Right after the departure from Kristiansand, Norway, the maritime training started. The students split up in to groups and practiced setting and taking in sails. Up and down and up and down and up and down and up. The lookout also got some good practice in the English channel due to the traffic. She/he strikes the bell once for a ship on the starboard, twice for port side and thrice for dead a head.
As the weather was not in our favor, it was decided that we would anchor up in Torquay Bay until it had passed. Life on board went on as usual with exercise on deck, cleaning and watches. Sunday September 10th was also the first day of classes.
There has been many new subjects for the students to get in to. In English students study, poetry and irony. The chemistry class will soon start lab work, and underwent a safety test in preparation for the labs. In the CDA class (media) they have handed in a folder with pictures and an analysis of them. Temperature has allowed for classes on deck, only occasionally distracted by sail maneuvers and dolphins.
We arrived in Porto, Portugal on September 18th . Here the students went on a field trip to Oporto British School and exchanged experiences with the other students, both at their age and much younger. Shore leave was spent Exploring the city center of Porto, eating at restaurants, shopping and studying the beautiful architecture. The day before departure from Porto we discovered cases of head lice on board, so we did a full lice wash of heads and hammocks as we sailed out.
We set sails with fair winds on September 21st , heading for Cadiz, Spain. We experienced great speed, up to 10 knots. During the sail, students took a big part in the maintenance of the ship. Rust washing and chipping, splicing rope for the rig and overhauling blocks are amongst the tasks.
The student council has now been elected and they will meet once a week. 17 students are up to the task of finding solutions to issues that might appear and make the school year more enjoyable by arranging activities. Their goal is to bring the students and faculty/crew closer together and be a voice on behalf of all of the students. The clubs have also been established. A holiday club, birthday club, yearbook club, drama/journalism club, movie club and a baking club (baking for everyone) will start up soon.
On September 23rd the wind died out, and it was clear that we had sailed to a warmer place. The Chief Mate announced that it was time for a swim call and the students were split up into groups. Students, faculty and crew enjoyed jumping from the main deck, boat deck and all the way out on the jib boom. Although it was exclaimed several times that the water was cold, it didn’t stop most from jumping in over and over.
But life on a Tall Ship is more than swim calls and sunbathing. You must know your lines! Over 200 lines go to our sails and you need to know their names and what they do to be an asset on deck. The students have all been tested in lines one by one by a crewmember.
On September 26th we sailed in to Cadiz and the students were let out on shore leave as soon as the deck and the banjer was cleaned up. The Spanish class had an assignment to interview a local person in Cadiz, by only speaking Spanish, so this was next. The rest of the time was spent enjoying the Spanish city by relaxing on the beach or testing out the local gelato.
Blogs to check out
“Adjusting”: This blogpost is written by our senior, Kasper, who describes his start of the school year.
“¿Por qué me uní a A+ World Academy?”: This blogpost is written by our senior, Carlo, who describes his reasons for attending the school.
“Porto: Third Week, First Port”: This blogpost is written by our senior, Terese, who wraps up the first port – Porto.
Whats on the horizon
Lab work will soon start in chemistry class. Depending on the weather the students will perform different experiments on the ship, and when in harbor they will go on relevant field studies to do lab.
In English they some will read The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald were the topic will be symbolism. Others will read City of Thieves by Beinoff and will go further into irony.
CDA class (media) will look at photo editing. The basics of repairing a damaged photo will be the first steps.
Clubs are starting up, and first of all the Chinese painting club will meet. Planning for Halloween, and even Christmas, has also begun!
Ship – The line test might be completed by everyone, but there is another line test coming up next. Now there will not be time to think twice and the lines we only use occasionally will be included.