For weeks now I have been in want of time to reflect and contribute to the collective web site. Many of my shipmates have written some great pieces about the mission and the voyage to date.

While sailing in unfamiliar and exotic places in the world is one of the many alluring aspects of going to sea, it can present some challenges. Operating in regions where certain types of supplies and support are limited is not new to me, especially when the logistics of finding traditional and modern supplies for a wooden sailing ship can prove difficult anywhere.

I have often sailed with inexperienced crew. Most of the current crew aboard has never sailed aboard Amistad, including myself, and a good portion of the crew has never sailed or been to sea before. I am accustomed to working with small crews (we currently have about thirty percent fewer people than last summer’s Atlantic crossing). Every ship needs constant maintenance, and ongoing projects on Amistad are consistent with most other sailing ships. It is always an added challenge to inherit incomplete projects as well as starting new ones.

I have worked in several environments where the nuances of cultural and language differences lead to interesting interactions and communications with random outcomes. These and countless other challenges factor into one’s seafaring career.

However, combining all of these factors into a voyage where the first shake-down leg is an off-shore beat to windward, results in a daunting circumstance to which few people can relate. Whether learning the routines of sailing or negotiating a fouled anchor, this crew has made gallant strides drawing on personal talents and experiences, as well as learning new skills to contribute to the success of this voyage. Everyone is expanding in his or her own way. From the basics of steering to more advanced skills such as celestial navigation, everyone is finding an opportunity to gain and practice new abilities.

Any sailing voyage is wrought with unique personnel, mechanical, and logistic features and characteristics. What makes this voyage significant to me is beyond the particulars of delivering Amistad across the Atlantic Ocean. As we acknowledge the brutal past of slavery, attribute the forces that perpetuated (and abolished) the Atlantic slave trade, and experience places ensconced in difficult histories, we are on a voyage beyond traditional sailing and celestial navigation. Sailing I was prepared for; exploring some of the dreadful episodes in past and recent human history is much more challenging.

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