As of 0800 the training ship Patriot State was located at 15 degrees 42 minutes north latitude, 076 degrees 24 minutes west longitude. She is steering a course of 029 degrees true...making a speed of 12 knots. The wind was out of the north - northwest at 4 knots, seas were moderate. Air temperature was 80 degrees. Sea temperature was 82 degrees. The skies were partly cloudy. Depth of water under the keel was 2,950 meters.

CAPTAIN'S LOG:

Sunday at sea. For a cadet, three words that spell "relief." You see, Sunday at sea means a well-deserved day off, and while this might be our third Sunday since we left homeport, the previous two were anything but days of leisure. Our first Sunday was only the second day out...so the cadets spent the day busily preparing themselves for the rigors of Sea Term. The second Sunday was our Shellback ceremony, and that was no day on the beach for the 398 new shellbacks. So today is really special and a well-deserved day to kick back and relax. The uniform of the day is ...non-uniform. Appropriately called "Leisure wear" in the Plan of the Day.

Of course, the watch must continue to steer the ship and the engineers must continue to go down into the "pit" and make the noise that moves the prop and keeps the lights burning. Cadets on maintenance duties get to split the day's work. Half set up the big cookout that is the Sunday tradition onboard the Patriot State. The other half clean up after it ends late Sunday evening. Cadets who are in the training division are the lucky ones. They have the whole day off to enjoy the tropical breezes, listen to the MMA band play aft on the old pool-deck, talk to friends and eat the seemingly unlimited supply of grilled chicken, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, soda, potato salad, fresh fruit, and ice cream served up by the Academy caterer; Chartwells. Even though, inevitably, some have to work on a Sunday at sea, EVERYONE manages to have a great time.

I had some fun this morning with a group of fourth classmen. I asked them to compute a course that would result in a "zero apparent wind". (The right answer would result in "calm" conditions on the decks of the Patriot State. That is one of the great things about having a picnic aboard ship: you can control the wind and even steer to avoid rainshowers.) Their eyes immediately glazed over, and each looked at me as if I had just asked them to write their names in Russian. I then gave them an explanation of what I was looking for, and they set off to impress the Captain.

About five-minutes later they returned triumphant with what they felt was the right answer. Just as they were about to go back to their normally assigned tasks, I asked them to prove their answer. I then instructed the first class cadet officer of the watch, Tim Kelly ( Elizabeth, NJ) to pass control of the ship to one of the freshmen. Fourth class Joe Reisinger( Stratford, CT) was selected. Clearly unaware of the awesome responsibility he was just given, he never the less made the adjusted course change and the answer they had computed proved correct. Soon Cadet Reisinger passed the "Con" to 4/c Joe Texeira (Acushnet, MA). Last time I checked, 4/c Jessie Stevenson (Tolland,Ct) was in charge and 4/c Nicole Roy (West Roxbury, MA) was waiting her turn. Yes, the learning curve was steep for our freshmen; however, they seemed to love the change of pace...giving orders for a change instead of taking them.

The funniest moment came when the coffeepot ran dry. I mentioned the problem to 4/c cadet Texeria, the acting officer of the watch. He promptly ordered Cadet 1/c Tim Kelly (the Cruise Commander and the highest-ranking cadet on the ship) to fetch coffee from the galley. We are all looking forward to when the watch is relieved and everyone returns to their regular places. Then we will see how much of a sense of humor Mr. Kelly has.

We are currently just south of Jamaica headed to the Winward Passage. We expect to arrive at Lee Stocking Island tomorrow morning.