Kia ora friends and family of the R. Tucker Thompson,
Day one on the ship and it was a busy one!
After we closed the sea-gate, threw the mooring lines and hoisted the sails we waved goodbye to the stragglers and set our course into the Bay.
A name game was played to help everyone get familiar with each other. Trainees went below and unpacked everything they had into their tiny bunks. There was a nice bit of swell waiting for us at Tapeka point so we turned back towards Russell to eat our lunch of macaroni cheese.
Dishes was done and dusted so it was time to hoist some more sails and make our way towards Motuarohia, our anchorage for the night. Most of the trainees went out on the bowsprit to ride the swells and get splashed as the bow went underwater.
When we came into calmer waters, trainees went through an orientation. Then we weighed anchor at Roberton Island and went ashore to settle some stomachs and play some team building games. Then we walked, some sprinted, up the hill to the lookout. There, we did 15 minutes of silence- a practice for the 30 minute silences that will come! Then we went back to the ship and most of the boys jumped in the water to show off their manu skills. The girls went down below and taught each other card games and had some good yarns.
Now we’ve had dinner, with Luca polishing off the rest of the leftovers, and we have a few legends doing the dishes, thanks Tupuarangi, Lexi, Hayley and Zamara!
First night and there is plenty of laughter and noise coming from the saloon area. Safe to say, the trainees are settling in well.
Po marie
