My summer internship was working with Schooner Pioneer at The South Street Seaport Museum. It was the best summer I've ever had, working with Malcolm, Fern and Gabriel and two of my other classmates, Grace and Brendan. It’s great getting to know the New York Harbor much better, just sailing almost everyday and at different times. Interacting with the volunteers and the passengers was also great because I got to know where people were from, where their backgrounds were from and their different experiences. I learned a lot this summer about myself and about working on Schooner Pioneer. One thing I learned on Schooner Pioneer was definitely crowd control. Crowd control probably doesn’t sound hard but when the boat is full of adults, children, the water is choppy, and there isn’t much space, then you see it as the most dangerous thing. Keeping people safe is the most important thing to me along with having fun. It was a lot of fun being halyard captain with both adults and children and having when there to help the crew sail the boat. Answering their questions about the harbor and other vessels out their was great too. The crew was also there to answer all my questions and took out the time to answer all my questions. From talking about square riggers and schooners for 3 hours to talking about jig tackles almost everyday until I understood them with Fern and Malcolm, I can say I learn more then what I thought I was going to learn and I feel more confident in myself. Sailing at night was something that I didn’t expect, the boats that I see do tours or dinner boats throughout the day, I see them parting at night and that would be the best, all of a sudden you hear waves on our boat and see a party boat speed by us blasting music. Getting the internship motivated me to do my best every time I went to work and I will definitely be going back to sail or to help the crew out. It also gave me experience working in the maritime industry at New York Harbor where I would want to work in the future.
-Ashley Cruz
