11/13/2024
T/V Kings Pointer Fall Break Trip Nov 1-8, 2024
The T/V Kings Pointer departed the Academy the evening of November 1st with 21 Midshipmen and 11 crew after finals week concluded. The evening started east through LI Sound to Block Island Sound and along the south shore of Long Island with destination to Cape Henry and Chesapeake Bay. Good weather brought the opportunity for Celestial Navigation, which was the theme of the voyage. We made an evening transit into Chesapeake Bay up to the Potomac River with good training evolutions with traffic and pilots.
We set up for departure from Cape Henry in the morning of the 4th to head back north, utilizing the great weather conditions to continue getting days work in Cel Nav and piloting the coast. We continued along the coast of south shore Long Island and into Vineyard Channel, turning north around Cape Cod for the Cape Cod Canal.
The morning of the 6th we transited through the canal, with 3/C(A-Split) Holly Sugrue having the conn for her first time. The west end of the canal brought in a heavy swell up Buzzards Bay which led us to run weather patterns throughout the evening until the swell laid down. Morning brought clear skies and piloting through Block Island Sound, Eastern Long Island Sound and, finally, anchoring in Huntington Bay, LI by 3/C Justin Lyon(B-Split).
We were able to have a grill out , clean up the ship, and finalize projects before arrival back to Kings Point the morning of the 8th by 2/C(A-Split) Jackson Tolle.
In total we covered 1289nm with 252 sea days earned, not to mention machine shop projects for engineers, training of fuel and l**e oil transferring and switchboard operations, Cel Nav, piloting, and boat handling and anchoring.
Another item to mention is the professional crew onboard with alumni and other state schools representing. Easton Hazim(KP 2020) and Alex Mueller(KP 2021), Mark Sullivan(Mass Maritime), Mike Kmetz(SUNY), Matt Herrington(SUNY), Ethan Nichols(SUNY), and Steven Stratmann(SUNY) all brought a level of professionalism that will be with the Midshipmen for a lifetime.