Onboarding
Chicago Yacht Club
Chicago, IL USA
Log Entry by Program Manager Tatiana Dalton
Monday, October 24, 2022
13:51
I arrived in Chicago on Saturday night and boarded Denis Sullivan for the first time in the dark. I was struck by how big she felt, but couldn’t put my finger on quite why. Roseway was my introduction to tall ships, and the Sullivan is only the second ship I will get to know intimately. I’ll ask you to excuse any comparisons—I can’t help it—but after 36 hours on board I can already tell I will come to love the Sullivan in her own way.
In any case, coming from Roseway the Sullivan feels massive to me, and I can’t tell yet how much of that feeling is just because she’s not familiar to me yet. As I imagine her compartments full of students and visitors, I can’t wait to introduce her to the World Ocean School community.
The past few days have seen transit crew trickle in from all over. Some of our crew have now been aboard for over a month, and some just arrived in Chicago last night. Captain Flansburg, called away to officiate the wedding of a former Roseway crew member in Mystic on Saturday, returned along with Pilot Captain Sam Hill yesterday afternoon.
This morning, all new arrivals were given a thorough ship’s tour, complete with an introduction to all shipboard safety equipment, by deckhand Maddy Sandler. Engineer Rob Charde showed us around the engine room and introduced us to port and starboard engines Patty and Selma.
Second engineer and longtime Denis Sullivan volunteer Dan Luglio has been hard at work installing new navigation equipment. Cook Jake Walker is off on one last provisioning run, and Rob and deckhand Adam Young are stopping off to buy a stern anchor for the upcoming voyage. The ship is alive with activity—after just a few weeks since World Ocean School crew first stepped aboard, there is still plenty to do to get everything in place for our upcoming education season in St. Croix.
In addition to the thrill of having a full crew complement aboard, there is yet another reason to celebrate today: it’s Jake’s birthday! Please send your love to our wonderful cook—we wouldn’t make it very far at all without him.
