Thursday, Fourth day at sea.

A few more challenges popped up today. First, we had a small breakdown which required us to turn around almost all the way from our destination back to where we started the day. We were supposed to run around up there doing various seamanship and navigation evolutions, but because of the breakdown we just turned around, sat at anchor for a while, waiting for the engineer from the company to come onboard and fix it, and then we made our way back to port.

The breakdown afforded me a second (and almost a third) “tour” as OOW, in the same day. In the morning, after being AFixO, I was supposed to have the helm, but it was taken over by one of the staffs just before my turn, so I just stood there, not sure what to do, and as a lot of other people had cleared the bridge, I was given the notebook to write down whatever happens, and I started writing. Once we came to anchor, I was told to take fixes to make sure we weren't drifting too far. Then, after a short break for lunch, I went back to the bridge and I had to be OOW and FixO at the same time. Not too difficult a job, really, but when you're alone on the bridge and you have to make sure the ship doesn't move (not too hard) and you don't get run into... it's easy, but you become acutely aware of what's going on.

The other students were called to the training room (the cafeteria) for a lesson, so I stayed on as OOW while this was going on, and when the officers came back up, they started talking about doing a FIREX (Fire eXercise, where we practice what to do if there's an actual fire onboard). So I got to be OOW during the FIREX, which mostly meant I had to take care of the casualty board (a little schematic of the ship where one indicates all the damage and the status and such) and... listen to what was going on. Not too shabby, but compared to the commotion that must have been going on down below, it was a pleasure cruise.

After a short stand easy, we reverted to our positions, which meant I was back to being OOW—I had been relieved just before the stand easy—but this time we would be transiting back through traffic to our berth in Nanaimo. It was pretty busy, with a lot of ships going around. Luckily the FixO and AFixO were back up on the bridge, which was, actually, fully manned. The CO was sitting in his lofty chair and the XO was manning the navigation console, while the DeckO was OOW (I was “2OOW” though in training terms I was still OOW). I had the conn (command) for the most part, but for certain parts the OOW took over. It was rather nice, especially when we had a few ships that were on a steady bearing (which means they would have collided) and I after I told the OOW he just told me to take action on it, with some input from the XO on the actual course to follow. I did it a few times, and took bearings on tons of ships.

We ran some tests on the engines and went around, waiting for some other ships to go in the harbour first, so we could go in safely. After that, even though it was time for me to be relieved, I wasn't, because we were working “out” of the schedule. This was pretty nice because even though I didn't have the conn after that, I was still on the bridge keeping an eye out for boats and taking reports from the lookouts and keeping an eye on everything. All the trainees got taken off the bridge for part ship hands to get the ship in, because we had to basically heave the ship into place by hand.

I wish I knew what more a “real” OOW does, because from what they have us doing, it's not quite that hard. Sure, there are more rules of the road you have to follow, (I'm starting to learn them, but... yeah) but with a navigator and a fixing officer... it's not that hard. Navigator seems to be much harder, and fixing officer is arduous but easy—by that I mean, it tires you out because you're always looking for fixes and putting them on the chart and whatnot, but it's not a hard job to do, mentally. Navigator, well, you put waypoints on a chart, figure out the danger area, and give it to the OOW and FixO to move around by.

I feel really good on the bridge. Some other duties aren't that fun, like, say, cook, (God bless 'em—they're necessary, but I couldn't be a cook.. probably because I suck at it) but overall I'm having a good time, when I'm not miserable because I feel sick. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, that's for sure. Of course, my conning could use a little more work, but that's why we're here.

Anyway, I'm not too happy to be cook once more tomorrow, but someone's gotta do it! Besides, we're heading off to a weekend of debauchery,* so it's all good.

*By “debauchery”, I really mean “not being in uniform for two full days and not having to jump around doing different jobs all day.”