FTV 2/10/12 The Quinn Family

This Sea Term is extra special to the Quinn family of who has a long tradition of Marine transportation training here at MMA. Captain Jim Quinn is a 1969 graduate, while his son Kevin will graduate this year. Family member Mike Quinn, also an MMA graduate is currently working as the chief mate on a commercial tanker ship.

Captain Quinn joined the Education staff at MMA in 2001, after his 1999 retirement from the US Navy. He entered the Navy right out of MMA and during his career he commanded of two naval ships from 1985 to 1990. Then, from 1991 and 1993 he was the Captain of USS Patterson (FF1061) Here at MMA Captain Quinn, is currently a Deck Trainer, and Professor of Marine Transportation. Currently, he is teaching meteorology and a course on Ship Handling to cadets.
Beyond his distinguished Naval career, Quinn has also earned two masters degrees. One from the Naval War College in Strategic Planning, and another, a Masters in Management from Salve Regina College. In addition he current holds a Master Mariners License, which means he is licensed to sail as captain of any type of ship on the sea.

Quinn's youngest son Kevin is making his family and MMA proud as a Senior Deck rate on this year's Sea Term. Kevin grew up in Barrington, RI. He knew from the time he entered High School that he wanted to join the Navy, and chose Mass Maritime, because after his four year education here, he will not only earn a college degree, but also become a licensed mariner , along with a Navy Commission. Over his last four years he has participated in a Naval Reserve Program, called the Student Incentive Program (SIP). By participating in this program Quinn will be prepared for a commission in the Naval Reserve.

Captain and Kevin Quinn have faced several challenges as a father -teacher-son- student. Balancing these roles has made this father son duo especially sensitive to hints of favoritism. Kevin wants his classmates to respect the fact that he is choosing his naval career for himself.
One of Captain Quinn's fondest memories of the 2012 Sea Term was watching his youngest son become a shellback. This designation makes a sailor part of a long tradition of the Mariner Community.

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...

Captain's Blog 2/9/12

Missed yesterday, and it was a weird day all around the ship. As reported to me at 1000, the doors to the Captain's office, Chief Mate and Chief Engineer's office were all closed at 0800. Mine was closed because I needed some extra rest after the Panama Canal - and I am sure that the same was true for the Chief Mate and Chief Engineer - but they stay out of circulation for the whole day. But this morning everyone is up and at it - maybe moving a little slow - but that is can be expected for we old-timers, trying to keep up with 20 year old cadets!

Last night we conducted the first phase of our annual charity drive - before there was a Guayaquil Project - we conducted fund raising drives for worthy charities. It all started with the Haiti Earthquake, and our ship was actually in play to provide relief. Once we were told to stand-down, our cadets enthusiastically organized a fund to support the victims. It has switched over to the Wounded Warriors Foundation, this being our second year for that cause. The attraction is our annual jousting competitions. We have an SGA provided jousting prop that is an inflatable mat about 20 by 20 feet, with two pedestals near the middle. Two contestants, wearing head gear, climb up and attempt to club the other off the pedestals with overgrown Q-Tips. It is fun, mostly harmless, and usually the loser simply loses balance and crashes to the mat. Last night we conducted the weigh-in where contestants talk a little trash, carry weights in their pockets, and generally have a little fun. After that, we enter into a raffle drawing where about 25 tickets are drawn where worthwhile (to cadets) prizes are awarded - 'get off the ship second', 'get out of jail free', 'admiral's inspection off' or 'Miss MoFo for a week'.

The most fun last night was the auction - where our auctioneer, CDR Steve Kelleher parleyed unsuspecting cadets to cough up hundreds of dollars for items such as an extra day of liberty in St. Thomas, 'no spring maintenance hours' and 'no offload hours after sea term'. There were tangible items too, TS Kennedy baseball caps, Crossing the line Polo Shirts, and Engineering Study Guides. All in all, between the raffles, auction, and straight donations we raised nearly $5,000.

Tonight we have the competitions, more auction items and hopefully more goodwill on the part of the crew - maybe we can exceed last year's total of $6,000. I'll let you know tomorrow.

FTV 2/8/2010 Emergency Management Classroom

Emergency management protects communities by coordinating and integrating all activities necessary to prepare for, respond to, and recover from threatened or actual natural disasters, acts of terrorism, or other man-made disasters. The profession and the academic discipline that addresses this 'management' of emergencies and disasters is called emergency management. An emergency is any unplanned event that can cause deaths or significant injuries, shut down business or disrupt operations, cause physical or environmental damage and/or threaten reputation or revenue.

Emergencies and disasters come in all shapes and sizes. They include hurricanes, earthquakes, hazardous materials incidents, flooding, structure fires, tornadoes, terrorism, protests, human epidemics, volcanic eruptions, drought, heat waves, power outages, computer system failures and many, many more.

Whatever the event, effective coordination among federal, state, country and local government, the private sector, non-governmental organizations (NGO's) and volunteer agencies- before, during and after an incident- is crucial to effective emergency management. The role of the emergency manger is to promote coordination among all of these parties.

Two recent natural disasters seemed more devastating than any before, in fact more powerful hurricanes had struck New Orleans before. Why did this disaster seem to create more damage than before? The difference is that we have changed the way we live. We overdeveloped the coastal area, stripping the land of natural buffers like wetlands and trees that formed protection in the past.

Even the tsunami in southeast Asia could have been a far smaller tragedy, had the Indian Ocean had a tsunami warning system like the Pacific Ocean- and had people known the basic warning signs of a tsunami. Learn more about this at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/earth/anatomy-tsunami.html

Dr. Jop is challenging his students to solve a problem related to evacuating low lying areas during Hurricane Katrina. Try this problem that is similar to the ones are solving in this picture.

Your coastal emergency management team has been advised that a hurricane is heading up the coast, and is predicted to make landfall near a small coastal islands that has 1200 residents. Your team needs to evacuate using busses that hold 30 people to a higher location 25 miles away?

Use the information below to figure out a plan.

8% refuse to leave, you will leave them behind on the island

10% are special needs and elderly who need to be accompanied on the bus with an aide.

How many total people will be on the buses?

How many buses will you need?

To learn more about the emergency management of Hurricane Katrina click here. http:// www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/earth/anatomy-katrina.html

Find out how hurricane winds are measured try this activity

FTV 2/8/2010 The MSEP Classroom

The Marine Safety and Environmental Protection (MSEP) major at MMA began in 1993. The field of environmental and health safety is un going tremendous growth because every company and agency, on both land and sea has to have a department that is responsible for the health and safety of its employees, and minimizing the impacts of the company/agency's on the environment.

The MMA MSEP students will gain knowledge in science, management, and laws related to the environment, environmental issues, safety in the workplace on land and at sea, as well as emergency crisis management. Additionally, students participate in a least one 'sea-term 'to become familiar with marine and terrestrial ecosystem or conduct an environment safety internship.

In this picture Dr. J and 1/C Cadet Michael Senzapaura make a Hazardous Materials and You presentation to 4/C Cadets. The presentation discussed hazardous materials that can damage living organisms, personal property, or the nature environment. The PowerPoint went on to describe hazardous waste that poses threats to both life, property, and the environment, and to explain how any chemical can be a hazardous material.

In this activity you will examine Toxic substances and their effects on the human body.

Captain's Blog 2/7/12

The transition from Pacific Ocean to Caribbean Sea is always striking this time of year. While the Pacific is calm, hot and dry - the Caribbean is warm, windy and humid. Not five miles from the Cristobal Breakwater we could discern the ship's motion, gently climbing into head seas and coming down in a relaxing monotony.

Our northbound transit was smooth. It was interesting watching the large number of cadets and crew out on deck watching our lift through Miraflores and Pedro Miguel locks. The crowd diminished significantly when we entered Gaillard Cut, and once we left Gamboa there was hardly anyone left out on deck to observe Gatun Lake passage. The experience of the locks is the same from day to night where the massive illumination makes night turn into day. In Gaillard Cut the steep stepped hills on each side are ominous at night - particularly on a moonlight night like last. But Gatun Lake is really cool at night because there has absolutely no 'light pollution', it is just plain dark. The only light one sees are the bright buoys and range markers. I liken it to being at an airport at night, where the taxi ways and runways are distinctly visible against the black tarmac.

So, after dropping to sea level at the Gatun Locks at 0045 we began the short passage to the sea. While enroute we discharged the seven UMIP cadets that rode the transit with us, accepted the repaired electric motor (that we had sent ashore on Friday), and discharged the pilot. At 0200 we took departure from Cristobal, and again we're in the Caribbean Sea.

More tomorrow...

FTV 2/6/12 Cadet Blog

The T.S. Kennedy was greeted in Panama with open arms from fellow alumni and friends. On Saturday night, Mass Maritime hosted reception for the Alumni and the U.S Ambassadors on the Helo Deck. It was a great time for the Alumni to reminisce and get to share a part of their past with their own families. There were numerous tours of the ship for families to experience what it is like to be on sea term, and for alumni to remember memories of their times aboard Everyone enjoyed themselves by talking with old friends and meeting new ones.

Where we are docked, is right next to the Bridge of Americas which was constructed by the same builder as the Bourne Bridge. It's almost identical; almost like our home away from home. During our stay some Panama City night life was amazing there were plenty of different clubs or bars to go to and all had different tastes of culture to offer. Panama by far is on the top of list for best port on this cruise. We just have to transit Panama Canal once more then be on our way to St. Thomas!

Captain's Blog 2/6/12

Disappointed and sad might be the best words to describe my mood since about 2200 last night. I like so many of our crew went ashore to see the Patriot's win the Superbowl. And all 400+ of us walked dejectedly (less our Giant's fans in the crew) back to the ship. I could go back to 2008 and copy my Captain's Log I wrote from Golfito - it was almost the same scenario of losing.

Oh well, as sad as I was, the sun rose this morning, the locks are still accepting and discharging ships and we will be departing the dock after 1400 today. We don't know the exact time of leaving, but we'll clear the Gatun Locks in Cristobal at 0040.

It has been a great port visit with all our friends here in Panama. We said good-bye to Father Jim, and welcomed Admiral Gurnon for a few days. We'll now push into the Caribbean Sea - start taking the Trade Winds on the bow as we steer toward the US Virgin Islands. And think, we've only two-weeks of cruise left! Wow. More tomorrow...

Admiral's Blog 2/5/12

"A wonderful time was had by all!"

Last evening the Kennedy hosted a reception aboard for local officials, MMA graduates, and senior administrative officers from the Universidad Maritimo Internacional de Panama (UMIP - the maritime academy of Panama). In addition many of the same MMA graduates we saw at the party we enjoyed last Friday evening at the Spanish fort in the old section of Panama City, many Americans from the US Embassy staff visited the ship including the Deputy Chief of Mission, the US Naval Attache and the US Coast Guard liaison. Shipping company officers stationed in Panama for Evergreen and China Ocean Shipping were in attendance, as well as port operations folks from the thriving container business here. And the Operations Chief from Authoridad de Panama Canal was present, rubbing elbows with all the canal pilots that work under his direction.

 All in all there were 165 people at the reception, this included many of the ship's officers and a large contingent of the cadet officers. We even saw some of our own students that have been studying at UMIP on an exchange program. As the evening played out, a proposal came from a Marine Transportation professor asking if we could carry some UMIP cadets on our transit - of course - all the people that needed to approve such a passage for the cadets were present - and it was done. So tomorrow when CAPT Bushy takes the Kennedy off the dock, seven Panamanian cadets will be on the bridge with him.

So the details of the Kennedy transit tomorrow have been established - laying alongside the dock until 1400 hours, then getting underway and heading north. By that time I will be nearing Logan International Airport - going back the cold northern climates once again. I have had a wonderful time visiting the cadets and crew - as well as all the alumni. Witnessing the excitement aboard while on the sea term is truly a gift. The cadets are upbeat as they are learning the practical aspects of their future careers, and the staff are relentless in the pursuit of proper training and safety standards. And the food is awesome too. I'll go back knowing in a few short weeks the tanned faces lining the rails as Kennedy will have had the adventure of a lifetime, and I'm glad I could share in that.