Halloween and a Field Trip

Okay, first I have to share this photo that someone posted to Facebook. I laugh every time I look at it. Reminds me of Rock.

Now, update #1: My fish. I should have named all of them "Chicken Shit," because they are all afraid of me. Whenever I walk into the room, they go hide behind the decorations in the tank. It looks like I don't have any fish - just an empty tank. They are good at hiding. Mrs. Black, the fish that is supposed to hide under a rock all day, comes out to swim laps more often than the other fish. So Mrs. Black is my favorite fish. She even likes rubbing against my finger when I put it against the tank. So, her new name is "Brave" and the rest are named "Chicken Shit 1, 2, 3, and 4."

Ugh.

Update #2: The Okoboji 40 Sailboat project. It doesn't exist anymore. My professors thought it was too challenging for us, so they dropped the project altogether and gave us an easier assignment. For the record, the first project was NOT too difficult for me. I was excelling at it, so I am disappointed that we had to quit. Maybe I'll work on it again someday on my own. I can't easily describe our new project, but I'll try: We were given a pre-made hull (we had to design our own hull on the original project). In this hull we were given, we have to make a GA (general arrangement) that includes 5 berths (beds), one head (bathroom), a sette for 6 (dining table), and a galley (kitchen). And that is it. No exterior styling, no sail plan, no weights and centers calculations, no nothing. Easy peasy. I'll let you know how it goes.

Moving on: Halloween. Halloween was on a Thursday. I was hesitant to go out on a school night, but I couldn't pass up a costume party. The girls I've met came over and got ready at my apartment. No boys allowed. It was fun. I dressed up as a Phoenix Goddess. Kate and Christina were leopards, and Hazel was Batwoman. There were at least 50 people at the costume party and every single person was in a costume, so it was a lot of fun. We had an air guitar contest, dance contest, and super hero battles. Here are some pictures. The boys in the photos with me are some of my yacht design classmates:

Kate on the left, Christina on the right.

 This is Will as the Wolverine. 

Sherwayne as a Tommy Hilfiger Model. 

Channel 4 News Team (Anchorman movie). Zan on the left, Cam on the right.

And this was the classroom 10 minutes into class the next morning:

   We all had a lot of fun on Thursday night, and no one was very excited to get to class on Friday. I was just as exhausted, but the quote I had to repeat to myself on Friday morning was, "no matter what, get up, dress up, and show up." Everyone did eventually show up by 8:30 because we had a field trip that day! We took a trip to the Maine Yacht Center. It was in Portland, so we all carpooled up there together. When we got there, we didn't have a tour or anything, we were just instructed to go explore the boats. It was awesome. They had a huge warehouse of yachts that they are currently building from scratch or repainting, repairing, refitting, etc.

It is difficult to get a sense of scale for how big these boats were. It was scary climbing into them on these ladders. But once you climbed into a boat, you could pretty easily just hop into the next boat without climbing back down to the ground. 

   This is a one-man sailboat that is being prepared for the sailboat race around the world. It is 60 feet long. Listen to this: Our 40-foot sailboats that the class was designing weighed on average 18-20,000 lbs (which is normal for a cruiser/racer 40-foot sailboat). This sailboat is 60 feet rather than 40 feet and is built using the lightest and fewest materials as possible. It weighs 9,000 lbs. Twenty feet longer than my 0-40 and half the weight. That is a big deal. It will definitely sail a lot faster than the Okoboji 40 would. 

    They have green tape on all of the boats to mark what they intend to do for repairs. Such a simple approach.

    This was the largest yacht - 90 feet. This photo is doing a terrible job at portraying its size.

   I had the moment of "woah, I'm really going to be a yacht designer," when I was looking at these boats. After learning the design process in school these past two months, including designing my own 40-foot sailboat, it meant a lot more to see these boats in person. The Okoboji 40 sailboat that I designed was all on paper. I haven't seen my design any larger than 8.5x11 inches long. Coming to this boatyard and seeing real 40-foot sailboats was an eye-opener. They are a LOT bigger than my tiny little drawings on paper. This was when I stopped and took a minute to breathe and digest the thought that this is what I am going to be. I'm going to be a yacht designer. I'm just now finally grasping that idea, and I couldn't be more happy.



   Yesterday was too nice of a day to stay inside. I went to the dog park and watched the dogs play. It was funny. I didn't take any pictures because I thought that might be weird for the dog owners. After the park I went to the beach and watched everything... dogs, surfers, walkers, birds, waves, everything.

I am really happy here.