A Great Longines for Crewing

Got up today at 6:00am and headed to the Port Of Los Angles.
8:45am reported for duty.
9:00am began work climbing the 100 feet high masts to string Christmas lights on ship 100 feet long.
You just can't be afraid of heights or you'll fall into the ocean.
4:00pm finished the lighting and began taking provisions for the 5 hour sail.
5:00pm the official Parade Marshal for the 2017 boarded our ship. Ret.Congressman Janice Hahn.
6:00pm enter the 2017 Los Angeles Parade A Float.
9:00pm stowed Irving Johnson (brigantine)
10:50pm new memories created on 1930 Longines on board a ship designed in 1930, construction finished 2003.

Glad to see a few people like Tall Ships. The Irving Johnson and Exy Johnson are kind of special. For those who didn't do a Google search to learn about them, they are part of the Los Angles Maritime Institute (a.k.a. LAMI). The short version of the long story goes that in 1992, a retired science teacher and Coast Guard licensed captain, Jim Gladson took a few of his students on his private sailboat and taught them all the ins and outs of sailing. He found that his high school students became much more interested in school. Starting from there, he partnered with the Los Angles Maritime Museum and began a program to encourage junior and high school students to stay in school by showing students something fun they can do with their education.

LAMI has had over 60,000 students sail with us going on voyages as far as California to Hawaii. There are also programs tied with the United States Navy Sea Cadets as well. The crew's mission is to sail with children to make for a better tomorrow.

Further reading https://lamitopsail.org/about-us/history-of-topsail/

There is surprisingly a whole community of Tall Ships. I have met a few sailors that have crewed aboard several ships. You might search your country and area for a tall ship near you. If you are in the Los Angeles or San Diego area, there are a few ships you can crew. LAMI is always looking for new crew members. Two more ships are going be added, so more volunteer crew members wanted. We teach and train anyone of any age to become qualified crew members. And you don't have to go up the masts if you don't want to. There's plenty of kids that want to. I just check if they're property harnessed and hooked into the yard arms.

It take somewhere around a million dollars per year and thousands of volunteer hours to maintain the ships, LAMI relies on volunteers and donations. I am sure many tall ships welcome help.

I like wearing my Sei Tacche Longines, not because it is anything special, but because Longines is the spirit of adventure. What better watch to wear out to sea?

Trust me, can be scary. My first experience going aloft was while the ship was underway. The mate gave the orders to furl the sails and I said I'm a rock climber, I'll go. Well rocks don't move, found out quickly that makes a big difference in your confidence level at height. We're all swinging back and forth grabbing the sails with both hands (wait, no hands on the yardarms...). We're standing on a steel cable that is not stationary either bouncing up and down (remember no arms or hands on the yardarms most of the time, just your feet and stomach.)

It's a humble functional watch. Take out to sea as often as possible. It's got a nice weathered look to it.

Anyone seriously interested in Tall Ships sailing. This is apparently a way to book a vacation voyage. Several options from Europe.

http://www.classic-sailing.co.uk/