19th March 2013
Day Skipper - Sovereign Sailing - Michael
3*C - Clear skies most of the day, some cloud but dry all day.
F- 3-4 winds
- My main aim today was to not let Michael get to me and to completely ignore his negativity and inappropriate comments. There is only today and half of tomorrow to get through...so don't crack up now!!
- I also want to feel like I am polishing everything off and feel confident with all maneuvers and everything on board.
Today I spent a lot of time learning my day shapes, sound signals and lights, because Mike said he would be testing us on them in the evening. He also went through some more navigation but it was very brief. He told us about Tidal Diamonds, estimated position and dead reckoning. He showed us how to work them out and then we did a passage plan from Salve marina to Roches point.
 |
| Teddy studying hard. |
We went from Cross haven to Oyster haven. At Oyster haven, Mike did a bit of wind awareness with us. He chose a few buoys out of a huge selection of buoys and then we each had to go around the course, letting our crew know if we would be tacking or gybing and also telling our crew to let the sails out a bit/ bring the sails in a bit etc and we had to know when to luff up and bear away to get out best course to steer around the buoys.
This took quite a long time as each person had to go around the course twice.
 |
| Bit of study & chocolate up on deck! |
Then we stopped for lunch. I was proud of myself and knew I had done well going around the course.
I did a passage plan with Dave for Oyster haven in to Kinsale. It felt so good to be heading back to Kinsale and I knew we were near the end of the long 5 day course.
 |
| Teddy climbing the mast! |
We made our passage plan and got the journey under way as soon as we could, there was a possibility of showers and an early night if we could get back to Kinsale soon enough!
Everything went well during the passage, we had accounted for the wind direction, so we knew we were going to have to tack all the way up the channel. We also accounted for it getting dark and had put in a pilotage for that too.
When we got back to Kinsale, Liz & I put the dinner on and Mike started testing us one by one on our night light, day shapes and sound signals. I found the day shapes the easiest and had them learnt off, night lights were not too hard but the sound signals are rally hard to remember. Anyways, I passed the test!
I went for the nicest shower of my entire life and could have fell into bed with a hot chocolate, but we decided we would go to the pub for a drink as it was our last night and we wanted to get away from Michael too. :/
So we all went off in search of a pub... we didn't even invite Mike... that's the sort of relationship he had built up with the group over the week!
Then in to the sleeping bag to prepare for an early start in the morning so we can get the flock out of here! :)
Points of Environmental Interest...
Today we saw lots of herons before we left Cross haven!
They were sitting along the pontoon and had their heads pulled in to their bodies. They say that their bodies are coiled and this is so they are ready to strike their prey!
For more information on Heron's in Ireland please follow the link below:
http://www.birdwatchireland.ie/Default.aspx?tabid=148
No comments:
Post a Comment