22 1/2 Degrees

Week 3

Monday 25th September

Well its the start of week 3 now. Spent much of the weekend revising but managed to slip out on sunday for a bit of a pub crawl. We took the ferry over to Hamble which proved to be a good plan. The ferry is very small and very pink,


Then we returned to Warsash and went to the Rising sun for a few more beers. Watched the QM2 sail out and then tried to catch some crabs, got a few and to serve us right one bit me on the finger.

This morning we have had Bridge and Deck watchkeeping. We learnt about some of the different lights that ships show and what angles they are visible from. 22 1/2 degrees is the key figure to remember as most are visable from right ahead through to 22 1/2 degrees abaft the beam on either side (or on one side or other for port/starboard lights). The stern light is visible from right astern to (yes you guessed it) 22 1/2 degrees "abaft the beam on either side"! - or 67 1/2 degrees either side of the stern (same thing!) This was all really drummed into us and we will be tested on it next wednesday, along with Buoyage, Flags, Distress signals, nautical terminology ("arr jim lad" & "avast me parrot" etc etc)and reporting sightings (eg "its 2 points f'rod of the starboard beam" etc). This is only one subject, we also have tests on all our other subjects (Wet cago opps, dry cargo opps, shipboard working enviroment, ship and port opps and ship maintanence) so lots to be learning! Oh and back to the lights, we were told that half the time you don't know what your looking at anyway as it could be a star, buoy, anchored ship, rowing boat, long ship/short ship, or even a motorbike on a cliff top!

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