Education Guest Log

Sail Training Trips
School Trips

Sail Training Trips - Hawaii

Following are submittals by students during Lynx trip from Newport Beach to Hawaii, July 2002; submittal for the trip from Hawaii to San Francisco during August 2002 is also included below.

• Jessica Jones - 7/15/02: Hi Everyone. All is good. I am having a blast here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. This has been a great adventure and I have met many interesting people. We all work together whether it is setting the sails or washing dishes or keeping each other awake during the long night watches. This is a great break from the fast world and I am enjoying every bit of it. I climbed aloft and out to the jib boom which was pretty scary. I have learned so much, including all my lines, and there are a lot of lines! I have studied the stars and weather and now know how to plot our position using a sextant. This adventure is all I expected and more and we still have half the sail left and then Hawaii itself to explore!! I can't wait.
  - Jessica Jones

• Alexandra Williams - 7/18/02: Hey Everybody, Today is our twelfth day at sea, and we have about 400 miles left to go until we reach Hawaii! It's amazing how this entire experience is still so unreal to me. There is so much more to the world of sailing that people don't realize. Being here requires so much knowledge and a complete understanding of your surroundings just to keep things running smoothly. It's unbelievable to me how much I've learned in a single week. To a beginner, sailing is an entire new language, but everyone here is excited to lend a helping hand in teaching one another. There are 14 of us on the ship, and it's awesome how well we all get along. Our ages range from early teens to late sixties and we all enjoy one another's company. On the ship, age is truly only a number. We all take part in setting the sails, going aloft, plotting our course, taking the helm and much more. The ship requires attention every minute of every hour, so we have three watch teams taking turns keeping Lynx moving quickly on course. I think it took everyone a while to adjust, but waking up comes easily now. Many of us have only been here for about two weeks now, and it's almost as if you forget you had another life before Lynx. We put all that we have into the ship, but at the end of the day our hard work pays off. There is so much that I can tell you, but you will never completely understand until you experience it for yourself.
  - Alexandra Williams

• Eric Loss - 7/18/02: We saw the moon for the first time last night. It finally broke through the clouds after ten days of being obscured, illuminating the ship like the first rays of dawn through a grey cloud. I marveled at the ease with which I maneuvered around the now visible, stepping confidently where just a few nights before I had cautiously inched my way along in the dark. We rolled down the moon river, Lynx searching earnestly for the source of the silver stream like a cat following a dangling string. No cat ever had such an escort, for what could compare to constellations above, silver dipped flying fish alongside, and the brilliant half circle of the moon leading us onward. The night was enchanted and we were witness to it only by accident, drawn onward by spreading wings aglow with the moon's crystalline light, stretching up into the darkened firmament like a ghostly wall. The ship moved on, the clouds closed back in, and darkness returned, never noticing our insignificant yet awestruck faces.
  - Eric Loss

• Joel Buffa - 7/18/02: Sailing to Hawaii on Lynx has been a great experience for me. When I first went on board I did not know any of the lines. In order to go "aloft" I had to know all 66 lines, what they are attached to and the job they perform. "Aloft" is climbing up the ship rigging that supports the masts. Although I have only been aloft a few times, I very much like going up because I am able to see the ship and the water at a different angle then just from on deck. The food on Lynx has been great! One night we even had chocolate covered frozen bananas with sprinkles on top! This was a pretty good substitute for ice cream. On this trip I have learned how to find my latitude from a noon site of the sun using my sextant. I can't wait to see Hawaii the day before my 14th birthday.
  - Joel Buffa

School Trips

SADDLEBACK VALLEY CHRISTIAN SCHOOL - 10/02
26223 Oso Road
San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675

10/12/02

Dear Captain Doug, First Mate Ryan, and the rest of the crew of the Lynx,

The class, the attending parents and I enjoyed our adventure aboard the Privateer Lynx. It was informative, and the activities were well-planned and implemented.

We didn't really know what to expect, but we were very pleased.

I was most amazed that such a ship could "house" a hundred sailors for a year!! Goodness! Life must have been rough! Also, I can't imagine the noise with many cannons being discharged.

We are very thankful that America took a stand against Great Britain and established a more confident nation. We also hope we have learned that to stay a sovereign nation, you must always be prepared to defend yourselves against injustices and attacks on your liberties!

Thank you again for the memorable adventure. May God bless each one of you!

Sincerely, Mrs. Mulligan