What a day! The day that the UK came to a standstill…..apparently it has snowed and snowed. We’ve heard rumours of flights in and out of the country being disrupted; London brought to its knees and still our voyage crew of TNS 242 put up with the delays and frustrations to get back to the UK and of course, the flight that they were taking home, delivered a number of the undeterred TNS 243 voyage crew. So we welcomed them and took our evening meal out on deck and supped our drinks in the late sun – have we mentioned what wonderful weather we are having?? (The truth is that the wind is fairly strong and with quite a chill to it but all the same short sleeve weather! Oh enough….)
It has been an unusual joining day with so many disruptions, late arrivals and some missing luggage, that Chris the Mate delivered the safety briefing for being on board overnight and gave the new crew ‘shore leave’ and a chance to explore Las Palmas. Actually we must say a very big thank you to our agent Gay who has done a sterling job sorting all the travel/taxi’s and flight problems! Muchos Gracias!
Harbour watches were maintained by the new crew overnight and all hands were woken at 7.30am ready for breakfast at 8am and then the introductions and training could start.
First of all, Captain John Etheridge welcomed everyone to the Tenacious and then introduced the permanent crew: Chris the Mate, John the 2nd mate, David the Bosun assisted by Adam and Kevin (our very versatile OOW) the Bosun’s Mates (yes, being snowbound in Blighty stopped some of the crew arriving too!); Chief Engineer Pete with Ben his 2nd engineer, then Cookie Dave with his wonderful assistant Mandy and Rachel the Medical Purser.
After all the safety and emergency information had been given, we had ‘smoko’ followed by the first evacuation drill. Then those who could, donned their climbing harnesses and went up the rigging and out onto the yards. No sooner had they returned to terra firma than lunch was called – and because it is so nice and sunny here (oops), we had it buffet-style out on deck again! After lunch, with no more arrivals due, we got the ship ready for sea and once the pilot was on board, we let go the mooring lines, and left. All that was left was to collect the linesmen from the quayside and return them to the ship in the DOTI boat. Once safely back on board, a very welcome cuppa was had before David gave a talk on bracing the yards and then everyone had the chance to practice. The plan is now for sails to be set and the engines turned off for a quiet sail overnight – and I reckon there’ll be many zzzzzz’s too!
Rachel MP