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Wednesday, July 30, 2008

"I want to see you drive."

Well, it's gotten better, and this is our last night on the boat. Tomorrow night I'll be sleeping in my bed at Venture, using a real flush toilet, and taking a hollywood shower instead of pusser showers. (Pusser showers, to save water, consist of getting wet, turning the water off, lathering up, rinsing off, and toweling off. Conversely, hollywood showers are when you stay in for 20 minutes, just enjoying it.)

I had a bit of crappy navigating this week, but mostly it went well. OOW watches went very well--the biggest problem I had was getting yelled at by the CO because I was using standard helm instead of hard helm on a MOBEX. Today, though, my driving was spot-on--the "man" (a stick with a flag on it) came just where it was supposed to, and I conned it so it just went down our side so we could catch it. FixO went pretty well, though expectations were mounting--I'm pretty much the best FixO onboard (I thought I was tied for best, but the other guy who's about as good as I am at the practical parts said I was better than him), so they expect me to be on the ball all the time.

The past two weeks are turning into one massive blur, really, with a bit of a patch in the middle when we were in Vancouver. It's been fun, though, and I'll miss the boat, especially the Nav team. We have good chemistry and even though I don't get along too well "socially" with one of the members, we're unbeatable as a working pair. We have our teams for next week, and I'm once again in a 4-man team instead of 5-man, but that just means we'll get more practice/attention, or less total time in NABS (huge computer games) which would mean shorter days and more time to spend on planning/relaxing.

I also learned that I'll have to do the FNO course (Fleet Navigating Officer or something such, basically super-advanced stuff such as using sextants and navigating by the howling of wolves or something) even though I won't, hopefully, be a navigator. It appears that all MARS submarine officers have to go through it, which is a bit of a piss-off; I'm good at this nav business, but I don't like it very much. The topic actually came up (again) last night when one of our academic phase instructors was on our boat. He mentioned that he hadn't seen me navigate yet and that he wanted to see it. ("I want to see you drive," as quoted above.) I asked if he'd heard something bad and he said that, no, he just thought there might be something going on here. I told him I wasn't going to be a nav, and he said "oh, there's a list, and you can't get off it." I thought it was funny.

That makes two possible predicted career paths (as predicted by serving officers): staff officer, and navigator. I'm not sure which I'd like best, really, so I'll stick with trying to go onto subs. I mean, pirate rig, sweet-ass dolphins, and the admiration of all the women in the free world? (Okay, maybe not the women...)

Another thing that I've noticed is that I'm taking a very pro-active leadership role during this sea phase. I point out things to the NETP-O guys and help them out and stuff, and from the looks of it they (for the most part) sortof look up to me--they ask me for help and such when they need it. Also, at some point last week, when entering harbour, we secured navigation (which means MARS III students got off the bridge) I decided to stop just sitting around the training room and help out with the lines, even though it's totally not my job. I didn't do all that much, and I wasn't as good as the NETP-O students were (I hadn't handled lines or fenders in a year, literally) but more bodies never hurt, right? They apparently very much appreciated, and went so far as to make a point of letting the Buffer (Chief Boatswain's Mate, the authority on seamanship onboard) know I'd done it and that they liked it. It came in handy, because I forgot about cleaning stations (when everyone cleans the ship) and the Buffer was pretty angry. Another guy forgot about it, and he gets to polish the capstan tomorrow (the capstan is a winch on the focsle, and it's exposed to elements), but because I went and handled lines, I only have to polish the bell, which is stored inside, and the support for the bell, which is outside but not as exposed as the capstan, and it's much smaller... and I got shafted to do the bell last year anyways, and I hadn't done anything bad then, so it's not too bad, really.

Anyways, it's been fun, and part of me wishes it'd go on, but the realist part of me knows that this is driving me nuts--I'm making the geekiest jokes ever and I'm using more and more bridgespeak in day-to-day conversation.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Standby to copy

Wow.

This is the first time since we sailed that I've had some time to myself--beyond sleeping time, that is, and those hours are rarer than gold. It's been a brutal week, though it's also been strangely good. I'm actually doing my job, and I'm doing fairly well. Of course, there are more kinks to work out, but even the points that are being hammered on in the past two or three days are positive, as they're more "advanced" things that the instructors wouldn't even mention before.

On the positive side, the XO said today that I'm developing a good "seaman's eye" for distances and such--I was spot-on for a ferry's distance and CPA (Closest Point of Approach) this morning, and fairly close for time to CPA, and generally I'm fairly close--and the CO actually said "good job" after my OOW shift this morning... I don't think I've heard him say that all week! I'm getting pretty good as FixO, which was the worst part early this week, and I'm definitely inside the fleet standard 6 minute routine (i.e. having a fix, a DR 12 minutes ahead, and a DR to course alteration/intercept, at the very least, every 6 minutes), slowly working my way to being able to maintain a 3 minute routine. Navigation-wise, I had a fairly good passage yesterday coming into Nanaimo Harbour, though half my plan was destroyed by contact avoidance (we came about a mile off track at one point). The CO actually took my notebook near the end of the passage as I was doing something that annoyed him and he wanted to "punish" me. According to another instructor though, that actually means I was doing really good so they wanted to push me--they wouldn't have actually taken it away if I had been doing poorly.

I've also been helping one of the other trainees onboard, as well as giving pointers to the NETPO students (the course I did last summer). For the most part, I know all I need to know, I just need to get better at synthesizing everything and putting the big picture together. I also need to brush up on mental math, as I still get the occasional brain fart where I can't figure out how far we're going in 6 minutes (speed(kts)=distance(cables)). Still, I have another week at sea, where they'll be pushing us harder, and then a week or two of development in the simulators, before being assessed. I will definitely pass this course, unless something goes royally wrong.

Planning has been a bit hard, as we often have passages where two or three of us have to work on one chart, and for the most part I'm stuck waiting until everyone is done, but luckily we generally wait until everyone is done before we go to bed. I've learned my lesson, though, and from now on I'll attempt to take a nap while the other trainees are planning, and plan for a few hours after they're done--and they can go ashore or sleep while I finish up. It works out to going to bed between 2330 and 0030 every night, and as wakey wakey is at 0630, that works out to not enough sleep. Today I was starting to stutter pretty bad every once in a while, and I'm quite certain half of this won't make very much sense when I re-read it before posting it.

One funny thing about being immersed in bridgework all day, every day, and using terminology at night while planning, is that I'm starting to speak that way during normal conversation. I say "stand by" instead of "hold on" or "wait", "correction" when I make a mistake, "disregard" when I say something wrong, give numbers one by one (one-eight-three-zero instead of eighteen-thirty), and, most importantly, there is a LOT of "I recommend (blah)" going on. Some of it is jokingly because the other trainees pick up on it sometimes, but honestly a good chunk of it is unconscious. I speak more clearly and slowly now, though, which is a good thing.

Speaking of which, my conning (and reports and such in general) are, I think, a lot better than what they used to be. I'm assertive, I still pause a bit too much but generally I plan out what I'm going to say so it generally flows well, I speak loudly, and I've stopped conning by questions--giving conning orders with an inflection that would normally indicate a question, like saying "starboard fiftEEN?" instead of "starboard fifteen!"

As far as the "relationship" between the crew, I get along really well with the buffer (Chief Boatswain's Mate), the instructors, and the NETPO guys, and although there are some temper flare-ups and some rubbing the wrong way with the other MARS III onboard, we generally get along great and even when tempers do flare up, it's temporary and after a few minutes we're back to just working and joking.

I feel much more like an officer on this course, than I did before. We're actually placed in a position of fairly considerable responsibility--we have to actually keep the ship safe, and although we don't legally have charge of the ship, we're treated as though we more or less did. Furthermore, helping out other trainees (especially NETPO trainees) seems like a good way to flex my "leader" muscles, so to speak. Also, unlike RMC "leadership" positions, this is actually responsibility- and action-based, rather than paperwork-based, which makes it more of a "leadership" thing and less of a "manager" thing.

All in all, it's been a good week, full of learnding. The academic phase had a steep learning curve, but this was a learning wall. We had to claw up that wall, and for the most part we're coming up it. I wouldn't go so far as to say we're at the standard expected of us, but we're definitely getting close.

I'm going to relax and do nothing this weekend (except plan on Sunday) and we'll see how next week goes!

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Prix Art Y Pico


A ma grande surprise j'ai reçu de la part de Karla un prix Art Y Pico ( merci encore une fois Bella ! )

Voici l'origine : Le prix "Arte y Pico" nous vient d’Uruguay, créé par Eseya, jeune femme artisan d’art qui fabrique des poupées de lainage et tissus parfois naïves, parfois d’une immense tendresse, mais toujours empreintes de poésie et de cette vie magique, quasi poignante aux portes du sacré, qui anime l’ensemble de l’art populaire sud-américain .

En voici les règles : Quand vous êtes à votre tour "primé(es)", voici les règles à respecter:

1- Vous devez choisir les blogues que vous estimez mériter ce prix pour leur créativité, conception, matériel intéressant et contribution à la communauté de bloggeurs, quelle que soit la langue,

2- Chaque prix doit contenir le lien vers le blogue de son auteur pour être visité par tous,

3- Chaque lauréat doit montrer son prix et remettre le nom et le lien vers le blogue qui lui a donné,

4- Le lauréat doit montrer le lien de l'Art y Pico sur son blogue,

5- Et afficher les règles.

Avant de moi-même «remettre» des prix, je tiens à souligner quelques petites surprises que j'ai eu en parcourant la blogosphère :

Dominic Arpin (que je croyais à la retraite du net depuis un bout) qui fût notre premier à plusieurs est de retour.

Rosie, qui a eu des débuts difficiles dans la Blogosphère est rendu avec un impressionnant trafic sur sa page. Wow ! Félicitations Madame !

Et Optimistic est disparue......snifff !

Ceci dit, la majorité des liens dans mon Blogroll méritent ce prix ( ceux encore là bien sûr.....note to self : faire le ménage de mes liens ! ) mais je vais tenter d'en choisir quelques uns, question de vous faire découvrir des quelques perles ;-)).

Certaines Perles se retrouvent dans la liste de Karla, je ne les renommerai pas une deuxième fois : Ghost, Ian et 1001 Petits Riens.....pour les mêmes raisons qu'elle.

Dans l'ordre et le désordre .....:

Karla : Non pas parce que celle-ci m'a mentionné lors de sa remise de prix, mais plutôt parce que je la trouve rafraîchissante et que depuis le jour un de notre rencontre virtuel sur le site de DOA elle est demeuré la même. Sa fidélité envers les autres et surtout envers elle-même dans cette jungle blogosphérique est un exploit en soi. J'adore sincèrement cette femme.

La marâtre : Enseignante qui vit dans le milieu de nul part me fait carrément rire avec son sarcasme.....parfois elle me tire une larme lorsqu'elle parle de ses élèves....Elle est bitch mais tendre à la fois. Ma shredded wheat à moi !

Le Voyou : Malgré qu'il attire souvent les polémiques, moi je l'aime bien. Peut-être parce qu'il est le vilain petit canard de la Blogosphère ? J'en sais rien, je l'aime pareil, moi !

Et le dernier, le seul à qui je ne dirais pas que je l'ai mentionné (car il en a rien à foutre de toute façon ;-) le p'tit Lagacé : je le lis tous les matins, pour le détester bien souvent, mais je dois rendre à César se qui appartient à César : ses sujets sont variés et il est une des plus cohérents dans ses opinions.

Alors voilà ma p'tite liste......

Bonne journée !

P.S : Je n'ai pas le temps ce matin d'aller faire signe au lauréats de mes prix.....si vous avez le temps de le faire je l'apprécierais grandement.

PPS : Pour les fautes, je devrai repasser ce soir.....je suis déjà en retard ;-))
DERNIÈRE HEURE : Baon ! Ça l'air que p'tit rien s'en va.....Sti !

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

It's real, now!

Well, we're getting ready to head to sea for two weeks. We sail Monday, and get back the Friday after, with a weekend stop in Vancouver. It's real, now! Six weeks will come to fruition--sortof--and those countless hours of figuring out a bunch of stuff that didn't quite make sense at the time, studying Rules of the Road, learning how to do passage planning... everything will come together for two weeks. And then we'll go to the sims and start all over again.

I've been assigned to PCT Renard 58, fourth in the Orca class, which was launched a little under a year ago. Part of me hopes she'll have her own idiosyncrasies, different from PCT Orca, which I sailed on last year, but I won't hold my breath. Besides, I'll be much too busy planning and actually sailing around to notice much of that--and I won't be at the helm, as we have "NETPO kids" to do that.

Speaking of NETPO kids, their presence is a relief. There will be five of us MARS III students per Orca (originally there would be six, but three students have failed the academic phase and are being recoursed) planning around 50+Nm of relatively tight navigation per day. We were told it would amount to between 6-8 tracks, 10-12Nm per person, per day, so with one less person it should be up to 8-10, 12-14Nm if not more. The NETPO students (they're, for the most part, about the same age as us MARS III students, but anyone on a "lower" course somehow gets referred to as a "kid"--as in "BOTC kids" (basic training) to "NETPO kids", even though some are in their 30s and all but one student in our division are in their early 20s) will be taking over the same jobs as we had to deal with last year: helmsman, lookouts, cooks, lifebuoy sentry, etc. MARS III students will focus on being OOW, NavO and FixO.

I'm fairly certain I haven't mentionned the roles (as we use them on this course) so just as a refresher:

OOW: Officer Of the Watch. Theoretically has charge (but not command) of the ship. A bit of a gray area on this course, as we're not fully qualified. Gives the conning orders ("drives" the ship), gives recommendations to the Captain regarding COLREGS (Rules of the Road) situations. Also, most of the time, uses the VHF radio to contact the traffic system, or other vessels. Works closely with the..

NavO: Navigation Officer. Referred to as the NavO even though there is only one NavO on a real ship--the rest of the officers doing "navigation" are normally referred to as "navigator." The NavO plans a passage (the aforementioned 10Nm), lays down the tracks, clearing bearings and other important information on the charts, writes down the relevant information in his notebook, and is responsible to the OOW for the navigation of the ship. Both the NavO and the OOW talk to the Captain, as the NavO takes care of staying "on track" and the OOW takes care of "not running over other ships." The NavO also works in conjunction with the...

FixO: Fixing Officer. Stays at the chart table and does a whole bunch of stuff for the NavO. As fixes need to be taken every 6 minutes (at most), the NavO takes bearings off various points and tells the FixO, who then plots the bearings on the chart, compares it with the planned track, computes the EP (Estimated Position) or DR position (Dead Reckoning), figures out how far from the next wheelover the ship is, and tells the NavO all the relevant information. Also figures out the tidal set, if any, and other such information.

Basically, the bridge team (all three of those guys) has to function as a--excuse the corporate babble--synergy. Everyone has to do their job properly, efficiently, and well. If the FixO fails at finding the ship's position, the NavO can't make sure the ship is safe, and the OOW can't safely alter to keep out of the way of other vessels. It is, truly, a symbiotic relationship.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to being out "at sea" again, though it won't be a big booze cruise as it was last year, unfortunately. At least this year we're totally geeking out over MARS III stuff, whereas there was nothing to really geek out about last year on NETPO. When people start making jokes about relative velocity and whatnot, you know it's going to our brain.

I apologize for the utter lack of posting up to now, but there was very little to talk about, and as the weeks went on it turned into one massive blur of information overload. I've absorbed so much knowledge, I feel like someone just plugged me into one of those computers like in the Matrix and uploaded everything into my brain.

I expect to be able to write at least a little blurb every day or so while at sea, though I don't know if I'll have any internet access (beyond my blackberry), so I might end up posting them all at once, once I get back. I might post little "survived the day--moored at (some port)" along the way, but nothing extensive.