02/09/2008 - Lord Nelson

Well day three on this voyage started for me at midnight on Monday night (Tuesday morning). My team and I were on the 00:00 to 04:00 watch. I have to admit to you, I was dreading this task; I could not for the life of me understand what we would be required to do at that time of the morning. I mean, aren’t there radars and other new-fangled equipment that could do this job?!?!

It didn’t take long for me to realise exactly how important this task is. We were no longer on the look-out for lobster pots; at this time of night we had bigger fish to fry. There were lots of cargo ships and oil rigs that we had to keep our eye on instead. With a wind speed of over 20 knots, Lord Nelson was not behaving herself at the helm as much as usual.

It was an exciting few hours…until the final hour (of course). By this stage I was ready to crawl into the warm haven of my comfy bunk. I swear I could hear harps playing in the distance when the relief watch appeared.

The day continued with breakfast at 8am; unfortunately the weather did not allow us to sail, so there were not many jobs for us to do today (except for the usual happy hour – which I quite enjoy!). We took advantage of the time to get to know each some more and rest a little in preparation for the rest of the voyage.

We also had our first “Diversity at sea” meeting today with Roger. He explained to us that we will be given the opportunity to experience what it would be like to be blind or in a wheelchair. This will be an interesting test on my patience…I will keep you posted on future blogs.

This trip has definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone; and I have enjoyed every minute of it so far. I admire the patience and stamina of the permanent crew and volunteers, and hope that it continues for the rest of the voyage (especially for a trouble-maker like me ;-)

Update By: Chris, Aft Port Watch