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TS Bora Bora

Ships Log

June 2008

Californian Challenge Training, San Diego, CA

At CA Challenge we learned a lot of things, like raising the halyard (sail) of the ship, we learned various kinds of knot tying, and rope coiling.  We were all trained on the correct "man overboard" procedure and got to jump off the ship into the bay and swim out to a life raft.  We climbed the rigging of the ship up to the yard-arm, which was a scary, but I was proud that I made it.  We spent the whole week sleeping on the Californian, but did many of our lessons on the Star of India & the HMS Surprise (which was the ship use in the movie Master and Commander).  On our last day we got to take to the ship out sailing in the open ocean!  It was great except that most everyone got a bit seasick for a while.  It was still one of the best trainings I've ever been to and I would encourage any cadet to go to a future Californian Challenge Training!

PO2 Rachael Knapp, NLCC

July 2008

Coast Guard Training, San Francisco, CA

The Coast Guard training was great experience!  We stayed at the Coast Guard Station at the Golden Gate Bridge and we even got to walk across the bridge.  We got to to Angel Island, which beautiful and Pier 39, which was a lot fun!  We were able to ride in the Coast Guard and sheriff's boats across the bay, which was so much fun!  We had a drug awareness class and learned how they ruin your life & what terrible things could happen to us if we used drugs & why we should stay away from them!  We also learned some first aid and different places a pulse can be taken and other ways to help people.  I really enjoyed this training and meeting a lot of new friends!

PO2 Rachael Knapp, NLCC

17 Jul 2007

NLCC Survival Camp, Camp Pendleton 24-30 June 2007

I was so excited to get to camp even though it was a six and half hour car  ride. Once all of the cadets arrived, we started pitching the tents it was hard but we got past it. Later on in the week, we learned knots, knife safety, medical training, and compass navigation. For meals, we had noodles, hotdogs, boiled in a bag eggs with bacon and cheese and boiled in a bag brownies but they blew up. For deserts, we made wolfems and smores. We hiked around the lake at least nine times. We had fun when we had a water balloon fight with the staff cadets and officers. We also played mini golf and volleyball. We went fishing and boating for other activities. Across the lake, we had live bait, which were worms; I freaked a couple people out, including the Skipper by putting one in my mouth. At the end of the training, some people were sad. I think Survival training was a blast and I cannot wait to go next year.


PO3 Branden Kaspar, NLCC

17 Jul 2007

NLCC Survival Camp, Camp Pendleton, June 24-30, 2007

Survival camp. What can I say I survived! (I think) This camp was one of the hardest and most memorable camps I ever attended. At this camp, we experienced hiking (at least five miles a day), wildlife, outdoor first aide, fishing, bugs, friendship, leadership, fire safety, knife safety, cooking, miniature golf, boating, setting up tents, injuries, obstacle courses (night ops), compass training, volleyball/field games, and a fun water balloon fight with the officers in charge and the sea cadet staff. I would love to do this training again and staff it. This is something I would call a Kodak moment; we were learning knife safety and a fellow cadet cut his finger and went to the first aide training to get his band aide. Sadly, we had a cadet return home early because she injured her knee. The good thing (other than the knife incident) that was the only major incident that led a cadet home. Over all this was an outstanding training that I hope that will carry on for future cadets.


PO1 Bonnie Kaspar, NLCC

10 Jul 2007

NLCC Survival Training - Camp Pendleton,  24 - 30 JUN 2007

At Survival Training I learned how to make my own food, navigate trails, how to use various kinds of knives safely, first aid & wound care.  We were able to experience boating, fishing, miniature golfing, hiking, volleyball & tent pitching.  A ranger came to teach us about the animals & plants in the area that were protected.  We also had a corpsman come and teach us about providing medical care during war time & how they had to wait for the enemy to stop firing before they could go in to help their patients.  We learned to work as a team to accomplish the tasks we were given to do.  I had thought that Survival Training was going to be just a lot of work but it turned out be a great time for making new friends & building stronger friendships with existing friends.  Survival Training was an awesome experience!

PO3 Rachael Knapp, NLCC

15 Aug 2006

NLCC Orientation- 32nd St, San Diego, 23-29 Jul 2006

Boot camp was a great experience for me! I learned a lot about the Navy and what you do in the Navy. I learned about the K-9 Unit and how the dogs are used for drug searches & defensive protection. I was able to experience how a recruit lives, sleeps, eats and gets ready on a floating barge. I also learned how tuff you have to be to be in the Navy and how sometimes you have to just tuff out the hard times. In the end it made me feel stronger and more successful in my life. I am so glad I went to boot camp and look forward to the advanced training next year!

LC-1 Rachael Knapp, NLCC

6 Aug 2006

NLCC Coast Guard Advanced Training at USCG Golden Gate, 23-29 Jul 2006

Advanced training in San Francisco was the best. We had educational classes on: Boating Safety, Sexual Harassment, Fire fighting, and Drug Abuse. We also got to explore a little bit of San Francisco by: walking the Golden Gate Bridge, Visiting Pier 39, spending the night on the “HORNET”, and going to several gift shops. The second best thing about this training was that we had an awesome CO. He never yelled at us and always had a positive attitude. I also enjoyed my Company Commander (CC) & Assistant Company Commander (ACC). They yelled at us when necessary and socialized with us when appropriate, they were cool. But the coolest thing was that all the cadets got along well and we exchanged numbers at the end of the training and until this day we keep in contact. If I had the opportunity to go again, I would go in a heartbeat. That was my funniest week of July.

L-PO3 Amani Vanreed, NLCC

1 Jan 2006

NLCC Training at Port Hueneme, 26 December - 31 December

This training was not too challenging, but I became a better leader. I was the LPO for 1st Company, the Honor Company. There were 28 people in my company, so we were an average sized company, just one bigger than the other company. We went to Pt. Mugu and Channel Island. At Pt. Mugu we went to see some of the cargo and fighter aircraft, and we visited an Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) Detachment, which is actually based in San Diego. At Channel Island we visited the Coast Guard, got to see and hold some of their gear, body armor, small arms, extendable baton, life vests, etc. Also we got to see some of their small craft [boats]. After all of this I was never " fired" from my position, and I got Honor Cadet for the Senior Cadet, because each company had 2 honor cadets, one for the junior cadets [LC-1- LC-2], and one for the senior cadets [LC-3 and above]. Big thanks to EOD Unit 3, Detachment Pt. Mugu, VR-55, and VX-30.

Semper Fi.

L-PO3 McAllister, NLCC