Lately this hitch I've spent some time posted up in somewhat remote parts of Prince William Sound, where updates can be difficult to make. But I've spent the last week in Port Valdez and got the chance to publish new content from Katie and Claire, detailing how they manage to get everything they need into their sea bags, and what exactly they take with them to work. Before my first-ever hitch, I was completely in the dark with regard to what I would need on a tugboat, and a resource like this would have been invaluable. I hope this helps anyone who is starting out and needs a blueprint for the gear they should get before crewing up.
We've received more outreach from potential contributors, one of whom has just reminded me how much this project has already changed my life. She told me that spending so much of her career working with only men has given her cause to crave more connection with other women in the industry and a desire to help others, if she can. I identify with her on this point: after a few years in the maritime industry I was left feeling profoundly isolated and wanted so much to not only connect with other women, but also to feel like we weren't pitted against one another. I wanted to reach out and become friends with them, form a network, so we could all benefit. Now, if I have a bad day at work, I'll text one of my mariner girlfriends to vent or seek some moral support, and they often do the same to me. If someone had told me five years ago I'd have a network of maritime women to whom I could turn for support, women who know exactly what my job is like, I would have laughed (albeit ruefully, because I wanted exactly that).
I couldn't do it alone; these ladies have made and continue to make that wish a reality.
I'll be out of town again starting today and don't know what the internet will be like at Naked Island, so I'd like to leave you with some of the wonderful blogs kept by a few of our contributors: Megan E. (Punctuation on the Ocean), Megan R. (Nautie Mermate), and Lia (Me, Myself and Isswat). Enjoy!
- Elizabeth