The Captain's Logs are below.

Read the Crew's Views.

Back to Captain Logs 2001

It is hot and very humid. Today's humidex figure was estimated at 105 degrees Fahrenheit. The actual temperature was 92-95. There is next to no wind so there is no wind chill and the humidity is very high. Nighttime temperatures are not going lower than 75 degrees, which means there is no respite during the night. This is partly because the temperature of Lake Michigan near the shore is 81 degrees. So below decks, it is quite sweltering aboard Pride of Baltimore II.

Pride II arrived in Chicago on Friday in a very heavy haze with high humidity. The crew did a good job of handling sail during our entry into the harbor. We held sail right up to the dock followed by a rapid reduction just before docking. As the crew prepped the ship for the stay and the anticipated crowds for the weekend Open Houses, the weather changed. Humidity disappeared. Temperatures dropped with the northeast winds and life became truly good!

When all the work was completed, the crew was dismissed into watches for the next four days. Everyone would get two days off, alternately. This was unexpected considering that during the last five weekends in port with thousands of visitors each day during the 3-4 day stops, only one day off for each watch was ever given. My assessment was they deserved the time and the ship could provide it because she was in good enough shape to lose some of the otherwise available maintenance time. So off they scattered! Some went to family in the area. Some to the big city and all it offers. Some of the crew traded places with each other in order to get two days off in a row. The wheeling and dealing was quite fierce. But all desires were met in one fashion or another.

By Monday the weather was changing back to hot and humid. Today was the first official Heat Warning day. It will be so again tomorrow. But we leave for Muskegon tomorrow. Maybe the mid-lake conditions won't be quite so uncomfortable. If there is a breeze, it will be more comfortable aboard the ship even if the temperature and humidity are the same as ashore. But if there is no breeze, we will not find any relief out on the Lake.

We lost deckhand PJ Meyer on Monday, as scheduled. She went home to Cleveland to get ready for a sailing adventure in New Zealand. In place of PJ, Eric Gerzynski has joined us. He will stay on till the end of the season in mid-December. We are also losing our First Mate today, Amy Strange. She is going back to help her brothers care for their aging mother. Laura Loshe, who will stay only till the end of August, replaces Amy as First Mate.

This time of year is the usual time for crew changes to occur. But usually we don't have more than one change per position. But this year we have had multiple changes in our senior officer positions and cook. We are now sailing with our fourth, and I hope last, cook of the year. Ray Dries has joined us out of retirement from the catering company he sold a few years ago. With Laura we have our third First Mate. David Briddle moved up from Bosun to become Second Mate and we have Paul Gill aboard replacing David as Bosun. There will be other changes in the deckhand department coming up. Astra Valters leaves us at the end of August. Then both Tricia Fannin and Abigail Crain will leave us later in September. In early October, David Briddle and Cal Ocampo will leave the ship, making, I hope, the last changes till the end of the season in mid-December.

Aside from all these change, everyone this year has been a great addition to the ship. But the continuity will suffer a little with each change until the new people get the whole picture. Till then there will be a lot of explaining and re-explaining how things work and why we do things the way we do them. But that is to be expected, considering.

Cheers,

Captain Miles