18/05/2010 - Just a normal day

I am finding it more and more difficult to wake up at my normal time,.. today I woke up at 07h,.. gone are the days of waking up at 06.15, my body apparently needs its 7 hours!!

I was thinking about the watch system and how it is a bit of a pain going to bed directly after the shift and going to work directly after waking up,.. but I guess it is the same with all the shifts!

There is certainly a “labour is cheap” mentality on the boat, I don’t mean that in a negative way, but the previously obligatory time-saving techniques and power tools are now a thing of the past, with electricity in short supply and time and labour in excess, the normal “time is money” logic in the civilized world no longer applies!

Spent the morning on the headrig chipping off areas of seizings, at some points it was better to hang upside down and despite causing a little seasickness, was a fun morning,.. suncream is now obligatory as the wind can make it seem much cooler than it actually is and a few people have become quite pink,.. I am not among them!!

The Portuguese man o’wars are still everywhere,.. I am amazed they have ridden the wind and currents this high,.. I need to look up where they come from,.. they are very beautiful,.. quite glad we’re not swimming just yet though,.. Shawn and I were wondering if there was a pellet gun on board we could use to burst their little gas bladders! Bit cruel I know!

Tried to get a few hours shut-eye this afternoon, but the interminable “Baggy-wankers” as they have now become known were busy trimming baggy wrinkles with an axe and block  just above my head for the majority of the afternoon,… this is the 4th day in a row they have been doing this,.. got to say something to WT about this!

Halfway through my semi-snooze I could have sworn I heard someone shout “Fish” and I catapulted myself from my bunk and onto the Aloha deck with 20 seconds,.. however it appear I was dreaming and nothing was there,…  tomorrow the Bro-cave board will have a different quote,.. “Days since liam has caught anything,.. “0””

Our evening watch was spent playing more riddly games, but for some reason a lot of people are fading now in the evenings, the novelty of the watch has worn off and we have not yet accustomed ourselves to the interrupted sleep patterns.  Baggy wankers aside I think we need at least 7 hours sleep a day! (can’t say “a night” now as most people don’t have the whole night!).

Mate Mike came and gave us a “man overboard” exercise and we played out correctly the scenario he gave us,… we learnt there are slightly different rules  at night and in high seas i.e. over 15 ft, we asked about the storm a few days ago and were told that in that case, a man overboard would be rescued by the ship, the rescue boat would not be launched!  Made me think about when I was on lookout just before the storm hit,…

 

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