So a little news update from drewland. I’ve now finished the second week of a three week rotation. The first week was practical training which was mooring lines, and marlinespike. Nothing new there – this week has been a little different. I’m on “day work” which just means that each day we’d muster up at 0800 after breakfast and be assigned jobs in different sized groups.
Today I had the job of lashing benches tables chairs, an acetylene bottle, and weird rusty steel bracket thing. I spent most of the time, sitting on a bench busting out whippings on the ends of all the lines I had to make up. That took quite a while, but I learned a new – and very nice looking – whipping from the bosun here. It’s his version of a sail makers whipping, and doesn’t involve a needle, but still does a cherry job of a whippin’ the end of three strand line.
Tomorrow I have CC duty which just means I’ll show up at the mess deck at 0630 and wash dishes and wipe down tables for all three meals. It’s not all that bad, as I get nice breaks between meals, and I really enjoy bs’ing with the kitchen staff. It’s long been a part of Drew-lore that two people you want on your side: 1st mate, and the cook. Either of them can make your life nice, or hell depending on their moods.
We had some bitchin’ weather last night too. The decks of the ship are numbered, from the top down, 04, 03, 02, 01, 1, 2, 3, 4. The 04 is the helo (hee-lo, as in helicopter) deck. There isn’t enough room for a helicopter to land up there, but it’s what we call it. Anyways, I was lounging about in my rack, and I heard water splash against my window. It was only spray – wave hits, water shoots up, wind blows it against the ship’s house and my porthole – but I’m on the 02 deck. It is approximately … 20 feet off the water? Apparently the wind blew 40 knots last night, and it was steady too. I went up to the helodeck just to check it out, and it was awesome. I could look up at the stars, and they were just as steady as ever, not caring about the weather way down here. I could see the glow of the masthead light moving back and forth with the sway of the ship against the bright, still stars and milky way. I don’t know what the seas turned into, but the ship was barely moving. I got a great nights sleep. Plate steel double insulated bulkheads, thick porthole glass, 30 feet of draft – besides the constant 2-3 degrees of starboard list, it was smooth sailing even with that crazy wind and waves outside.
Sailing on one of these ships truly is much easier than my tallship experience. In fact, doing it now, I can’t imagine working for years aboard a tallship making money that I need each year to support myself. Over the years, I think the waves and sea would just beat the life right out of me. Being protected like this makes me think a career in it would be much more comfortable than I originally thought I’d be in for.
We’re pulling into our first port in two days: Balboa Panama. We’re not sure if we’re going to be at anchor, or on a dock yet. They said we probably won’t know until the last minute. I’m looking forward to a little internet time, printing off a few pictures, and perhaps skyping the family to say hello.