Lube up that wire!

Hello everyone,

Sorry for the lack of blogs this last week but I have been very busy and very tired! But as promised I thought I'd let you know about what I'd been up to and what this whole lifeboat wiring is.

Ok, so you have a davit which extends the lifeboat out from the ships side and then lowers the lifeboat to the deck and then to the water. This is all done using two very long, I think around 60 meters but don't hold me to that, pieces of wire. So to change it you undo the bolt which holds one end and lower this to the deck. You then attach the new wire to it using a metal tubular netting, and wrap a crap load of duct tape around it all to hold it in place. They then run this wire through the whole machine until the old comes back through which you then coil up and put to the side.

Whilst the new wire is pulled through you apply grease to it (the moment your able to see which of the men are most lonely haha), I'm particularly good at it! As said before we have 18 lifeboats, I've been doing this for 11 days now I think and we still have 6 left. Yay! Although now everyone is very good at it and we are getting two done a day so hopefully only 3 more days of it! Having sea days doesn't help but adds a nice break from doing the same thing everyday. I'm excited about finishing it to see how my next sort of jobs are like as so far I've only mainly done to very big jobs, this and the hot flush.

So that's that. It sounds boring, it is boring, the grease has completely ruined both of my blue boilersuits even after being washed it just appears as black spots but oh well! It does feel good in the sense of really understanding something so well that despite only being at sea almost 3 weeks I could easily take charge and tell everyone what to do and it would be fine.

I also attend the forward mooring deck each morning for arrival and departure and observe. To start with it was just watching the 2nd bosun say which lines to put out/heave in and understand which lines were which and did what. As of the last fews days I know observe one of the 'blue boys' control all of the winches who let me have a go. So confusing and stressful. It has to be done quick. We normally go for 6 and 2. This mean 6 ropes combined with head and breast and then two spring lines. The 2nd bosun will use signals and you can't hear his voice during it all such as touching his head for head lines, chest for breast lines and tapping his arm for spring. Finger in the around and doing a circular motion means heave in, pointing down means let go. At the same time as watching him, which can mean doing 3 controls at once, incredibly difficult, you have to watch the others who will tell you when to stop. They tell you this by shouting stop. To be they all sound the same which really goes help, if you're lucky they will raise a clenched fist meaning stop. But when I hear it I stop all of them, not so quick.

The guy teaching me does all of this, watching the boys and the 2nd bosun, at the same time, controlling 3 whinches at once using 1 arm and a knee. Insane. But I'm learning quickly and will get the nack of it soon!

The cadet who was on here when I started has now left and was replaced with another the same day. He's a good lad, and new to it all too, which is nice as I'm not so alone in rushing to learn and being worried about not knowing things. At the moment we are doing different jobs and next cruise we switch so definitely no more wiring! The lucky bastard might have todo 2 lifeboats. Grr! haha!

3 weeks have flown past and so I keep thinking repeat that so many times and before I know it I'll be home which I am already looking forward to. It is tough being so distant, whilst I was at university I wouldn't see family for months at a time but then I always knew if I wanted to, I could go see them that day. Knowing that I am thousands of miles away and don't have the choice is weird. But still, it's great fun so far, I think I am settling in a bit better now, with some grounding of what is expected so that is good and like I said, days fly past. Before you know it you're at morning coffee break, then lunch, then afternoon break, then dinner, then emails, bed and repeat.

Found out about getting off the ship too, anytime it's not working hours is fine although I have to be back by 10.30pm. Out of working hours just ask an Officer and as long as it's not like 3 times a week or something big is going on they are likely to say yes. So fingers crossed I can escape in Dubai! I need to put my feet on the ground!

Right! That's it for now folks! Talk soon


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