

1E celebrating their victory!

1D won against 4E~

Next, we moved on to the Boiler Suit Hydro Test. The objective here is to put the smallest cadet in the division in the boiler suit of the largest cadet, fill the suit with water, then flip them over and dump the water into a trash can. The division with the most water in the can wins! Divisions are allowed two minutes to tape arm and leg holes closed and then fill the suit with water. Pre-taping, boots, gloves, and other alterations to the boiler suit are not allowed. 

4D preparing for the boiler suit hydro test challenge

4E preparing their contestant for boiler suit hydro test~

1D - boiler suit hydro test - they did pretty well!

2D - boiler suit hydro test with good support~

3E - boiler suit hydro test

Our next challenge of the day was Plumber's Nightmare - a fan favorite. Each division gets a turn to stop the water squirting out of these rickety pipes with rags and tools. The game assistant shifts the PSI of the hose which creates additional challenges. This is a timed event, so whoever stops the water from shooting out the quickest wins the overall challenge. 

3D - plumber's nightmare

3E - plumber's nightmare

While there are a few major games of the day (Bucket Brigade, Boiler Suit Hydro Test, Plumber's Nightmare, Hauser Toss) there are a few smaller ones going on in the background - one of them being the knot tying competition. Competitors must tie a specific knot while blindfolded in 10 seconds or less! 

4E - knot tying

The last game of the day is the Hawser Toss. Competitors must throw a hawser over a bitt. They get points depending on if the line lands between bitts, on one bitt, or both. 

3D - hawser toss

4D - hawser toss

Congrats to 2D for winning the Sinbad Games!

Overall, it was a really fun day of camaraderie and team work and all divisions represented themselves well. We are now heading into our second week at sea following our departure from Saipan, with six days to go until we reach Seattle!

Fair winds and following seas...

~Madalyn Reynolds, Assistant Purser & Jessica Fowler, Purser

Check back often and follow the voyage with our blog series that gives the latest news from Summer Sea Term! TSGB will travel to San Diego, CA, Kauai, HI, Guam, Saipan, NMI, and Seattle, WA prior to returning to Vallejo on July 6th.

Stay tuned for updates to the Follow the Voyage blog.