movin on up
last time i filled this in was the b'day. not a lot has happened really since then. leon went on holidays for 5 weeks so i've been the only deck hand on board the boat since. in a way its been good though, getting the feel for what its like being in charge. i've got new experience now as i've been in charge a couple of times now when we're moving the boat, which means talking the captain in and out of berths. the very first time was a disaster. not my fault but all the same. it was a very, very tight squeeze to get out of our berth, as in we actually had to poush against the other boats to get out. not usually as problem when we are fully crewed, but there were only 4 on board. captain driving, engineer getting the anchor up, chef fending off and me on the radio. it was going ok, but then a ground line (rope anchored to the bottom of the harbour) got sucked into our bow thruster (propeller at the front of the boat to push the nose left or right). freakish thing to happen, never happened before as there is a grill over the bow thruster to stop that from happening. anyways, that meant that every time we tried to move forward, the groundline pulled tight and uplled us back. so we ended up scratching the bejesus out of the boat next to us, i mean a 2 metre gouge in the side of their boat, and also put a nice little one on the back end of our boat. by then we had a nice little crowd watching the drama unfold.
so we had to get the divers in to try and free us up, which took about 40 mins. i was pretty nervous by then! then, once we were free we tried to get the anchor up and found that it was stuck under someone elses anchor. it was a tight little area so i was under quite a lot of pressure to make sure we were clear at all times on both sides, a lot of running back and forth. once the anchor was up we were out of port, but what a way for my first time on the radio to go. since then i've done it a couple more times with no crashes, and the captain certainly didn't blame me for it, just one of those things.
i completed my vhf course yesterday. thats the first step out of the way towards my yachtmasters, and my medical exam is on monday. the requirements for the course is that i have done 2500 nautical sea miles, with at least half of that in tidal waters. we worked out that i have done 4133 nm, however non of those were in tidal waters. so the captain has put down that i did the atlantic crossing with them so that my tidal mile scrape in. there are a few other things that i need to know that i will have to look into, but i'm booked from the 3rd of nov - 14th, and all things going to plan i should be qualified and ready.
we're supposed to be doing the crossing on the 15th of november, but its still up in the air. if we haven't got any charter we may even be staying in europe. i'll be very disappointed if thats the case, but am kinda tied to the boat for a while as the captain is paying for half of my yachtmasters, which would be a big slap in the face if i turned around and said catch ya and headed for the carribean. anyways, i guess we'll just play it by ear.
other than that, hmmm, oh, i'm heading to ireland this comming weekend to catch up with the crew. good to get away from the boat for a while and also the last opportunity i have till next med season i suppose. anyways, i've babbled long enough so i'll be back another time!
so we had to get the divers in to try and free us up, which took about 40 mins. i was pretty nervous by then! then, once we were free we tried to get the anchor up and found that it was stuck under someone elses anchor. it was a tight little area so i was under quite a lot of pressure to make sure we were clear at all times on both sides, a lot of running back and forth. once the anchor was up we were out of port, but what a way for my first time on the radio to go. since then i've done it a couple more times with no crashes, and the captain certainly didn't blame me for it, just one of those things.
i completed my vhf course yesterday. thats the first step out of the way towards my yachtmasters, and my medical exam is on monday. the requirements for the course is that i have done 2500 nautical sea miles, with at least half of that in tidal waters. we worked out that i have done 4133 nm, however non of those were in tidal waters. so the captain has put down that i did the atlantic crossing with them so that my tidal mile scrape in. there are a few other things that i need to know that i will have to look into, but i'm booked from the 3rd of nov - 14th, and all things going to plan i should be qualified and ready.
we're supposed to be doing the crossing on the 15th of november, but its still up in the air. if we haven't got any charter we may even be staying in europe. i'll be very disappointed if thats the case, but am kinda tied to the boat for a while as the captain is paying for half of my yachtmasters, which would be a big slap in the face if i turned around and said catch ya and headed for the carribean. anyways, i guess we'll just play it by ear.
other than that, hmmm, oh, i'm heading to ireland this comming weekend to catch up with the crew. good to get away from the boat for a while and also the last opportunity i have till next med season i suppose. anyways, i've babbled long enough so i'll be back another time!