FOLLOW THE VOYAGE - TS KENNEDY

Friday, February 10, 2012

Captain's Blog 2/10/12

DATE 2/10 FRIDAY
TIME 0700 LT (ZD +4), 1100 GMT
LAT 18-14N
LON 67-42W
C 090
S 14 K
RPM 56
DEPTH 434 METERS
WIND E FORCE 2
SKY 4/8
PRES 1017
AIR 75-70
SEA 79
30 NM WEST OF MAYAGUEZ, PUERTO RICO

Last night the Seventh Annual "Mayhem in Mayaquez" was conducted on the Helo Deck. It occurred after sunset, so the venue looked really cool - the bright blue and yellow jousting matt, surrounded by comfortable seats from the Seatorium, all illuminated from above by the bright mercury vapor lamps. The event continued to raise money for the Wooded Warriors Foundation - to which we are proud to announce has exceeded $5,000. Incredible!


The jousting completions were great deal of fun for both contestants and the audience. The evening started off with the Super Heavyweight class when Tim "Baby Huey" Lawler of Newburyport bested Kelly "Cream Cheese" of Melbourne, Fl. Then Jarred "No Smile" Roark of Plymouth lost to Terry "Terrific" Cavicchi of Middleboro. In the final round "Terrific" prevailed over "Baby Huey". One bout in the "Blonde versus Brunette" match was Tenley "The Freak" Gillett of Bedford, NH defeating Janelle "Too-Shay" Piche of Coventry, RI. A handicap match - a truly one-sided card - saw P. J. "Big Pete" Campbell fall to the under-rated John "Flaming Red" Deboer - our SGA President from the mean street of Bourne. Two welter-weight matches set the stage for a final round - Patrick "Big Daddy J" Morrissey of Quincy took down Bill "Lil Bill" Doucette of nasty streets of Manchester-by-the-Sea before being bested by John "Diesel" Dee of Plymouth, who previously was victorious over "Mean Jean", "the Haitian Creation" Roodelin Jean of Port of Prince, Haiti.

The heavy-weight match saw some thunderous crashes to the matt when Pat "The Sloth" Owens of Mansfield tipped Michael "Grandpa" Cotter of Methuen. The "Trench War" Match saw Rob "The Bird" Gratzer, at 250 pounds pummel Kevin "The Bird" Griffin of Auburn, an equal weight match. One of the most anticipated match was billed as "License versus Non-License Match" when our Cadet Chief Mate Ben "Little School Boy" Wilbur of Sharon, CT facing off against Jack "Brickhouse" Gomes of New Bedford. The "Brickhouse" took the decision - and it stretched to seven rounds - before a cheering crowd of partisan fans.

The Main Event lived up to its premier billing - the returning Champion, Thomas "The Truth" Dindy of Marshfield - who at weighed in was doing backflips- faced Nathan "The Sure Thing" Sherr of South Lynnfield. This was a match for the ages - running to eight long rounds - although the decision eventually came out in "The Sure Things" favor. But these two incredible athletes were clearly exhausted after the match. For the fans, this was the Olympics of the jousting aboard - great balance, jumps and ducks, and hard hitting. Everyone had a great time, and the main event was icing on the cake!

Today we are running man-overboard drills - not just the turns associated with that action - but the engine speeds also. This allows our first class deck students to practice what is taught in the classroom, and the engineering cadets get "more throttle time" as the engine speeds are changed.

More tomorrow when we get to St. Thomas...

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