Hobbies to do on board

[supertramp]

I've just completed my first trip as a deck cadet and am just wondering what people do to pass the time. I'm due to join my next ship shortly. The only things I can think of are:

watching films
reading

I exhausted my last ship's video and book library so just wondering what hobbies people suggest.

from speaking to other cadets I know my next ship doesn't have a gym.

[alistairuk]

Sleep :-)

[thady]

Sleep, watch tv series and films, gym, computer games

More kip less trip!

[Hatchorder]

Spare time, SPARE TIME, what's that! lol

I know you may all laugh now, but when I was on some of the OCL boats many years ago there was a bit of a craze for making rugs! You bought the kits at home, took it away to sea and made a rug!

They always looked good when people had finished them but personally I do not think I would have the patience to do them.

I also knew people who were model makers. Not just plastic kits but scratch build wooden models, so they bring away a set of plans, and then rob little bits of wood to make each piece where they could. Chippy always lost all the little offcuts he had in his locker!

Others bough books on knots and splices and make fancy ropework.

All seems a bit "old fashioned" now, but I can still tie a Turks Head knot and a Monkeys Fist without thinking.

There must be more "modern" hobbies?

Ian

[stronglead]

well for me it's been alot of sleeping, barely watched anything on my laptop (give it time) though between me and the other cadet its 4-2 to me on fifa and 1-1 on the chess, also as a cadet im doing other work like typing important notes up that I took when in the engine room so I have a good copy of them plus they are saved onto my laptop and memory stick

[mak]

^haha i'm 11-3 down on chess but 15-6 up on darts. Also, I took a ukulele, smaller than a guitar so not too cumbersome and it makes the days fly by. Next time i'm taking knitting, I meant to this time but forgot. And there's always what I'm doing just now, the cryptic in the back of the Telegraph.

[GuinnessMan]

^haha i'm 11-3 down on chess but 15-6 up on darts. Also, I took a ukulele, smaller than a guitar so not too cumbersome and it makes the days fly by. Next time i'm taking knitting, I meant to this time but forgot. And there's always what I'm doing just now, the cryptic in the back of the Telegraph.

You could always give up some free time to go and see what the deckies get up to on bridge? Learn a little about what they do. It's something I always thought was a good idea as it gave you an overall view of what goes on on board.

[supertramp]

Spare time, SPARE TIME, what's that! lol

I know you may all laugh now, but when I was on some of the OCL boats many years ago there was a bit of a craze for making rugs! You bought the kits at home, took it away to sea and made a rug!

They always looked good when people had finished them but personally I do not think I would have the patience to do them.

I also knew people who were model makers. Not just plastic kits but scratch build wooden models, so they bring away a set of plans, and then rob little bits of wood to make each piece where they could. Chippy always lost all the little offcuts he had in his locker!

Others bough books on knots and splices and make fancy ropework.

All seems a bit "old fashioned" now, but I can still tie a Turks Head knot and a Monkeys Fist without thinking.

There must be more "modern" hobbies?

Ian

these were the sort of things I was looking for. Rug making sounds like a good idea, would probably make the Russians laugh on my next ship but if it makes the time go by faster then so be it!

[dannyboy]

hows about learning a foreign language off one of the crew

[ramfeild66]

I write, a blog would be a good idea if you're not a natural authoring type. Something your family and friends can see. Useful means of venting too.

I'd probably take my bass guitar, learn a foreign language is a good one if you intend to travel and a Kindle would be a useful purchase if you read, you can pretty much store a library in those.

[Chloe]

sounds stupid, but origami. If you have enough paper and an internet connection you can can make some quite complex things by following youtube videos.
Or try learning the ukulele :')

[Hatchorder]

When I was a cadet we had to keep a daily deck log and hand it in to the company at the end of each voyage. I still have mine, got crew lists for every trip, menu's from the saloon, runs ashore, cargo watches, noon position, day's run, the lot. Just in the process of scanning all my negatives from the pictures in using a specialised Nikon scanner. As some of the logs were 2 A4 hardback books for a single 4 month voyage I must have spent hours writing, but cannot remember doing it.

Both my kids have spent many hours looking through them.

Do cadets still have to do them?

[Hatchorder]

Just had another thought - some people made matchstick models from kits.

http://www.wonderlandmodels.com/mode...hstick-models/ (I am not recommending these, just the first website I found)

Dirt cheap, lots of fiddly bits, easy to take away, light. Just cardboard, matchsticks and glue!. You dont even need to paint. They are brilliant for taking hours to do, and look good. I made a car and a gypsy caravan. If you want you can just get bags of matches and make your own models from scratch.

Ian

[Faust]

Do cadets still have to do them?

We don't have to. I do, jot down a few notes about the day and if anything out of the ordinary has happened I will go into detail.

[Hatchorder]

Although this seems to be kicking the arse out of it!

http://www.odditycentral.com/news/man-builds-worlds-most-elaborate-matchstick-model.html