Hope everyone had a happy and safe Labor Day weekend. For some, boating starts to wind down when the kids go back to school, get dropped off at college, and fall sports start.
If you recall, I shared with you last month that my older son Julian was on the SUNY Maritime Empire State VII Training ship. He left on the ship at the beginning of May and was gone until July 16th. He was a 1C (1st Class Cadet) DO (Division Officer) in charge of a section of the MUGS (Mariners Under Guidance). I was so happy for him that this SST (Summer Sea Term) he would be getting to the ports that they were supposed to be headed to. When he was a MUG himself two years ago, it was the first year that the new ship was at the school, and unfortunately there were quite a few issues with it. Unfortunately, all the overseas ports they were supposed to visit had to be canceled because of the issues the ship was experiencing. They had to stay stateside and went up and down the East Coast to stay close to land to go to ports as needed for repairs.
This year they left school at the beginning of May and headed down south to Charleston, South Carolina. They were going to be in port for Memorial Day weekend. We drove down for the weekend, and our hotel was located on the water right across from where the ship was docked. We saw the ship when it came into port, and it was amazing to see them all dressed in their dress blues. Anyway, as much as I love the sun and the heat, boy was it hot and humid down there that weekend.
While the ship was down there, we were able to book a tour of the ship. Julian and his roommate Charlie were able to join in on the tour, and we were lucky enough to get a private tour of some parts of the ship and even got to see their bunk room. Talk about being in a cramped area. There were four of them in one room with a double desk and a bathroom. But they made it work, and not once did I hear of any complaints or issues.
When they left Charleston, they headed over to Malaga, Spain. My husband and I don’t fly, so we will live vicariously through Julian. The boys had limited Wi-Fi during the days because of classes and ship work, so we did not hear from him too often during the days. But when they arrived in Spain, the pictures that he sent were amazing. After that, they were supposed to go to Ireland, but unfortunately at that time there was unrest there, so the captain decided that they would have to make a detour and wound up heading to Southampton, UK. After that, they headed back towards the States because they were due to be on the anchor for Sail 250.
After that, the ship headed up to Albany for a two-day dockage before they started to head home. The ship arrived back at school on July 16th.
Going back to the beginning of August, it was a tough start to the month. Julian was taking his licensing exams at Maritime. For weeks on end, when he was on the ship for the Summer Sea Term. He would be staying on the ship at school for two weeks after they returned to study for his exams. I was not concerned or worried. I figured he had been studying for months on end before he went on the ship, every day on the ship; how hard could it be for him? What did I know? He had been on the boat since he was 10 days old and just figured he had it all down.
Boy was I wrong. He was going for his deck license. Testing started on Monday the 3rd. It was two tests a day Monday through Wednesday and one test Thursday morning. If you fail one or two tests, you can retake them. Anything over three, you must retake all the tests. Monday morning went well. Monday afternoon, he failed by one question. These tests are serious – there is not a lot of leeway to fail.
Julian is now a USCG Licensed 3rd Mate. He has already started applying for positions on various ships. Next stop is graduation on September 10th, dress blues uniform. The unofficial motto of the school is that when you ask someone who went there, they will tell you, “It’s the worst place to be but the best place to be from”.
I would like to wish everyone a happy Columbus Day weekend. Hope we continue to have beautiful weather and the winds stay calm. Last Columbus Day weekend, the weather was not so great. For us, it is the last weekend of the boating season. We are always at Watch Hill, where FOWH (Friends of Watch Hill) has their annual Columbus Day weekend gathering. It is our biggest event of the season. Over the last few years, we have had over 100 attendees.
See everyone in November…by then I will finally get back to talk about those five-mile-an-hour zones and some boating etiquette reminders