2nd December 2012
Today we had South Easterly force 2-5 winds increasing 5.
Changing in the evening to West North Westerly winds force 5-7.
It was raining all day. - I guess we were just spoilt yesterday!
- Today I plan to get my National Power Boating Cert.
- I need to show Noelle that I know how to do everything she showed us yesterday and that I can do them to a high enough level to pass.
We arrived at half past 9 and the boat was already on the water because Noelle stayed on the island where we went to do our knots yesterday.
We climbed on board and Noelle told us that the trip was still on for Westport, despite the weather today. She checked that we all had plenty of layers on and warned us that it would be very cold on the boat during the day.
We then talked about the weather forecast and signs on the water, once we all understood everything that Noelle was telling us, we left Rosmoney for Westport.
The GPS was down today so it wasn't telling us where we were, I thought this was good because it meant that we had to use and understand the charts. Jarlath was on the helm first and I was navigating, we were going through all the port and starboard buoys on the way out. I had navigate for Jarlath until we were coming in the channel to Westport. Then we swapped, I was on helm and Louise was navigating the chart for me.
It was so cold in the wind that it felt like the rain drops were hailstones hitting your face. I was glad I had decided to wear my walking boots instead of my wellies today because the sole is much thicker and my feet were much warmer.
While I was on helm Noelle came and sat on the tubes next to me because the tide was nearly at low tide and I had to bring the boat down the channel where there was sometimes only .4/.5m of water under the RIB.
I found it a bit nerve racking on the way in because I was afraid of the depth being so shallow under the boat, so I just reduced the speed and came in nice and slow. When we were coming right in to the quay, Noelle took over because the depth had gone to .3 and she said it wouldn't be fair on me if something happened to the boat.
When we were coming along side a fishing boat to tie on Noelle jumped out to tie on and as she jumped back in to the RIB, she slipped and landed on her back on the seat in front of the console. She didn't move and was in a lot of pain for a while. Then she slowly got up and we all climbed up the ladder onto the quay. She was in a lot of pain and went down to see her coast guard friends.
Jarlath, Louise and I went for lunch in the helm and dried all our wet gear in front of the fire. Noelle then came in for lunch too but she sat with her friends.
After lunch Noelle brought the RIB out of the quay, the depth was even lower now and as we were coming out the GPS showed that it was 0.0m beneath us! Scary!
We then did some man over board drills and headed back to Rosmoney pier.
We recovered the boat and then Noelle said to get changed and meet her by her van in 10mins.
We all passed our National Power Boat Certificate!
I really enjoyed today and am so proud of myself for passing and getting my cert. I worked hard to remember everything we were taught and I can't wait to get more practice helming RIBs. I really would like to start working towards getting enough experience to go for my Safety boat certificate.
Environmental interest of the day...
It was so cold in the wind that it felt like the rain drops were hailstones hitting your face. I was glad I had decided to wear my walking boots instead of my wellies today because the sole is much thicker and my feet were much warmer.
While I was on helm Noelle came and sat on the tubes next to me because the tide was nearly at low tide and I had to bring the boat down the channel where there was sometimes only .4/.5m of water under the RIB.
I found it a bit nerve racking on the way in because I was afraid of the depth being so shallow under the boat, so I just reduced the speed and came in nice and slow. When we were coming right in to the quay, Noelle took over because the depth had gone to .3 and she said it wouldn't be fair on me if something happened to the boat.
When we were coming along side a fishing boat to tie on Noelle jumped out to tie on and as she jumped back in to the RIB, she slipped and landed on her back on the seat in front of the console. She didn't move and was in a lot of pain for a while. Then she slowly got up and we all climbed up the ladder onto the quay. She was in a lot of pain and went down to see her coast guard friends.
Jarlath, Louise and I went for lunch in the helm and dried all our wet gear in front of the fire. Noelle then came in for lunch too but she sat with her friends.
After lunch Noelle brought the RIB out of the quay, the depth was even lower now and as we were coming out the GPS showed that it was 0.0m beneath us! Scary!
We then did some man over board drills and headed back to Rosmoney pier.
We recovered the boat and then Noelle said to get changed and meet her by her van in 10mins.
We all passed our National Power Boat Certificate!
I really enjoyed today and am so proud of myself for passing and getting my cert. I worked hard to remember everything we were taught and I can't wait to get more practice helming RIBs. I really would like to start working towards getting enough experience to go for my Safety boat certificate.
Environmental interest of the day...
They are very similar to and can sometimes be confused with Shags, but the big difference that is easy to spot is that Shag's have their hair sort of 'gelled' up on top of their heads, where as a Cormorant doesn't and has a smooth head.
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