tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49589306177933548352024-03-13T13:40:12.870-05:00Crewboat ChroniclesIn which we consider the challenges and rewards of working on a boat in the Gulf of Mexico.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14570283696784196927noreply@blogger.comBlogger138125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4958930617793354835.post-78718411049315566262016-01-02T08:31:00.000-06:002016-01-02T08:31:24.119-06:00The Jack WhistleThe jack whistle, or "peep" whistle, is one of two whistles on many tugboats. The ship's whistle -- the big, deep-throated horn, is used to signal other vessels. The jack whistle, on the other hand, is used to communicate within the vessel.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--FEMOcFBvm4/Vofe59c5UDI/AAAAAAAABcQ/Fg3UOWQswcI/s1600/12195892_10153780618219630_3549996819353781883_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--FEMOcFBvm4/Vofe59c5UDI/AAAAAAAABcQ/Fg3UOWQswcI/s320/12195892_10153780618219630_3549996819353781883_n.jpg" width="320" /></a>The jack whistle may "peep" or "toot," and it can be heard on nearby vessels and docks, but it's really all about that particular boat.<br />
<br />
Two "jacks" is for the engineer: fire-up the engines, or come on up to the wheelhouse. One jack let's the deckhand know he's needed on deck to put up a line or take one in. Three jacks means "all finished with engines." And so on.<br />
<br />
It seemed like a good name for <a href="http://harbortug.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">a new blog</a> about working on tugboats. Seeing how I've stretched this one way beyond crewboats.<br />
<br />
Anyway, if you're interested, drop in for a visit.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14570283696784196927noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4958930617793354835.post-12555346515328680872015-11-09T12:10:00.000-06:002015-11-09T12:10:34.235-06:00Hello .... and Goodbye<div class="MsoNormal">
I have started this particular entry half a dozen times now
and remain uninspired. Writing, just now, feels like a slog.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4C43cH5Kk3Q/VkDgDv2k1oI/AAAAAAAABag/rNI9bKisADg/s1600/12122547_10153755266114630_6091808586253598781_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4C43cH5Kk3Q/VkDgDv2k1oI/AAAAAAAABag/rNI9bKisADg/s320/12122547_10153755266114630_6091808586253598781_n.jpg" width="320" /></a>Maybe because this blog has reached its logical conclusion.
The heavy lifting along the hawsepipe route is done (from here on out, with the exception of some periodic STCW training, it's automatic upgrades with sea time). </div>
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<br /></div>
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The oil patch is done, too, for
the foreseeable future.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I've enjoyed writing the blog over the past three years (143 posts!). I'm grateful for the 53,000 page views, all of the kind and supportive comments, and even more for the five or six friends I've made through these pages.</div>
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Before I close it out, I’ll do my best to bring you up to date. It will be workmanlike. Just the facts. And a couple of
pretty pictures.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Push-pull (and the occasional powered indirect)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-U0qWc2YTOu4/VkDgDtjaqcI/AAAAAAAABac/tV_f_tCQ6Wk/s1600/12143273_10153734205199630_4128702901180482658_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-U0qWc2YTOu4/VkDgDtjaqcI/AAAAAAAABac/tV_f_tCQ6Wk/s320/12143273_10153734205199630_4128702901180482658_n.jpg" width="163" /></a>Upon receiving my big(ger) boy license, I started submitting
applications and resumes. A couple of the oilfield service companies, including
my most recent employer, replied with congratulations, but no job offers. Most
didn’t even bother to reply.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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A couple of years ago, the ticket I now hold (plus the
$6,000 worth of DP courses I also took) was worth an easy $650/day. This year
there are many more qualified deck officers than there are working vessels to
put them on.</div>
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The towing industry, on the other hand, is steadily growing.
The pay has never been as good as in the oil patch, but the benefits are
typically better and the schedules way bet</div>
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ter. Since my upgrade was always
about being able to make a decent living while having a family life, towing
seemed to be the way to go.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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“Towing” is not one thing: it’s pushboats and barges on
rivers and other inland waters; it’s bunkering in harbors and anchorages; it’s
long ocean transits in the notch or with a massive ro-ro cargo barge on the
wire. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IKaWYNaLd98/VkDgCQwO08I/AAAAAAAABak/SsEqZtWZh0U/s1600/10418268_10153736360939630_8712946201470375868_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IKaWYNaLd98/VkDgCQwO08I/AAAAAAAABak/SsEqZtWZh0U/s320/10418268_10153736360939630_8712946201470375868_n.jpg" width="180" /></a>It’s also getting container ships, tankers, bulkers and ATBs
safely onto and off of docks, helping them make sharp turns and keeping them
from going aground.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I’m now learning how to do those last things, working on a
harbor tug on the upper Texas coast. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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It’s a whole ‘nuther world, and I feel like my head is about
to explode at least once a week. I’m learning to navigate four different ports,
how to work with pilots, and how to effectively and efficiently use z-drives –
all at the same time.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I work with a good mix of academy grads and hawsepipers,
nice guys all and really good at their jobs and incredibly helpful. And for
reasons I don’t entirely understand, my first boat (and the one upon which I’m
completing my Towing Officer Assessment Record, or TOAR) is – as <a href="http://newenglandwaterman.com/" target="_blank">New England Waterman</a> put it – “one of the dopest rigs around.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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It’s all kind of awesome.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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So that’s that. Maybe I’ll start a tugboat blog.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>In other news …</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I had intended to write a day-by-day account of our
adventures on the Gulf of Maine, where my wife and I joined another couple for
an 8-day trawler charter. I was going to write about appropriately-named BAR
Harbor, and Frenchboro, and Stonington, and Somesville, and – probably my favorite stop on our
118-nm itinerary – Isle au Haut.</div>
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<o:p></o:p>It was a terrifically fun and relaxing vacation. The scenery
was magnificent, though the seals were shy. The company was first-rate. We had
a few, minor, emergencies that were effectively contained.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We ate lobster, climbed a mountain, saw some amazing
sunsets. Here – have some photos:<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’ll be sure to let y’all know if I gin up a new blog. Until
then, keep the dry side up.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14570283696784196927noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4958930617793354835.post-52043071175545280702015-10-07T22:45:00.001-05:002015-10-11T00:50:30.577-05:00Hope had mourning on<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Hope had grown grey
hairs/Hope had mourning on/Trenched with tears, carved with cares/Hope was
twelve hours gone.*<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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For 33 families, hope officially died tonight. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Earlier this evening, at sunset, the U.S. Coast
Guard called-off the search for survivors of <i><a href="http://elfaroincident.com/" target="_blank">El Faro</a></i>, a 790-foot, 42-year-old
cargo ship that now, we must be certain, sank in 15,000 feet of water near the
Bahamas sometime late last week.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VNl2gUNTPqs/VhXdMwF2RyI/AAAAAAAABYs/qLIKvwx1-oA/s1600/ElFaro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VNl2gUNTPqs/VhXdMwF2RyI/AAAAAAAABYs/qLIKvwx1-oA/s320/ElFaro.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The complete loss of a large cargo ship in domestic service
is not something one expects to hear in 2015. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Weather forecasts, real-time
communication, lifesaving technology and training all have conspired to make
mariners’ lives magnitudes safer now than ever before in the ancient history of
seafaring.<o:p></o:p></div>
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How the hell did this happen?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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We know a couple of things, and can make educated guesses
about a couple of others.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We know that the storm that became Hurricane Joaquin was
precocious and unpredictable. It strengthened rapidly between the time <i>El Faro
</i>left Jacksonville, Fla., and the time the ship was lost. Forecast tracks were all over the place.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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We know that the ship lost propulsion at some point, and we
can guess – based on the master’s last known communication to his office – that
the vessel was taking on water.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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We know that a vessel of that size and type, dead in the
water and at the mercy of 100-knot winds and 40- or 50-foot waves is liable to
lie beam to those seas and roll profoundly, perhaps catastrophically.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We can guess that a 42-year-old ship, heavily laden, might
break-up given sufficiently violent environmental forces.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Investigators will, in the coming weeks and months,
definitively answer many of those questions. The Coast Guard has a pretty good
idea of where the ship went down. That agency and the <a href="http://www.ntsb.gov/Pages/default.aspx" target="_blank">National Transportation Safety Board</a>, with whom they will share the investigation, have the means to
retrieve <i>El Faro’s</i> Voyage Data Recorder, or VDR (a ship’s equivalent to an
airliners “black box”).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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It is the most natural thing in the world, for all of us, to
want to know a reason and even more than that, to be able to lay the blame for
such a tragedy at the feet of <i>someone</i>: the captain who shouldn’t have sailed,
the shipping company that should have provided more modern lifeboats or should
have let the schedule slide (Tote Maritime, the vessel owner, <a href="http://elfaroincident.com/el-faro-updates/tote-maritime-puerto-rico-statement-10-7-2015/" target="_blank">has to all public appearances</a>, behaved laudably during this tragedy), the <a href="http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/" target="_blank">National Hurricane Center</a> forecasters who
should have better predicted the storm’s path.</div>
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Let’s not, okay?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZmDoEdo6-c0/VhXimkwjDaI/AAAAAAAABZE/3HO2rAaINLs/s1600/elfaroship.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="169" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZmDoEdo6-c0/VhXimkwjDaI/AAAAAAAABZE/3HO2rAaINLs/s320/elfaroship.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Merchant shipping does not come to a standstill for weather. It does
routinely route around the fringes of a storm. From all accounts, the ship was
in good condition and had recently passed both Coast Guard and ABS safety
inspections. </div>
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<br /></div>
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There is ample evidence that the master of the vessel was well-trained, seasoned, and not a jerk.<br />
<br />
The meteorologists in Miami are keenly aware, I’m sure, that lives
depend on their getting it right, and they typically do a damned fine job.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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It is cold comfort to 33 families and countless friends, but
the investigation will provide answers to both the why and how of this
disaster. Those answers may drive changes that make the always-risky** business
of going down to the sea in ships just a little bit safer.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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It is only <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Marine_Electric" target="_blank">because of previous disasters</a> that we now have
load lines, EPIRBs, survival suits and the Coast Guard’s rescue swimmer
program.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Speaking of the United States Coast Guard, from everything I can see, they (and the U.S. Navy and Air Force and merchant mariners aboard
company-chartered tugboats) did a hell of a job under very difficult
conditions. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ic8zMkYwnq8/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ic8zMkYwnq8?feature=player_embedded" style="clear: right; float: right;" width="320"></iframe></div>
They gave everything they had – literally risked their lives
in those early hours -- to try to find the crew of the <i>El Faro.</i> When they
suspended the search this evening*** I am quite certain that their frustration
and disappointment was second only to that felt by the families of the missing.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Merchant mariners, a pretty gripey lot to begin with,
especially love to kvetch about the Coast Guard in both its regulatory and
lifesaving functions. We say they are either too picky in a safety inspection
or not picky enough because owners are exerting their influence.<br />
<br />
We complain
that the licensing scheme is a Gordian knot of red tape and the evaluators at
the National Maritime Center a bunch of nincompoops. We huff that sectors are
too slow or too clueless to do more than direct or repeat radio traffic when
there is a casualty.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Those are some of our complaints, a few of which are based
on real challenges facing that overburdened and underfunded service. Not least
of which is the diversion of critical search and rescue funding and assets to dubious “homeland
security” missions.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But tonight and without reservation, hats off and <b>thank you</b>
to those brave men and women.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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For the families of the men and women of the <i>El Faro</i>,
tonight my heart breaks for you. My prayer is that you will find peace and
comfort and that your mariners will be remembered with love and admiration.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Crew of the SS El Faro as provided by TOTE Maritime:</span></b><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<b><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 130.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="217"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Louis Champa<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Palm Coast, Florida<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 130.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="217"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Roosevelt Clark<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jacksonville, Florida<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 130.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="217"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sylvester Crawford Jr.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Lawrenceville, Georgia<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 130.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="217"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Michael Davidson<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Windham, Maine<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 130.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="217"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Brookie Davis<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jacksonville, Florida<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 130.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="217"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Keith Griffin<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Fort Myers, Florida<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 130.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="217"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Frank Hamm<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jacksonville, Florida<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 130.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="217"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Joe Hargrove<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Orange Park, Florida<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 130.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="217"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Carey Hatch<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jacksonville, Florida<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 130.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="217"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Michael Holland<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">North Wilton, Maine<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 130.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="217"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jack Jackson<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jacksonville, Florida<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 130.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="217"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jackie Jones, Jr.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jacksonville, Florida<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 166.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="277"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Lonnie Jordan<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jacksonville, Florida<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 130.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="217"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Piotr Krause<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Poland<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 130.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="217"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mitchell Kuflik<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Brooklyn, New York<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 130.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="217"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Roan Lightfoot<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jacksonville Beach, Florida<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 130.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="217"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jeffrey Mathias<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Kingston, Massachusetts<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 130.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="217"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Dylan Meklin<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Rockland, Maine<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 130.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="217"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Marcin Nita<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Poland<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 166.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="277"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jan Podgorski<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Poland<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 130.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="217"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">James Porter<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jacksonville, Florida<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 130.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="217"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Richard Pusatere<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Virginia Beach, Virginia<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 130.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="217"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Theodore Quammie<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jacksonville, Florida<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 130.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="217"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Danielle Randolph<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Rockland, Massachusetts<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 130.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="217"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jeremie Riehm<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Camden, Delaware<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 130.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="217"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Lashawn Rivera<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jacksonville, Florida<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 130.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="217"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Howard Schoenly<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Cape Coral, Florida<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 130.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="217"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Steven Shultz<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Roan Mountain, Tennessee<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 130.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="217"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">German Solar-Cortes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Orlando, Florida<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 130.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="217"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Anthony Thomas<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jacksonville, Florida<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 130.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="217"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Andrzej Truszkowski<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Poland<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 130.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="217"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mariette Wright<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">St. Augustine, Florida<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 130.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="217"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Rafal Zdobych<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 2.2in;" valign="bottom" width="264"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Poland<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
*<i><a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173668" target="_blank">Wreck of the Deutschland</a></i>, Gerard Manley Hopkins</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
** 23 fatalities per 100,000 – twice as high as police
officers (11.1 per 100,000) and three times higher than firefighters (7 per
100,000). By comparison, loggers and commercial fishermen rank at the top of dangerous
occupations, with fatality rates topping 100 per 100,000.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
***In all likelihood, the survival window for many of the victims of the
sinking closed some time earlier. The Coast Guard uses a sophisticated modeling
program, developed for them by the U.S. Army, called the Probability of
Survival Decision Aid, or PSDA. The actual computer program is not, so far as I
know, available to the general public, but some good technical descriptions of
how it works are, <a href="http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a478415.pdf" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a599590.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>. I note with some personal satisfaction and relief that fat
guys do far better than skinny guys when dumped in the ocean.<o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14570283696784196927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4958930617793354835.post-54750820600213474392015-08-03T11:44:00.001-05:002015-08-03T14:34:15.841-05:00A Hawsepiper's Guide to Applying, Studying and Testing for Master and Mate 500/1600<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Now that I have had a few days to decompress and recover, here is my best advice for anyone working on that next upgrade.<br />
<br />
<b>Pre-requisites and Approval to Test:</b><br />
<br />
The very first step in this process is to submit an application to the U.S. Coast Guard (National Maritime Center, via your Regional Exam Center). An evaluator at the NMC will determine that you have the required sea time on appropriate tonnage and routes and that you have completed all of the required endorsements. (Find the quick-and-easy guide to any license or rating in the <a href="http://www.uscg.mil/nmc/checklists/" target="_blank">NMC checklists</a>).<br />
<br />
At a minimum, and only prior to Dec. 31, 2016*, this will include: Bridge Resource Management, AB (Special, Limited or Unlimited)/Able Seafarer-Deck; Lifeboatman (the qualifying course is called Proficiency in Survival Craft or PSC-Lifeboatman), Rating Forming Part of a Navigation Watch (RFPNW) Assessments, Radar Observer Unlimited, STCW Basic Safety Training or Basic Training and Advanced Firefighting.<br />
<br />
You have choices for these courses. For instance, if you take Basic and Advanced Firefighting together, you don't need to repeat two days of Basic Firefighting in the STCW Basic Safety Training.<br />
<br />
Most schools will offer a discounted rate and allow you to take only the segments you need -- in this case, Personal Survival Techniques (Water Survival) Personal and Social Responsibility and CPR/First Aid (if you do not already have a current certification, and most working mariners will).<br />
<br />
If you have a special circumstance -- for instance naval sea service, service as an Army Watercraft Operator or sea service on a submarine -- it may be worth your while to hire a license consultant. <a href="http://www.gcaptain.com/forum/search.php?searchid=378917" target="_blank">A search for "license consultant"</a> on gCaptain.com will yield a handful of names of folks who have done good work for mariners in the past.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hdFPtJC8w9w/Vb-ZozZAFGI/AAAAAAAABXo/vDYA2cOoAgM/s1600/719b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="173" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hdFPtJC8w9w/Vb-ZozZAFGI/AAAAAAAABXo/vDYA2cOoAgM/s320/719b.jpg" width="320" /></a>Apply for every permutation of the license you believe you may be entitled to.<br />
<br />
For instance: if you are shooting for Master or Mate OSV, check your sea time and see if you might also qualify for Master or Mate (non-trade restricted). Master 500 or 1600 will get you STCW II/2, but Mate requires assessments**. (Master will too, once they are published).<br />
<br />
Your evaluator will approve you for only what you ask for (and sometimes not that, if she's not paying attention ... or at least that's my experience).<br />
<br />
Also consider this: If you qualify for Master 500 or Master 1600, you also qualify for Mate of the same tonnage. Apply for both, because there is no path from Master to 3rd Mate Unlimited, but the Mate 500/1600 test is the same test for 3rd Mate and if you pass it once you can upgrade with only sea time on appropriate tonnage.<br />
<br />
Other advantages of knocking-out Mate while testing for Master (or vice-versa, if qualified) include:<br />
<ul>
<li>the material is largely identical, only presented in different proportions and with a different emphasis; study once, pass both.</li>
<li>as noted, after Dec. 31, 2016, the pre-requisites for either license become considerably more onerous (and expensive).</li>
<li>mate upgrades with seatime to 1600 GRT or non-trade restricted 3000 GT after one year of sea service (upon application, of course); master takes two years.</li>
</ul>
Regardless, your first (and probably second and perhaps even third) billet with the new license (whether you hold master or mate or both) is, with a probability exceeding 95 percent, going to be as a mate.<br />
<br />
To save on evaluation and issuance fees, you may submit your AB application simultaneously with your application for master or mate (or both) and request the NMC to issue it all at once. Another tip for saving on fees: make the new issuance your renewal.<br />
<br />
<b>Once you have your Approval to Test:</b><br />
<br />
Congratulations! Your letter is good for a year. If you haven't been studying, it's time to start.<br />
<br />
Lapware, Captain Joe's, Hawsepipe, Murphy's books, Upgrade U ... where to begin?<br />
<br />
The biggest problem with <a href="http://lapware.org/?PHPSESSID=25ac6a4c158a296fb1547f5fff21e3a9" target="_blank">Lapware</a> (which a lot of folks have used very successfully) is that it requires a good internet connection, which might be a barrier if you are studying during your hitch.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8TJlFoQGXow/Vb-VAd197NI/AAAAAAAABWU/-s8mRflpgpM/s1600/unnamed%2B%25281%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8TJlFoQGXow/Vb-VAd197NI/AAAAAAAABWU/-s8mRflpgpM/s320/unnamed%2B%25281%2529.png" width="180" /></a>It's also expensive, $150 for the first month and $100 per month thereafter. <a href="http://www.uscgexam.com/" target="_blank">Captain Joe's</a> ($89.99 one-time purchase) offers reference materials and comes on a CD, so that's a pretty good, comprehensive option. The <a href="http://hawsepipe.net/" target="_blank">Hawsepipe</a> ($94.95 one-time purchase, good for a year) thumb drive, likewise.<br />
<br />
My advice: keep it simple and keep it accessible. For IOS users, this means <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/upgrade-u/id673638351?mt=8" target="_blank">Upgrade U</a> ($29.99), which is comprehensive and easy to use and available for both iPads and iPhones.<br />
<br />
For Android users, you'll have to cobble together several apps to achieve the same result. The ones I used were: <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.txtmine.captainquizdeck&hl=en" target="_blank">CaptainQuiz Deck</a> ($4.99) for Deck General, Deck Safety and Nav Gen, and <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pellittiere.rorp&hl=en" target="_blank">Rules of the Road Pro</a> (99 cents) for Rules (also includes tips and some reference materials).<br />
<br />
Note that the CaptainQuiz does not include reference materials -- it is current questions and answers only, from the Coast Guard database. This is helpful, but to understand the material you'll need either hardcopies (or digital versions -- usually free) of the CFRs, Bowditch, etc.; or you'll need to purchase one of the other prep packages (such as Captain Joe's or Hawsepipe, or Upgrade U).<br />
<br />
Speaking of reference material, familiarize yourself with <a href="http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=b4d6a855057cd9eebf5949d32329f8e7&mc=true&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title33/33tab_02.tpl" target="_blank">CFRs 33</a>, <a href="http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=b4d6a855057cd9eebf5949d32329f8e7&mc=true&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title46/46tab_02.tpl" target="_blank">46</a> and <a href="http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=b4d6a855057cd9eebf5949d32329f8e7&mc=true&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title49/49tab_02.tpl" target="_blank">49</a>. You will use these your entire career, and you also will need to know how to find information in them in the test room (where they are provided as "available resources").<br />
<br />
As soon as you have your approval to test letter, or even before, begin using the applications of your choice above to study rules, deck general, deck safety and nav general.<br />
<br />
<b>Mastering Terrestrial Navigation:</b><br />
<br />
Terrestrial Navigation, or T-Nav, is the big, ugly strainer that filters-out those who would like to run bigger boats and those who will be allowed to try. The module itself is called "Navigation Problems: Near Coastal (or Oceans, as applicable). T-Nav problems also show up in the Nav General module.<br />
<br />
As I may have mentioned in an earlier post, it involves some math.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-y45ZX6OxDxM/Vb-VA6ITkMI/AAAAAAAABWc/zRqRTQJ5ei8/s1600/unnamed%2B%25284%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-y45ZX6OxDxM/Vb-VA6ITkMI/AAAAAAAABWc/zRqRTQJ5ei8/s320/unnamed%2B%25284%2529.png" width="180" /></a></div>
I know a couple of guys who taught themselves all or some of the t-nav calculations and formulae; my hat is off. Sincerely. For the rest of us mere mortals, I strongly recommend a prep course or a tutor. If you would like to know who I used and how to get in touch him, e-mail me or send me a message.<br />
<br />
Because he absolutely rocked, and he didn't teach answers, he taught theory and process -- processes I can use for the rest of my career.<br />
<br />
Plan on spending $2000-$3000 and three weeks, including evenings and weekends, learning and practicing.<br />
<br />
Your plots will include t-nav problems, so plotting should be part of your test prep and is usually included in a prep course. Plotting, like most things in life, gets better with practice, so practice. A lot.<br />
<br />
Your t-nav test prep course probably won't include a whole lot of rules, deck safety, deck gen or nav gen (though my instructor did spend a couple of hours reviewing each and teaching things like stowage factor, dewpoint and relative humidity, and stability -- and we completed a rules test each morning). So, again, study that stuff before you get to class.<br />
<br />
Here's what you'll need for t-nav and plotting:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AZ_I5DVSWto/Vb-XLOpXVCI/AAAAAAAABXQ/byBoLGbHuQs/s1600/31Rt77W%252BVQL._SX351_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AZ_I5DVSWto/Vb-XLOpXVCI/AAAAAAAABXQ/byBoLGbHuQs/s320/31Rt77W%252BVQL._SX351_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" width="226" /></a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/American-Practical-Navigator-1981-2/dp/B000YB96FK/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1438613761&sr=1-5&keywords=American+Practical+Navigator+hardcover" target="_blank">American Practical Navigator (Bowditch 1981, Vol. 2)</a>. Get the <a href="http://www.mptusa.com/cart/product.cfm?p=644" target="_blank">larger, hardcover version</a> if you can find it (used is fine!); it's the one that will be in the test room and, for my middle-aged eyes, some of the tables were much easier to read. Everything else, including page numbers, is the same in the soft binding.<br />
<br />
The 1981 Nautical Almanac, and 1983 Reprint from Tide and Current Tables and 1983 Reprint from the Light Lists. <a href="http://mdnautical.com/465-marine-education-textbooks" target="_blank">All available here</a>, and elsewhere.<br />
<br />
It should go without saying, but I'll say it anyway ... for the purposes of testing, and for test prep, you must use the 1981/1983 versions of the publications listed above. In practical application, the current versions work the same way, but all of the Coast Guard's test questions are based on the years above, and they continue to be reprinted for only that purpose.<br />
<br />
Navigation Rules, August 2014, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Navigation-Rules-US-Coast-Guard/dp/1937196232/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1438614267&sr=8-2-fkmr0&keywords=rules+of+the+road+august+2014" target="_blank">available here</a> and elsewhere. (This really isn't a t-nav specific resource, but you should have it anyway.)<br />
<br />
TI-30XA Calculator (some scientific calculators are not approved for use in the test room; this one is), <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00000JBNS/ref=sr_ph_1?m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&ie=UTF8&qid=1438614363&sr=sr-1&keywords=TI-30xa+calculator" target="_blank">available here</a>.<br />
<br />
Plotting tools: Parallel rulers (15-inch or <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Weems-Plath-Navigation-Parallel-24-Inch/dp/B000KDRWBM/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1438614800&sr=8-1&keywords=weems+and+plath+24+inch" target="_blank">24-inch</a> really are handy); <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Weems-Plath-Navigation-Protractor-Triangle/dp/B0000AYIM4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1438614804&sr=8-1&keywords=plotting+triangle" target="_blank">triangles</a> (if you don't know how to use these, learn, because they make life so much easier and angles so much more accurate); two ultralight <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Weems-Plath-Navigation-Ultralight-Divider/dp/B0000AYIMH/ref=pd_bxgy_200_text_y" target="_blank">dividers</a> (one for use with a pencil lead, one for use with divider points only); <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Maped-Pencil-Eraser-Assorted-010800/dp/B003155XWQ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1438615016&sr=8-4&keywords=oval+vinyl+eraser" target="_blank">draftsman's erasers</a>; <a href="http://www.amazon.com/BIC-Precision-Metallic-Barrels-24-Count/dp/B001CDEUBO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1438615083&sr=8-1&keywords=mechanical+pencils+fine" target="_blank">mechanical pencils</a>.<br />
<br />
A <a href="http://www.captainsnautical.com/60890/733762/US-Coast-Guard-License-Training/Three--Pack-of-USCG-Exam-Training-Charts.html" target="_blank">set of training charts</a> (Block Island Sound, Long Island Sound and Chesapeake).<br />
<br />
Maneuvering boards -- two pads,probably. <a href="http://www.amnautical.com/products/maneuvering-board-pad-of-50#.Vb-DkflVhBd" target="_blank">Available here</a>.<br />
<br />
Other useful items include: Post-It Notes, sticky page tabs, several college-ruled notebooks, and 4-color highlighters.<br />
<br />
<b>Scheduling a Test and Testing:</b><br />
<br />
Mariners are free to schedule exams at any Regional Exam Center. I tested at REC Houston, and while I assume most RECs are similar in layout and procedure, I can only vouch for my experience.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
You may schedule the exams anytime after you are approved to test (within 12 months, obviously). You may do this <a href="http://www.uscg.mil/nmc/recs/" target="_blank">online at the NMC website</a>, or simply call the NMC (1-800-IASKNMC) and a customer service agent will schedule it for you.<br />
<br />
The Houston REC was open 0700-1500, and we were discouraged from starting any module when we had less than two hours to complete it (i.e., after 1300).<br />
<br />
<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QM_uLpLK1AQ/Vb-VBPJHmdI/AAAAAAAABWg/kH3xwOj_hns/s1600/unnamed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QM_uLpLK1AQ/Vb-VBPJHmdI/AAAAAAAABWg/kH3xwOj_hns/s320/unnamed.jpg" width="320" /></a>I noticed that online, you are offered options to schedule up to three days. These are actually "start" days -- the RECs know that you will have a minimum of six modules.<br />
<br />
You must complete two modules per day, in any order you desire. If you fail one, that module goes to the end of the line and you may retest immediately upon completing the other modules or anytime within 90 days. Fail three and you must start the entire cycle over again.</div>
If you decide to test for both master and mate, as I and several others did, you may begin with either master or mate, but must complete that entire cycle before beginning the next one. One useful strategy with regard to this arrangement is to save deck safety and deck gen for day two (or three) of your first cycle, and begin with deck safety and deck gen of the next cycle the same day.<br />
<br />
Our examiner allowed us to review the exams immediately after grading to see what we missed. I strongly recommend doing this if you do not score 100 percent on any given module.<br />
<br />
The exam room is chock-full of reference materials, which you are free to access for any module other than Navigation Rules. Many of the answers to questions in Nav Gen, Deck Gen and Deck Safety are in these references. Give yourself time to look them up. If you are familiar with the CFRs (and Bowditch, the Light List and Pub. 102) when you go in, this will speed things up for you.<br />
<br />
When completing your plot, be sure to use the Light List to verify that you are plotting bearings or ranges to the correct light or feature. Each plot (for mate, anyway) usually has at least one question that is answered in the Coast Pilot, as well.<br />
<br />
Once you have successfully completed testing, your examiner will email the scores to NMC and your new license will be issued without further action on your part. If you fail any modules, again, you have up to 90 days to retest those modules (the ones you passed, unless you failed three or more, still count).<br />
<br />
Take advantage of the time to brush-up on the subjects you had trouble with and go back confident that the second time is the charm.<br />
<br />
Of course we all want to master the material and nail the exams on the first go-around, but nowhere, on anyone's merchant mariner credential, is there a section that shows your test scores or how many times you repeated a test. Just like the guy who was last in his class in med school and squeaked through the boards is still called "Doctor," you will still get a credential and a shot at proving yourself in the wheelhouse.<br />
<br />
A last note on the REC: I suppose it might be respectful to show up in long pants and real shoes, but most of the guys who tested at the same time I did wore shorts and flip-flops. This is partly because it was July on the Texas Gulf Coast. But no eyebrows were raised, and it wasn't a problem. Be comfortable -- those hours in the exam room are like dog hours; a full day feels a little like a week.<br />
<br />
<b>Near Coastal or Oceans?</b><br />
<br />
The difference between the Near Coastal and Oceans licenses is a matter of celestial navigation, which is an additional module, and different Nav General (and possibly Deck General -- I'm not clear on this) modules.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FayZ7_VqZDM/Vb-Xhw5Jj-I/AAAAAAAABXY/Z5zeC7WL4fQ/s1600/sextant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FayZ7_VqZDM/Vb-Xhw5Jj-I/AAAAAAAABXY/Z5zeC7WL4fQ/s320/sextant.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
T-Nav gets you about halfway to C-Nav, from what I can tell, and it makes sense to build on that -- immediately or later. I initially thought I would do it immediately, but belatedly decided that following the advice of some friends to add that route later was the better part of valor.<br />
<br />
My navigation tutor used an example from antiquity: the dog who saw his reflection in the water and decided he wanted *that* bone, too, so dropped the one in his mouth to grab it and ended up with nothing.<br />
<br />
From a practical perspective, it doesn't matter at all for most oil patch jobs -- by default, nearly all of the domestic billets will be on vessels operating within the 200-nautical mile limit. Likewise for harbor tugs.<br />
<br />
Where it would make a difference is in working foreign, in some jobs in the Pacific Northwest, or in ocean towing, so it's worthwhile to consider for those reasons.<br />
<br />
<b>Finally ....</b><br />
<br />
Hawsepipin' aint easy. If you're doing it, you already know this.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CfeSHw1E9W4/Vb-VBXVZv3I/AAAAAAAABWk/aWpG48HtTuM/s1600/unnamed.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CfeSHw1E9W4/Vb-VBXVZv3I/AAAAAAAABWk/aWpG48HtTuM/s320/unnamed.png" width="180" /></a>If I had it all to do over again, knowing what I know now, I would have got myself to one of the maritime academies right out of high school.<br />
<br />
If I knew then what I know now, and it had been available a little later in life, I might have opted for <a href="http://mitags-pmi.org/pages/workboat_academy_programs" target="_blank">MITAGS-PMI Workboat Academy</a>, which by all accounts is a terrific program.<br />
<br />
As it stands, I've been able to make a decent living and I've learned a lot of practical and boat-handling skills doing it this way. It's taken a little longer, but at the end of the day I took and passed the same test academy grads take with a just year more invested (and zero student loan debt -- well, from this experience, anyhow).<br />
<br />
It will take me a little longer to receive the same license the academy grads get, but from a practical and experiential standpoint I feel like I'm ahead of the game.<br />
<br />
Still, I am mindful that the credential -- the license -- only says "You May." It says nothing about "You Can." It's just a ticket to try.<br />
<br />
I'm looking forward to trying.<br />
<br />
<i>*This applies only if you began qualifying training or sea service prior to March 24, 2014. That means one day of sea service or training for one endorsement prior to that date. If you don't have this, or are testing for your upgrade after the beginning of 2017, you will, at a minimum, also have to complete courses in ship handling, stability, meteorology and search and rescue.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>**The assessments are a bit of a catch-22 for most hawsepipers, or at least those taking the wheelhouse-wheelhouse route: they require an STCW-endorsed officer (500GT or better, usually) to sign-off on them, but prior to upgrading, guys coming from the 100-ton world usually won't have access to such a person for the length of time needed to do the assessments. Add the OICNW endorsement later, post-upgrade, or spend a week and $1300 getting them done <a href="http://www.mptusa.com/course/212-OICNW-Assessment-Session" target="_blank">in the simulator at Marine Professional Training</a> in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.</i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14570283696784196927noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4958930617793354835.post-33887767187526220292015-08-02T13:26:00.000-05:002015-08-02T13:26:06.616-05:00And ... Done!A couple of the problems in terrestrial navigation deal with the concept of slip -- the difference between one's theoretical and actual advance. All you need is the pitch of the propeller (feet per revolution) and RPM (revolutions per minute) so know how you're doing.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PK7FPH_UAxY/Vb5drg9_KRI/AAAAAAAABVg/wKhLwxV5VXM/s1600/unnamed%2B%252813%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="253" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PK7FPH_UAxY/Vb5drg9_KRI/AAAAAAAABVg/wKhLwxV5VXM/s320/unnamed%2B%252813%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
When one falls short of the theoretical distance traveled, we call that positive slip (though it's really a negative).<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Negative slip is a good thing -- you're moving farther or faster than your RPMs indicate.<br />
<br />
Slip can result from any number of conditions -- a foul hull, set and drift, draft, whatever.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Anyway, there's a nifty "per line" operation to calculate slip -- or distance traveled, or just about anything else. It's kind of magical.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Reflecting on the 5-year journey to the successful completion of my mate and master exams this week, it occurred to me that I am about a month behind the target date I set three years ago.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Just one month. Or positive slip of about .027 percent.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Given that there were months of classes (that weren't always scheduled during my time off, or didn't always have available seats) for endorsements that cost something on the order of $10,000, lots of sea time on appropriate tonnage and routes, and the fact that I believed myself to be functionally innumerate until about three weeks ago (and learning to navigate the old-fashioned way involves algebra and trigonometry), that's kind of amazing.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nHo7tS6jNr0/Vb5drl0bUAI/AAAAAAAABVc/5Asjd7TZvJQ/s1600/unnamed%2B%252815%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nHo7tS6jNr0/Vb5drl0bUAI/AAAAAAAABVc/5Asjd7TZvJQ/s320/unnamed%2B%252815%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a>Two children under five and a teenager: really, no one is more surprised than me that I got this done.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The utterly unsurprising part is that I didn't do it by myself. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There was a grand plan that involved decisions about what we, as a family, would spend money on and where we would live; the work my wife would do, the times I would need to be home to take care of the littles, the sacrifices she would make while I was away.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We called-on grandparents, who graciously stopped some gaps for us. We weathered some pretty rough days and weeks during long (28-day and more, sometimes) hitches, because that's typically what 100-ton captains work in the oilfield, and that is typically not conducive to family life.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-K8fS5O2b87g/Vb5drjwDdaI/AAAAAAAABVY/D1L7a2rUXK0/s1600/unnamed%2B%252823%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-K8fS5O2b87g/Vb5drjwDdaI/AAAAAAAABVY/D1L7a2rUXK0/s320/unnamed%2B%252823%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a>A couple of friends who climbed the hawsepipe ahead of me reached down and gave me a hand up with advice, study materials and encouragement.<br />
<br />
Believe me when I say I will pay that forward.<br />
<br />
This past month I and two other guys engaged the services of what must surely be the smartest, most efficient and most passionate teacher of terrestrial navigation in these United States.<br />
<br />
We rented a house together in Galveston, and studied and practiced 10 and 14 and sometimes 18 hours a day for 21 days straight.<br />
<br />
It was a mountain of material. And I didn't know anything about the scientific part of a scientific calculator when we started. "Okay, next, find the sin of d ...."<br />
<br />
Uh ... where's the "sin button?"<br />
<br />
At one point someone mentioned we were doing trigonometry. I began hyperventilating.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EZkK9wX52bc/Vb5gQ7dDnrI/AAAAAAAABV4/u0MUSgAzYy8/s1600/unnamed%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EZkK9wX52bc/Vb5gQ7dDnrI/AAAAAAAABV4/u0MUSgAzYy8/s320/unnamed%2B%25281%2529.jpg" width="199" /></a>The thing is, not only did I learn the stuff well enough to pass the tests, I even began to understand the why and how of it all. Some of the calculations we use to solve navigation problems are downright elegant.<br />
<br />
Anyway, all this to say: thanks. Thanks to my family for the incredible support on this journey. Thanks to my friends -- the ones who went ahead of me, the ones making the journey with me, and the ones just a few steps behind.<br />
<br />
And a huge thanks to Andy, our instructor and coach this past month. E-mail me if you want his contact information or the dates of upcoming classes.<br />
<br />
One of the frustrations -- and also the joys -- of the career I've chosen is that the lessons never end. There's always another endorsement, refresher or raise-in-grade to knock out. On the boat itself, nearly every hitch brings something I haven't seen or had to do before.<br />
<br />
So, really, I'm not done at all. Just done with this step and taking a short breather before tackling the next rung of the ladder.</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14570283696784196927noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4958930617793354835.post-44465060974396115792015-07-21T20:51:00.000-05:002015-07-21T20:55:30.324-05:00Azimuths and Amplitudes ...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5v9Wj3fvu74/Va71dYFwwwI/AAAAAAAABUQ/8w0w3IEgXH4/s1600/LengthEquation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="153" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5v9Wj3fvu74/Va71dYFwwwI/AAAAAAAABUQ/8w0w3IEgXH4/s320/LengthEquation.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Now in the last week of the upgrade prep course, and just six days out from testing at the Regional Exam Center, I can't quite believe how much material we've covered.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Holy crap, it's a lot of stuff. And a lot of math, which -- if you had asked me beforehand -- I would have told you I can't possibly do.<br />
<br />
Except I can, apparently. Who knew?<br />
<br />
About five days ago, faced with a small mountain of material I had yet to master, some of which gets me about halfway to celestial, I decided, regretfully, to change my route from oceans to near coastal.<br />
<br />
That knocks two modules off my exam and makes a couple of others a bit easier.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JfkHTGIDJmY/Va72u_aNm4I/AAAAAAAABU0/m4nXBKag5aQ/s1600/unnamed%2B%25285%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JfkHTGIDJmY/Va72u_aNm4I/AAAAAAAABU0/m4nXBKag5aQ/s320/unnamed%2B%25285%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a>Shortly after making the decision, I printed, signed, scanned and emailed a letter to the National Maritime Center asking for an amendment to my approval to test. That was at about 1030. At around 1400, I had the amended letter in my inbox.<br />
<br />
Apparently you only have to call your congressman once to get continued stellar customer service.<br />
<br />
I'll have covered enough by the end of this course that I believe I can probably swing celestial with just a little long-distance tutoring. Or maybe a lot of long-distance tutoring. We'll see.<br />
<br />
The only reason I think it's possible, much less probable, is because our instructor is crazy good at this stuff.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sQ-GnQGVoYw/Va71d5DRY4I/AAAAAAAABUY/4cg6WgrX2Jk/s1600/unnamed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sQ-GnQGVoYw/Va71d5DRY4I/AAAAAAAABUY/4cg6WgrX2Jk/s320/unnamed.jpg" width="180" /></a>He's not only good at algebra and trig, but really good at translating abstract ideas into actionable tools to solve problems.<br />
<br />
And he's a fun guy, as are the other two mariners taking the course. Good thing, since we're all staying in the same house we're studying in, and the studying is averaging about 14 hours a day.<br />
<br />
As you might expect, there have been a couple of study breaks.<br />
<br />
One of the coolest things about this experience, for me, is the opportunity to get to know Galveston a little better.<br />
<br />
I had a South Texan's prejudices about the city -- I still think the beaches are pretty crappy -- and have been happily surprised to find it endlessly fascinating. It's a tiny, old, very urban city.<br />
<br />
I guess its history would point to that, but seeing it first-hand (other than driving in our out for work, or during a quick weekend visit) is something else.<br />
<br />
Anyhow, that's the report from the waterfront. I'm underway making way this week.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14570283696784196927noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4958930617793354835.post-45167743323054944282015-06-21T07:30:00.000-05:002015-06-22T00:09:51.866-05:00Father's Day<div class="MsoNormal">
Quite a few men I know are hoping they’ll be able to catch a
cell signal or a few minutes on the sat phone to hear their kids’ voices while
they are at sea today. At least one no doubt will be monitoring the SSB, hoping
to touch base with a grown son on that man's Gulf shrimp trawler.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mjkKkwjNhXA/VYaq0F3djQI/AAAAAAAABTg/yROag28xF5I/s1600/17405_10153234195049630_2466857626625968784_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="189" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mjkKkwjNhXA/VYaq0F3djQI/AAAAAAAABTg/yROag28xF5I/s200/17405_10153234195049630_2466857626625968784_n.jpg" width="200" /></a>Others – too many others this Father’s Day – are home, but
up early and worrying, perhaps parsing the household budget one more time,
looking for that last tiny piece of fat to trim. They’re thinking about their
kids too … wondering how they’ll afford a summer camp, a doctor’s appointment,
a birthday party, a new pair of shoes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The oil patch can be a lavish and exciting mistress, but
ultimately she’s a fickle bitch.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Me? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Well, I’m still working the plan, which until I head out for
a prep course and testing early next month, is all kids all the time. I. Am.
So. Tired.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The 2-year-old takes a diaper change to be an invitation to
beat some internal five-minute deadline to shit his britches again. The kid is
a non-stop poop factory. He’s the sweet (and stinky) one.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-62hIdflRWic/VYaq1JOlTUI/AAAAAAAABTc/Ego4x3owQZs/s1600/unnamed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-62hIdflRWic/VYaq1JOlTUI/AAAAAAAABTc/Ego4x3owQZs/s200/unnamed.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The 5-year-old is a blur of tease and whine and questions and
cuts and scrapes and bruises. If I had the money, I’d hire not a babysitter,
but an umpire, to keep peace between the littles. He’s the smart one.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s a good thing they are both cute.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The teen – the inscrutable one, the strong one -- is here this month, and I’m
working hard to keep some long-deferred promises to him. We just finished-up
our PADI open water certifications as dive buddies … something I’ve wanted to
do since I was his age and that we first looked into together when he was 10.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s1ltcsNSpRo/VYaoBLSCl9I/AAAAAAAABSY/EyJ_1glJOdE/s1600/P6180906.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="130" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s1ltcsNSpRo/VYaoBLSCl9I/AAAAAAAABSY/EyJ_1glJOdE/s200/P6180906.jpg" width="200" /></a>Our check-out dives took place smack-dab in the middle of a
tropical storm and flash flood watch. Dive shops don’t use JSAs. Seriously, I
was a little surprised there was not some formal risk analysis procedure.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Trying now to figure out how to schedule (and afford) flight
lessons for Number One Son, among a dozen other more minor projects.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sixteen years and three children into this fatherhood thing,
here’s what I think I know:</div>
<ol>
<li>We are all making this up as we go along.</li>
<li>And we’re all doing the best we can with what we have and
hoping that passing grades are awarded for effort, nevermind results.</li>
<li>Having a kid takes the paint right off a man, <a href="http://www.last.fm/music/Jon+Dee+Graham/_/Kings" target="_blank">as my friend Jon Dee Graham sings</a>. For more than a decade and a half I’ve experienced at
least one brief jolt of terror every single day, usually upon waking. And, at
home or at work, thinking about my boys takes up a significant portion of my
mental and emotional bandwidth. Every. Single. Day.</li>
<li>There are lots of ways to love your kids, and one of those
is to get up and go to work day after day, month after month, especially when
your work takes you far away from those for whom you are laboring. My own
father taught me that. He’s about the workingest man I’ve ever met. When I was
really young, he rarely had less than a 12-hour-day, much less a free one. Now,
nearing 70, he has retired twice. His longest retirement lasted three weeks
before he was back at work full-time.</li>
<li>That said, money comes and money goes and there’s always
more of it out there somewhere. Time … not so much. Now, in my 40s, I can’t
remember much of anything my parents bought for me when I was a kid, but I remember
well the fishing trips and camping on the national seashore and in the hill
country and hanging out with the big ol’ crazy family at the grandparents’.</li>
<li>If you are working 2:1 on the premise that you are making a “better
life” possible for your family by stacking all that green, you may need to take
another look at what they are missing – and what you are missing – when you are
gone two-thirds of each year. Everyone’s circumstances are different, of
course, and your mileage may vary. Still ….</li>
<li>Having children might just let you relive the best parts of your own childhood.</li>
<li>Before I had kids, I literally could not (accurately)
imagine what that would be like. Now that I have kids, I shudder to think of
what life would be like without them.</li>
</ol>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2a6WkD_LkFA/VYaqzjMeUxI/AAAAAAAABS8/OBi2Jc3bkbM/s1600/166026_10150907110929630_1455133864_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="142" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2a6WkD_LkFA/VYaqzjMeUxI/AAAAAAAABS8/OBi2Jc3bkbM/s200/166026_10150907110929630_1455133864_n.jpg" width="200" /></a>Anyway, here’s to all you dads out there, doing your best
for the small people who may appreciate how hard you tried only long after your
labors are done.<br />
<br />
Keep on keeping on my brothers. Get some rest when you can.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And
Happy Father’s Day.<o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14570283696784196927noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4958930617793354835.post-12469099034930806772015-05-11T23:46:00.001-05:002015-05-12T12:04:24.499-05:00[Captain] Daddy, or, We Celebrate Mothers' Day for a Reason<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s the day after Mother’s Day and the day before my
regularly scheduled crew change. It’s the day I’m usually doing the last of the
laundry, downloading books on the Kindle, packing my bags and wondering if the
children will let me get a nap before I drive 12 hours.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At this point in the crazy cycle of my life I’m usually
disengaging from the family. If something on my “honey do” list hasn’t been
completed by now, it will have to wait until I get home next time. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If one of the boys has a crisis, my wife deals with it; I’m
focused on going back to work, where I will be responsible – at least half of
each day -- for millions of dollars of equipment and half a dozen lives.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vnZRFNO4igM/VVGDF8Q9OGI/AAAAAAAABRU/IuHBb-w39Dg/s1600/adadfail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="189" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vnZRFNO4igM/VVGDF8Q9OGI/AAAAAAAABRU/IuHBb-w39Dg/s320/adadfail.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;"><i>Parenting fail: he wasn't even supposed to know about the</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;"><i>Golden Oreos Double Stuff cookies. Damnit.</i></span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But not today.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Today I’m sitting on the back porch watching the rain,
thinking about how badly I bungled my first day of a different sort of
responsibility. I fell flat on my face, in fact.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My wife and I are trying out a new arrangement for the next four
or five months. In this new scheme, she gets to travel and leave the house and
kid stuff to me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She has in fact always traveled for her consulting business,
but usually just a couple days a month. My own longsuffering and generous mother
has been available to pinch-hit for the parents; sometimes we’ve been able to
find a trustworthy overnight babysitter.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But a new contract that builds toward deliverables in the
fall of this year means the travel has increased significantly, and my folks
are moving across the state this summer, and … well, it’s my turn to take the
strain at home.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9XFV0zZAfxg/VVGDGLUyGzI/AAAAAAAABRY/GBsS-VYjAUE/s1600/aslide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9XFV0zZAfxg/VVGDGLUyGzI/AAAAAAAABRY/GBsS-VYjAUE/s320/aslide.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Getting some park time so Mommy can take a conference call.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ll use the time to study for my next round of tests at the
Coast Guard’s Regional Exam Center, too. Or at least that’s the theory. In
practice, it’s going to take early mornings and late nights and a lot of
patience with sweet-voiced interruptions.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Parents of young children know this already, but let me just
put it out there: if you get one little thing wrong – skip a wake-up or delay a
nap, in this case – the ripple effects can last for days.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m not going to perform a full root cause analysis of why
the boys were in the bath at 2300 last night, or why they had oatmeal for
supper 30 minutes before that, or why they didn’t actually go to sleep until
0230 this morning, or why they are not in pre-school today …. but the broad
outline looks like this:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ol>
<li>We let Mommy sleep in on Mother’s Day, which meant Daddy had
to get up extra early.</li>
<li>The 2-year-old went down for a nap about 1430. The
4-year-old not until 1700 or so.</li>
<li>They both slept waaaaaay too long.</li>
<li>Somewhere in there, Daddy also nodded off (see 1, above,
resulting in 3).</li>
<li>Now we’re all home together on a wet Monday during the last
week of “school” and my plans for garage organization/sorting old clothes for
Goodwill/er … a nap … well, those plans are in significant disarray.</li>
</ol>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2-syLZo7d4I/VVGDFZnZ6_I/AAAAAAAABRI/ktmK4M9l8aM/s1600/abillypugh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2-syLZo7d4I/VVGDFZnZ6_I/AAAAAAAABRI/ktmK4M9l8aM/s320/abillypugh.jpg" width="201" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><i>This is a lot more fun under an old oak</i><br />
<i>than under a crane 75 feet above the</i><br />
<i>water..</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It's all a bit confusing. Last night when my wife called to say goodnight, the 2-year old looked at me, reached out his hand, and asked if he could talk to Daddy. Because usually it's Daddy who is gone.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But I love it. Sort of. I just had a conversation with the
2-year-old about why it rains. And reassured the 4-year-old that lightning was
not in fact likely to strike the chimney, shoot down through the flue and spear
him in front of the television.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Last night, in the wee hours before sleep, the 4-year-old
picked his favorite sea creatures out of a book I didn’t know he had and asked
me to read about them out-loud. I had photos of a surprising number of those
animals – a manta ray, a needlefish (his big brother holding a junior state
record), a whale shark, a bull shark and a hammerhead, a sea cucumber – on my
phone. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had just never taken the time to show him before.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But more to the point, in just <s>14</s> <s>16</s> <s>18</s>
<s>24</s> 31 hours I have realized – viscerally rather than just theoretically –
this solo parenting stuff ain’t easy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Neither was the decision to stay home and take on a larger
share of the responsibilities.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Despite the progress we have made, as a society, in
achieving equality between men and women both at work and at home – and even
though we are not quite there yet, we actually do better in the workplace –
<a href="http://time.com/2895235/men-housework-women/" target="_blank">women still perform an outsized slice of the household</a> and parenting duties.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But because of the first thing, greater professional
opportunities and earning power of women outside the home, more than ever before<a href="http://www.npr.org/2013/05/15/180300236/stay-at-home-dads-breadwinner-moms-and-making-it-all-work" target="_blank"> men are taking advantage of the opportunity to stay home with their kids</a>. The number has almost doubled since 1989. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And if you needed another sign that the era of the
stay-at-home dad has arrived, <a href="http://www.aetv.com/modern-dads" target="_blank">A&E aired a reality show</a> about the
phenomenon. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Not surprisingly,<a href="http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2014/06/05/growing-number-of-dads-home-with-the-kids/" target="_blank"> the number of full-time stay-at-home dads peaked in 2012, right at the end of the recession</a>. For many, the decision to
become full-time fathers was an economic one.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GsQSKwaTv6E/VVGDFQ40icI/AAAAAAAABRM/sV1xF_NkipU/s1600/abbq.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="201" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GsQSKwaTv6E/VVGDFQ40icI/AAAAAAAABRM/sV1xF_NkipU/s320/abbq.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><i>Rudy's BBQ for lunch? Sure. Why not?</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was for us as well. The percentage of wives who out-earn their husbands has almost doubled from about 17 percent the year I graduated from high school to 29 percent in 2012.<br />
<br />
We are part of that 29 percent, and it has rarely been anything more than an occasional source of good-natured competition and a constant source of pride for me.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That is to say, I don't feel threatened by my wife's success. I know I'm still smarter, sexier and a better angler than she is.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Okay ... not really. I'm just one of those things. But sometimes I tell myself I'm all that so I'll feel better.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For most guys who decide to take on the primary child care role, the decision is undoubtedly freighted with the
same sort of tortured ambivalence I feel: it tears my heart every time I leave
to start a hitch and, with young kids especially, I feel like I'm missing <i>so much</i>. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the other hand, I am a man, a husband, a father – my job
is to go out and earn a living for the family. Never mind my wife makes more than half the income, my own career field pays pretty well and it is (usually) honest labor I can be proud of. In addition, I really enjoy my
job, on balance, and I take pride in the progress I have made in a career I chose
relatively late in my life.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For many men, what we do defines us, or is at least an integral part of our identities. But the same is true
for many women. My wife earned a graduate degree, put in the years in corporate
jobs and at one of the “Big Four” consulting companies, and has earned every
bit of her successful career. Which she also really enjoys. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But …. <i><b>my</b> career</i>! <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
God willing, there will be time for it. I’ll return to my
other work in four or five or six or 10 months with a more valuable credential.I won't accept anything less than an even time schedule. I’ll also go back, if the last <strike>20</strike> 31 hours are any indication, with a much greater
appreciation for what my wife accomplishes while I’m gone.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The world we live in today is changing at a remarkable pace.
Many things our parents and grandparents took for granted – from lifelong
employment and comfortable retirements to gender roles and responsibilities to
what makes a family – look significantly different in 2015.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Entire industries and career fields have disappeared and others
have taken their place (or, sadly, not). Technology and something called the Affordable Care Act have
rendered the office and the corporate employer, if not obsolete, at least just
one among many options.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>(I just discovered I can get vastly superior health
insurance for the family through the Health Care Exchange about 50 percent
cheaper than COBRA and only about 30 percent more than my monthly contribution
to my former employer’s plan.)</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For our little family, all of this change has expanded
opportunity rather than limited it. It means that, so long as there is an
airport within a reasonable distance and high-speed internet at the house, my
wife can work from virtually anywhere.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As a merchant mariner, of course, so can I. Just not always at precisely the same time.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All of this change around us has also changed the way we
think about things; we no longer feel compelled to do things the same old way,
the way our parents did, or the way society considers “normal.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/magazine/15parenting-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0" target="_blank">Instead, we can do things the way that works best for our family</a>. There are limits, of course: no employer will tolerate unlimited leaves
of absence; the kids require a certain amount of structure; and we have to pay the
bills and save a little money. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IUaAaamSkZk/VVGDFIUBj2I/AAAAAAAABRQ/VtxyZBcWsnI/s1600/aMommy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IUaAaamSkZk/VVGDFIUBj2I/AAAAAAAABRQ/VtxyZBcWsnI/s320/aMommy.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><i>There's no replacing Mommy. Best I can do is fill-in for a while</i>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There may be other limits we haven't yet discovered, something integral to her or me that will prevent this from working. Like the sink full of dishes <i>right now</i> and the floor that needs to be mopped. Also <i>right now</i>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As long as I feel like I'm moving forward professionally in some way -- even if it's just a couple hours a day of study for my raise-in-grade -- and as long as I can take an active role in my boys' lives, I think I can live with it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But holy crap, momming ain't no joke. And my wife does this for weeks at a time, while working five or six hours a day.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hat's off, Babe. And I'll get those dishes done before you get home. Promise.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14570283696784196927noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4958930617793354835.post-45913787141221140482015-04-27T07:54:00.002-05:002015-04-27T07:54:11.861-05:00In which your humble correspondent takes a modicum of verified fact and makes sweeping generalizations<div class="MsoNormal">
This is a tricky post, and I’m going to attempt to walk a
fine line between offering some potentially useful observations and being an
uninformed jerk of an armchair quarterback who wasn’t even there.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was there, sort of.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Saturday afternoon a fierce squall blew through Mobile Bay.
That, in itself, is not newsworthy. It’s that time of year, and over the past
couple of weeks I’ve watched the anemometer peg 40+ knots more than once as a
line of thunderstorms passes over.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lakMIYRdO5w/VT4pU5t55LI/AAAAAAAABQo/NJ8AIZKvSIk/s1600/20150322_070106_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lakMIYRdO5w/VT4pU5t55LI/AAAAAAAABQo/NJ8AIZKvSIk/s1600/20150322_070106_1.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>This is actually a frontal boundary, not a thunderstorm, though<br />they can sometimes look similar. Both can carry devastating<br />winds -- thunderstorms through convection (winds being pulled<br />into the cell) or through downdrafts known as "microbursts."</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://topics.al.com/tag/Dauphin%20Island%20Regatta%20disaster%20/posts.html#incart_big-photo" target="_blank">Saturday was also the day of the annual Dauphin IslandRegatta, a 100-boat event. As of tonight, two people are confirmed dead and five are still missing. </a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Coast Guard Sector Mobile is still routinely issuing “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-pan" target="_blank">Pan-Pan</a>” and “<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.3;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9curit%C3%A9" target="_blank">Sécurité</a></span>” messages on Channel 16, and AIS shows the
Coast Guard Cutter Cobia just inside Mobile Point.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Out here in the Gulf, just four miles off the beaches of
Dauphin Island, we clocked gusts of 57 kts and snapped the line that was
holding us to our mooring buoy. Or so I was told – I slept through the entire
episode.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s always much easier to look back at a tragic event and
say: “You should have done this or that; <b>that</b> was a bad decision ….” than it is
to make the correct decision at the time. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is always some sort of
cost-benefit analysis, which in this case probably involved the relatively low
probability of an adverse weather event balanced against guest revenue for the
local economy, tradition, credibility of the race organizers, opportunity costs for
participants and who knows what else.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It does seem clear that the race organizers were aware of at
least the possibility of a severe storm. According to *news reports, they
cancelled the regatta early Saturday morning, only to reverse course a short
time later. (<i>*On the Mobile Yacht Club’s Facebook page, the commodore says the
website was “hacked.”</i>)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And while it’s not easy to look back in time on the
interwebs and see exactly what weather forecasts they had in hand at that time,
it is no work at all to see the forecast discussions from Saturday. Here’s what
the 0400 and 1200 discussions said:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<pre style="background: white;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">THE PROSPECTS FOR </span><a href="http://forecast.weather.gov/glossary.php?word=CONVECTION"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 9pt;">CONVECTION</span></b></a><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> ARE MINIMAL ACROSS MOST INLAND PORTIONS OF THE </span><a href="http://forecast.weather.gov/glossary.php?word=CWFA"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 9pt;">CWFA</span></b></a><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> TODAY. THE EXCEPTION MAY BE NEAR THE IMMEDIATE COAST WHERE A WEAK AFTERNOON SEABREEZE MAY DEVELOP... SO WILL KEEP A </span><a href="http://forecast.weather.gov/glossary.php?word=SLIGHT%20CHANCE"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 9pt;">SLIGHT CHANCE</span></b></a><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> OF SHOWERS AND STORMS GENERALLY SOUTH OF<o:p></o:p></span></pre>
<pre style="background: white;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">THE I-10 CORRIDOR THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON. IF </span><a href="http://forecast.weather.gov/glossary.php?word=ISOLATED"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 9pt;">ISOLATED</span></b></a><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><a href="http://forecast.weather.gov/glossary.php?word=CONVECTION"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 9pt;">CONVECTION</span></b></a><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> DOES MANAGE TO DEVELOP...A STRONG TO SEVERE STORM CANNOT BE RULED OUT GIVEN THAT </span><a href="http://forecast.weather.gov/glossary.php?word=MLCAPE"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 9pt;">MLCAPE</span></b></a><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> VALUES COULD RISE TO 500-1000 </span><a href="http://forecast.weather.gov/glossary.php?word=J/KG"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 9pt;">J/KG</span></b></a><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> ALONG WITH DEEP LAYER </span><a href="http://forecast.weather.gov/glossary.php?word=SHEAR"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 9pt;">SHEAR</span></b></a><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> VALUES AROUND 50 KNOTS.<o:p></o:p></span></pre>
<pre style="background: white;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span></pre>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
forecast discussion released at 1603 was a bit more bullish on the possibility
of severe weather:</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 9pt;">SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS WILL INCREASE IN COVERAGE FROM THE SOUTH AND WEST. AN </span><a href="http://forecast.weather.gov/glossary.php?word=ISOLATED"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 9pt;">ISOLATED</span></b></a><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 9pt;">
STRONG STORM IS POSSIBLE LATE IN THE DAY AS THE STORMS TO OUR WEST BEGIN TO
MOVE INTO THE AREA. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But, by then, it was too late. As early as 1530, unprepared
boats were broaching and sailors were swimming. Many without lifejackets.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Dip6bTS0Q_U/VT4oHfvffzI/AAAAAAAABQE/aYfL3E5_5xI/s1600/inflatable%2Bvest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Dip6bTS0Q_U/VT4oHfvffzI/AAAAAAAABQE/aYfL3E5_5xI/s1600/inflatable%2Bvest.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Inflatable PFDs are light, comfrotable and increasingly<br />inexpensive: a model like this, with manual-only<br />activation, costs as little as $75.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, if, in hindsight, the first problem was inadequate
attention to the weather forecast or a lack of skill or experience by individual sailors to identify
the developing hazardous conditions, the second problem was the fact that so
many participants in the regatta were not wearing their PFDs.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I don’t know what the race rules stipulated, and I wasn’t at
the skippers’ meeting so I can’t say what the organizers recommended to the
participants. I do know that it is quite common for “big boat” club sailors (as
opposed to dinghy racers) not to wear PFDs while racing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The lifejackets, in fact, are most likely stashed on the
v-berth (beneath the spinnaker or the #3 genoa), or in a cockpit locker the helmsman is sitting on – somewhere out of
the way, anyhow.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In news reports, some participants mention that they “didn’t
have time to grab a lifejacket.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Duh. That’s why you wear them. Technology is a wonderful
thing, and the lifejacket you have on is better than the one you didn’t have
time to find and don. To that end, I heartily recommend inflatable PFDs – even the
belt packs, which after testing I’m not sure should even be Coast
Guard-approved, <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But it's still better than f*ck-all, which is what many of the people in the water had.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XDmLN21o6o8/VT4oKhUh2BI/AAAAAAAABQM/oWa67_4namI/s1600/uniden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XDmLN21o6o8/VT4oKhUh2BI/AAAAAAAABQM/oWa67_4namI/s1600/uniden.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Waterproof, submersible, hand-held VHF<br />radios are handy on and off the boat.<br />Around $125, depending on features.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once in the water, what next? You are a tiny, volleyball-sized target in a maelstrom of foam and water. It would be nice if you could call someone and let them know, huh?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One victim who was rescued by the Coast Guard actually
called them on her cell phone, which she had in her hand as she went overboard.
Another mentioned his great fear when he found himself adrift in the Mobile
Ship Channel in near-zero visibility.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In both cases, and possibly in the cases of the victims who
have not yet been recovered, a waterproof, submersible, hand-held VHF radio
would have been a grand thing to have at hand. In fact, if it were my regatta,
I believe I would require all the boats to carry one, especially since the *route
of the race carries it across a busy commercial channel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>*And no, a sailboat, even on starboard tack, and even in the
middle of a race, does not have “right of way” over an inbound container ship
when that sailboat is crossing the channel.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0pfHY9fBvNo/VT4odMo_3VI/AAAAAAAABQU/7ihgA817Mls/s1600/20150425_100140-01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0pfHY9fBvNo/VT4odMo_3VI/AAAAAAAABQU/7ihgA817Mls/s1600/20150425_100140-01.jpeg" height="185" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Pelicans in ground effect, Mobile Bay, Saturday morning.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It would be easy to carry this to an extreme, and suggest
that anyone who participates in a sailboat race in coastal waters should have a
personal locater beacon (PLB) or wear a Type I PFD with SOLAS reflective tape
and a strobe light, or that a race should never commence with even a hint of a
fraction of a possibility of adverse conditions.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That’s nonsense, and wouldn’t pass the flip side of that
cost-benefit analysis.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the other hand, I know from personal experience (and also
from four years and probably 130 boating fatalities worked while at Texas Parks
& Wildlife Department) that: 1.) lifejackets really do save lives and are
nearly 100 percent effective when worn; 2.) VHF radios beat yelling into a
gale, whether it’s to warn a ship that you’re in the water near beacons 35 and
36, or to let the Coast Guard know you can see their lights and could they
please come right 40 degrees; and 3.) Weather ain’t no joke. Especially spring
weather when conflicting, unstable air masses can result in huge, highly localized
updrafts and downdrafts.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There has been no discussion in the news coverage thus far
about what role alcohol may have played in participants’ response to Saturday’s
events, but I know – again from personal experience – that an integral part of
many sailboat races is a cooler of ice-cold beer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Hard to say. It’s so
ingrained in the culture it’s tough – even for me – to imagine a regatta
without beer. On the other hand, I also know that if I’m toodling along on a
reach with a nice buzz, I might be a little slow to douse the sails, get my lifejacket
on or even notice a wall of wind headed my way.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wG58J1u-kYo/VT4pJFT8-xI/AAAAAAAABQg/164tqIfvlUw/s1600/20150426_065406-01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wG58J1u-kYo/VT4pJFT8-xI/AAAAAAAABQg/164tqIfvlUw/s1600/20150426_065406-01.jpeg" height="180" width="320" /></a>Aviators are cautioned to remember one thing above all
others: gravity – what goes up must come down. As a matter of course, or so
some pilots have told me, they are always prepared for the engines to quit.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mariners should be no less prepared, because: Water. We don’t
breathe it and we can stay afloat without assistance in it for only so long.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Any of us who go out on the water, whether for work or play,
would do well to remember that it is, fundamentally, an environment that is
inhospitable to human life and prepare accordingly.</div>
<o:p></o:p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14570283696784196927noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4958930617793354835.post-51365645993774130292015-04-21T04:24:00.000-05:002015-04-21T04:24:14.810-05:00Becoming ....<div class="MsoNormal">
I recently ran across an article online with this headline:
<i><a href="http://www.salon.com/2015/03/28/mark_knopfler_this_getting_older_stuff_ain%E2%80%99t_for_wimps/" target="_blank">Mark Knopfler: This getting older stuff ain’t for wimps.</a></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That resonates for two … no, three reasons: first, I had a
birthday this month. Second, I think Mark Knopfler is a fine songwriter and
I’ve always enjoyed his music. Third, it echoes something my cousin Bobby said
to me several years ago: “It takes a stout heart to grow old.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WXtctU2DdWk/VTYVoZixubI/AAAAAAAABPw/n8P0KBigV6A/s1600/theodore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WXtctU2DdWk/VTYVoZixubI/AAAAAAAABPw/n8P0KBigV6A/s1600/theodore.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a>Past a certain point, getting older has certain drawbacks,
particularly if you are overly concerned with how the prevailing,
youth-obsessed culture regards you.<br />
<br />
The fact that in my mind I’m still a 20-something
in the absurd and inexplicable situation of being trapped in a 40-something
body is beside the point.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That thing your parents and grandparents told you – it goes
so fast – is increasingly clear. The clock seems to tick a bit faster with
every passing year. You realize that there’s something rather final just over
the horizon; the bearing has not in fact changed, and the range is decreasing
rapidly.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s not all bad. There also are advantages. I’ll admit that
it took me a long time – way too long, at great cost – to “grow up.” To accept
that those legendary adult responsibilities had my name on them. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And then
figure out how to meet them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It wasn’t until my fourth decade or thereabouts that I
finally started to get a handle on what is really important to me. Or even what
I really thought about a lot of things. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The good news in all that, at least for me, is that the
model I had in my head in my youth: grow, learn, take what I’ve learned and go
do, coast into retirement with a genteel hobby or two…. has turned-out to be
not terribly accurate.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s more like: grow, learn, do; grow, learn, do; grow,
learn; grow, learn … hopefully right up until the end, whenever that will be.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That is to say, people change.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Scott Miller sings: “How am I ever gonna be me? How am I
ever gonna be me, Lord? How am I ever gonna be if I’m not who I’m supposed to
be?”<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-bZ21q79tF8?rel=0" width="560"></iframe>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I learn new stuff every week: about being a dad, a husband,
a son, a mariner, a man. Some of the lessons are bitter and I’m ashamed it’s
taken me so long. Sometimes I feel smug, even triumphant, after mastering
something, only to discover I’m still not done. Not by a long shot.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So … mid-forties, certainly with more years behind me than
ahead of me, here’s what I know today.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ol>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">I’m not as smart as I used to think I was.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">But I’m smart enough to realize that much of
what I learned in school and in church as a kid was just flat wrong, or at
least does not accord with the world as I have found it since.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Having a kid takes the skin right off a man, to
quote a friend of mine. It’s the hardest thing in the world, and the best
thing, and nothing is the same after.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Kindness matters more than almost anything else.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The practice of kindness notwithstanding, some people
are just assholes, or mentally ill, and in either case unless there is a
familial or professional (i.e., you are a proctologist or a psychologist)
obligation, you should get the hell away from those people.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Despite #5, most people are mostly doing the
best they can most of the time.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The things you think are really important when
you are 25 may not be the same things you think are really important 20 or 30
years later.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Friends matter. Especially the ones who have
stuck around for 20 or 30 or 40 years, through all that learning and growing.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Of all the things I regret, and there are many,
among them I cannot identify a single day I spent fishing or birding or just sitting
somewhere watching water move. That’s some good shit.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">This list will change in the future.</span></li>
</ol>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the things I have not learned yet is how to splice a
plaited (eight-strand) line. We chafed right through an eye during weather the
other night, I had printed directions in hand, and I thought: “Well, how hard
can it be?”</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
A couple of hours later, I can tell you it’s pretty hard. At
least with this ratty line and in poor light. Maybe I’ll try again in the
morning, if we’re not busy at the platform.<o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14570283696784196927noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4958930617793354835.post-48340303131254340222015-03-25T03:57:00.000-05:002015-03-25T07:55:31.722-05:00One down, one to go ...<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ujsny6WK5bE/VRJ0KU5MrfI/AAAAAAAABPI/QMdVM33f-po/s1600/2015-03-21%2B06.48.43.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ujsny6WK5bE/VRJ0KU5MrfI/AAAAAAAABPI/QMdVM33f-po/s1600/2015-03-21%2B06.48.43.jpg" height="165" width="320" /></a>Halfway through the hitch from hell and I am really, really looking forward to getting home.<br />
<br />
Except that I won't get all the way home until just before I come back. A long weekend with the family at the folks', then back to Louisiana for more training.<br />
<br />
These short hitches are nice, but this one already feels three weeks old. It's been one thing after another since just before crew change.<br />
<br />
Some of it stuff I don't want to write about in detail here, now, though I do subscribe to <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Anne-Lamott/e/B0034PEWO8" target="_blank">Ann Lamott's</a> dictum that: "You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better."<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jGyvs8-ovF0/VRJ09_cXg9I/AAAAAAAABPY/xrvJ7qdTAoM/s1600/2015-03-25%2B02.15.58.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jGyvs8-ovF0/VRJ09_cXg9I/AAAAAAAABPY/xrvJ7qdTAoM/s1600/2015-03-25%2B02.15.58.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a>Stuff I will mention: downflooding, bilge pumps not pumping, electrical malfunctions, bad starters and 32 hours straight on DP ("...that ain't nuthin' ..." some of my buddies on big mud boats say).<br />
<br />
The customer has finally released us from the site for the morning, and we've taken care of the other issues over the past week with no recorded downtime, and some things we didn't even know were broken are now fixed.<br />
<br />
We fixed some stuff we did know was broken, too. Stuff that's been broken for months. And by "we," I actually mean someone else, but it happened on my watch. And I spoke words of encouragement, nodded my head sagely and affirmed good decisions.<br />
<br />
Yay team!<br />
<br />
And there's only a week more to go.<br />
<br />
On the other hand ... I've spent more time than I would like this past week playing armchair psychologist, trying to understand a couple of things that cropped-up.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UWxln3XHOWk/VRJzUAQeegI/AAAAAAAABO8/rZzrn2tHiwY/s1600/20150320_073602_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UWxln3XHOWk/VRJzUAQeegI/AAAAAAAABO8/rZzrn2tHiwY/s1600/20150320_073602_1.jpg" height="196" width="320" /></a>I'm no doctor, and I have never even played one on TV, still ... I'm fairly certain that in the past ... oh, let's say 10 days -- I've had to devote some time to dealing with one individual who suffers from untreated <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophrenia" target="_blank">schizophrenia</a>, or a schizophrenic disorder, and another individual who almost certainly suffers from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disorder" target="_blank">narcissistic personality disorder</a>.<br />
<br />
Either one of these is a terrible burden to bear, and I'm sympathetic (particularly to the former), but unless the affected individual is a family member or close friend, I'm not very inclined to stand in the line of fire.<br />
<br />
Let me be clear: we don't worry overmuch about strange out here; we're all a little "different," or we wouldn't be on boats. When oddness becomes physically violent, or in some way a career impediment to someone else, then it's time to perhaps change the situation. Just sayin' ....<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xCyTF-DR2qo/VRJ0zW3ntdI/AAAAAAAABPQ/1YMMw0m3mE0/s1600/20150323_101029_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xCyTF-DR2qo/VRJ0zW3ntdI/AAAAAAAABPQ/1YMMw0m3mE0/s1600/20150323_101029_1.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a>On the other, other hand (I have three) -- I'm sailing this hitch with a couple of guys I really like and respect, so that kind of blunts the drama trauma.<br />
<br />
Talking to someone about all this the other day, she said: "Well, I guess it's not so different than an office environment ... you get all kinds ..."<br />
<br />
True. But at least in a shore-based job you get to go home at the end of the day.<br />
<br />
In other news, I just finished a great novel, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Station-Eleven-Emily-John-Mandel-ebook/dp/B00J1IQUYM/ref=sr_1_1_twi_1_kin?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1427270456&sr=1-1&keywords=station+eleven" target="_blank">Station Eleven</a>, by Emily St. John Mandel (on sale now for Kindle at $2.99). Even if you're not into post-apocalyptic, dystopian worlds, you'll probably still like this book. It even manages to poke some good-natured fun at behavioral psychologist business consultants. Which is what my sweet wife is in her professional life.<br />
<br />
And J.J. Grey's new album, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ol-Glory-JJ-Grey-Mofro/dp/B00QSDACJM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427270742&sr=8-1&keywords=JJ+Grey" target="_blank">Ol' Glory</a>, is out -- bluesy southern soul that's just about perfect listening overnight on a boat in the oil patch in the spring of 2015.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14570283696784196927noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4958930617793354835.post-59614463351013288142015-03-20T05:18:00.000-05:002015-03-25T02:28:05.692-05:00'Pre-loading,' Funny Math and Other Stuff<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7oVZXJvbo00/VQvyXUzHanI/AAAAAAAABOk/d6A1QdS70ys/s1600/19304_10153191574704630_2759430910933348972_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7oVZXJvbo00/VQvyXUzHanI/AAAAAAAABOk/d6A1QdS70ys/s1600/19304_10153191574704630_2759430910933348972_n.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a>We are bobbing around just offshore of Dauphin Island right now, on safety standby as the liftboat we are working with pre-loads.<br />
<br />
There is a really detailed explanation of pre-loading (and some other interesting liftboat stuff) <a href="http://www.allianceliftboats.com/Files/Publications/PlanningOperationsFromLiftBoat.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>, but basically it means that the ballasted liftboat is very slowly and carefully making the transition from vessel afloat to work platform.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, we drift with engines idling. The wind is out of the southwest at about 8 knots, the current is headed southeast at about 3 knots, and we're hanging between the two, slipping gently astern at about one-third of a knot.<br />
<br />
Every hour or so I put the mains in gear for a couple of minutes and point us back toward the liftboat.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l5oOJZunSQE/VQvyQhSz8_I/AAAAAAAABOM/xPLa3U340O4/s1600/11021207_10153154172954630_1772983102598767939_n%2B(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l5oOJZunSQE/VQvyQhSz8_I/AAAAAAAABOM/xPLa3U340O4/s1600/11021207_10153154172954630_1772983102598767939_n%2B(1).jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a>Last hitch we spent the last 10 days or so transferring cargo and pumping water. By the time we got back to the dock for crew change we were so light I felt like I was back on a crewboat when I looked over the bulwarks. Our laden freeboad of about two feet was suddenly about six feet.<br />
<br />
Back home we had a nice mix of warm, sunny days and cool nights. I got the lawn mowed, we celebrated the teen son's 16th with family, we had company, and then had company again. In the second round the daddies took the youngsters down to the river while the ladies got pedicures. Followed by a double-date for German food and lounge time.<br />
<br />
All in all, it was a pretty satisfying two weeks off work.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--RE1-Ew8ziM/VQvyMBjJACI/AAAAAAAABN4/79fYeO349Nk/s1600/10987454_10153149182774630_7752723060055035758_n%2B(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--RE1-Ew8ziM/VQvyMBjJACI/AAAAAAAABN4/79fYeO349Nk/s1600/10987454_10153149182774630_7752723060055035758_n%2B(1).jpg" height="229" width="320" /></a>My wife sent along a link to a news story yesterday: <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/wp/2014/02/21/5-things-you-get-from-working-too-hard/" target="_blank">5 reasons why you shouldn't work too hard</a>. It got me thinking about my job, and I did a little math: on this new, and hopefully not temporary, schedule working 180 days/year, I end up working 2,160 hours/year.<br />
<br />
That's equivalent to a full year's worth of 40-hour weeks plus two more. And I spend a minimum of another two weeks commuting or training.<br />
<br />
So, 56 weeks of work every 12 months.<br />
<br />
That's a lot better than a 240-day schedule (28 days on, 14 days off or 14/7), which totals 2,880 hours per year, or equivalent to 72 weeks of 9-to-5 labor.<br />
<br />
In the context of the Washington Post article linked above, I wondered for a moment if I work "too hard."<br />
<br />
Probably not.<br />
<br />
A 12-hour watch in bad weather or with continuous cargo operations or a difficult approach in zero visibility is as draining as any physical labor I've every done, especially when there is only broken sleep between watches.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UXk5c2Gi1_E/VQvyVlHwwOI/AAAAAAAABOc/xdQCKcVVCKQ/s1600/11048720_10153180624629630_916449122714264032_n%2B(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UXk5c2Gi1_E/VQvyVlHwwOI/AAAAAAAABOc/xdQCKcVVCKQ/s1600/11048720_10153180624629630_916449122714264032_n%2B(1).jpg" height="261" width="320" /></a>Shipyard is pretty hard. But other times -- tonight for instance -- those 12 hours are mostly just tedious. I'm more likely to die of boredom than heat stroke or mental stress.<br />
<br />
On the other hand, and to the point of that article, when I am off I am really off. There are no emails to check or answer, no teleconferences, no quick trips back to the office for a can't-miss meeting or last-minute report.<br />
<br />
Talking to a friend, another captain, about this earlier, he said: "So, have you broken that down to an hourly rate?"<br />
<br />
No. No I haven't. I decided not to do a little more math at that point, because I figured the answer would depress me.<br />
<br />
Earlier this morning I came across another maritime blog I had not yet seen -- it was linked on <a href="http://simenstad.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Lela Joy's site</a>. The blogger, who lives on the West Coast, is about my age and, like me, made a dramatic career change a couple of years ago.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Gk7B3vCt7qk/VQvyPRg0sOI/AAAAAAAABOE/zqa_iHeANzo/s1600/11009860_10153181132059630_3732561323937938298_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Gk7B3vCt7qk/VQvyPRg0sOI/AAAAAAAABOE/zqa_iHeANzo/s1600/11009860_10153181132059630_3732561323937938298_n.jpg" height="266" width="320" /></a>One of his posts, from February of last year, is called "<a href="http://backtoseawithme.blogspot.com/2014/02/maritime-reality.html" target="_blank">Maritime Reality</a>," and in it he touches on some of the same topics.<br />
<br />
I guess some facets of this career are pretty universal, no matter which coast you're on or segment of the industry you work in.<br />
<br />
Anyway, it's a great blog: <a href="http://backtoseawithme.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Back to Sea With Me</a> -- definitely worth a look. In his latest post, the writer mentions that his application for mate is being evaluated and wonders how long that might take.<br />
<br />
I was pretty pleased with the turnaround time on my raise-in-grade application over the holidays: about a month from submission to my approval to test. Only, my evaluator missed a couple of important (to me, anyway) items on the application.<br />
<br />
Some were fixed with an email and a phone call. One, though, was not. I think I've written before that I applied for both master and mate and hoped to test for both the same week.<br />
<br />
My evaluator could not at first understand why I would want to do that ("But Master is the higher license!" she said.) and then told me she would have to check with management to see if it was even possible.<br />
<br />
My view: Of course it's possible. Maybe not routine, but there is nothing in the CFRs that prohibits it. And if I qualify to test for master, then surely I qualify to test for mate as well.<br />
<br />
Actually, I didn't come up with this all by myself. The fellow who writes merchant mariner credential policy for the Coast Guard heartily recommended it in a public forum -- both for efficiency, and to take advantage of the shrinking window of opportunity to be grandfathered under the rules pre-STCW 2010 implementation.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Pxsq57d8j1U/VQvySlBP_9I/AAAAAAAABOU/6XWZITk8TPc/s1600/11023818_10153154503064630_8591260940131306639_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Pxsq57d8j1U/VQvySlBP_9I/AAAAAAAABOU/6XWZITk8TPc/s1600/11023818_10153154503064630_8591260940131306639_n.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
The efficiency part is that while master and mate exams involve some different modules, much of the material is the same or very similar. And while the exam for Master 500 GRT Oceans will get me to Master 1600 GRT Oceans and Master 500-3000 GT without further testing, the Mate exam will carry me all the way through 2nd Mate all gross tons.<br />
<br />
Anyway, it's been six weeks since I sent in my letter requesting reconsideration of that decision and still no answer. I checked back earlier in the week and I received an emailed apology and assurances that I would have an answer on where my answer is and when I might expect it.<br />
<br />
If my request is denied, the next step is an appeal, and that goes to the same guy who suggested we do this to begin with.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile .... the clock is ticking, and I really should be studying. Harder. Or ... at all.<br />
<br />
I've had time to reconsider my strategy, and to weigh whether I want to take a terrestrial navigation and review course and ask the Coast Guard to amend my application to Near Coastal, or if I want to take that course immediately followed by an approved celestial navigation course and ask the Coast Guard to amend my application to accept the course in lieu of testing at the Regional Exam Center.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WxGdnV8llrM/VQvyL5NLg7I/AAAAAAAABN0/NYtfYdnq0PM/s1600/10456815_10153152719754630_8973079742891234983_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WxGdnV8llrM/VQvyL5NLg7I/AAAAAAAABN0/NYtfYdnq0PM/s1600/10456815_10153152719754630_8973079742891234983_n.jpg" height="231" width="320" /></a>I'm now leaning towards the former, because I'll test sooner and get the credential I need this year and I can always increase the scope later. Plus, a couple of my captain friends may be able to take the same course at the same time. Which would make things cheaper, if we could share accommodations. It would definitely make it more fun.<br />
<br />
Either way, nowhere in my plans is the notion that I'm going to walk into the REC and take the celestial navigation exam cold.<br />
<br />
Figuring this stuff out is some sort of analogue to the time-speed-distance formulae we use in plotting. Only this is a time-expense-opportunity formula.<br />
<br />
The opportunity part is important, because the oil patch slowdown is now in full effect, with several hundred boats cold-stacked. Things are tight, and I'm happy my boat is working. Even if this particular watch this particular morning is a little bit tedious.<br />
<br />
Hey, I just noticed: <a href="http://crewboatchronicles.blogspot.com/2013/12/seventeen-seagulls.html" target="_blank">17 seagulls</a> on the starboard beam. Why 17, and not 16, or 18, or three or 30? The mystery ....Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14570283696784196927noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4958930617793354835.post-72625242836314481802015-02-24T11:41:00.000-06:002015-02-24T11:41:05.472-06:00Sittin' on the dock of the bay<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sRptu913qAY/VOyzErkpoTI/AAAAAAAABMg/8mg67jwPe7E/s1600/20150222_063515.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sRptu913qAY/VOyzErkpoTI/AAAAAAAABMg/8mg67jwPe7E/s1600/20150222_063515.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;">I'm sittin' on the dock of the bay</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;">Watchin' the tide roll away, ooh</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;">I'm just sittin' on the dock of the bay</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;">Wastin' time ...</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;">-- Otis Redding, "Dock of the Bay," 1967</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;">Things are quiet in Theodore, a compact and capable deepwater port on the western shore of Mobile Bay, about halfway between the Gulf and Mobile proper.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;">We're waiting for the liftboat we are working with to get situated at a platform just southwest of the sea buoy, and then they may or may not call us for some of the equipment they put on our deck before they left.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;">We've passed the time catching-up on paperwork and a bit of deferred maintenance, cooking meals appropriate to the weather outside (yesterday was my turn: pot roast), counting down the days 'til next we go home.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;"><br /></span>
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TFwBmfQ-Uos/VOy0N3zAsfI/AAAAAAAABM0/9palDNjVfV4/s1600/20150222_084324.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TFwBmfQ-Uos/VOy0N3zAsfI/AAAAAAAABM0/9palDNjVfV4/s1600/20150222_084324.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;">Which, for the officers anyhow, is sooner than some would like. That voluntary 14/14 schedule I mentioned last post? Well, it's mandatory now. Suits me and the family fine, I can tell you. Even if I did have to come back to work two weeks early.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;">The boat now essentially has two crews, and I'm happy with the one I'm working with.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;">Back at the office, seven of our shoreside staff were let go this past month as a cost-cutting measure. The supply list is being trimmed. I'm fighting a rearguard action to keep water on the requisition and not have it transferred to our ever-shrinking grocery budget. It's a safety issue, to my mind.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;">It's awfully quiet over here, at least compared to Port Fourchon, where the radio chatter never stops and there may be anywhere from 20 to 40 boats in motion at a given time. What radio traffic we do hear is remarkably polite and friendly. Even the shrimpers in the bay routinely come up on Ch. 13 without any prompting. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;"><br /></span>
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eNSgCJKDf9I/VOyzXa9kb7I/AAAAAAAABMo/jXLlIzNAwjg/s1600/20150221_062218.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eNSgCJKDf9I/VOyzXa9kb7I/AAAAAAAABMo/jXLlIzNAwjg/s1600/20150221_062218.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;">There are live oak trees literally a stone's throw from the back deck, and a curtain of tall pines behind those. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;">An osprey is building a nest in one (is it that time already? Maybe that was a snake it had clutched in its talons ....).</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;">Coots and cormorants bob around the boat. Someone caught a sand trout -- they call them "white trout" over here -- off the back deck the other night. And this morning there were snow flurries.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;">It's good to come to work at the beginning of a job, for a change. We had opportunities to meet the crews of the other boats and the customer representatives we'll be working for. We reviewed JSAs and traded phone numbers and email addresses and got a jump on some of the confusion that ineveitably happens once a job is underway.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;"><br /></span>
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xEB6s9i_ZBM/VOy0PI2NnGI/AAAAAAAABM8/mtInp-EUnPE/s1600/2015-02-24%2B10.44.44.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xEB6s9i_ZBM/VOy0PI2NnGI/AAAAAAAABM8/mtInp-EUnPE/s1600/2015-02-24%2B10.44.44.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;">The field we'll be working in is an active <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_sulfide#Safety" target="_blank">hydrogen sulfide</a> field, which necessitated trips to the occupational health clinic on our way to work. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;">It also necessitated the delivery of a dozen self-contained breathing apparatuses, two big supplied-air cascade units and a whole bunch of H2S sensors and alarms.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;">The other captain on my hitch worked over here for 13 years on a production boat, so knows the field and waters well; he even spent a few years working with the company man on this job, which makes everyone happy. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;">This job, which is slated to last up to three months, is for one of the majors -- I guess it's actually the major oil major -- and I think our sales guys have high hopes it will lead to additional contracts.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;"><br /></span>
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eCZJS70dLF8/VOy0Yk97xoI/AAAAAAAABNE/dDIAwlB3myg/s1600/20150223_090909.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eCZJS70dLF8/VOy0Yk97xoI/AAAAAAAABNE/dDIAwlB3myg/s1600/20150223_090909.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;">We'll do a bang-up job, because we always do. And because this is an easy one, and the sort of fun, standard OSV stuff we all signed-up for.</span><br />
<br />
But until they call us to the location, you can find me ...<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;">Sittin' in the mornin' sun</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;">I'll be sittin' when the evenin' comes</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;">Watchin' the ships roll in</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;">Then I watch 'em roll away again, yeah</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;">I'm sittin' on the dock of the bay</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;">Watchin' the tide roll away, ooo</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;">I'm just sittin' on the dock of the bay</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;">Wastin' time ....</span><br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14570283696784196927noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4958930617793354835.post-79331903177151888802015-02-08T23:43:00.001-06:002015-02-08T23:43:46.191-06:00I left the boat ....<div class="MsoNormal">
I left the boat in a cold rain on the heels of a sad,
strange scene in the main deck lounge.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CQXJUHvWhXw/VNhEppJRD8I/AAAAAAAABLc/wIK3wh1TSuE/s1600/raindrops.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CQXJUHvWhXw/VNhEppJRD8I/AAAAAAAABLc/wIK3wh1TSuE/s1600/raindrops.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a>The off-signers were soaked after carrying supplies the
length of the vessel, and secretly hoping to be gone before having to do the
same with the grocery order still on its way. The routine of quiet consideration
and self-abnegation that makes for good shipmates sometimes gets stretched to an
equally quiet breaking point, and this was one of those times.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We were anxious to be off the boat, to be on our way to our
respective homes, to escape the two minor crises then unfolding.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Crisis one: the vessel’s master explaining that the
unlicensed crew would have to go to 14/14 schedules or one of the guys would
have to go to another boat in order to reduce our manning from five to four.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Crisis two: the mystery of the displaced hydraulic steering
fluid … one guy, the one no one is allowed to gainsay, mistaking the reflection
of a gunmetal sky in the deck wells for a sheen and insisting there was a
busted hose on deck. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect" target="_blank">Dunning-Kruger Effect</a>, again, in all of its sly, smirking
glory.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NwWc9Y1K2nA/VNhEoolIlMI/AAAAAAAABLE/3LivlFdBZiw/s1600/alongsidest156.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NwWc9Y1K2nA/VNhEoolIlMI/AAAAAAAABLE/3LivlFdBZiw/s1600/alongsidest156.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another guy, the one with an extensive background in pumps
and hoses and fluid dynamics, attempting a quiet interjection that all of the
fluid was still in the reservoirs and that the mystery instead was that it had
shifted from the port tank to the starboard tank.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had been through this at least once before, but the
memory had fled.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I left the boat with a cold that would make the drive home a
nine-hour misery and my first three days with the family a blur of broken sleep
and over-the-counter remedies.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Rm2DT9Sa4_w/VNhEpEobROI/AAAAAAAABLM/0jzZ3A4oOXw/s1600/boatst156.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Rm2DT9Sa4_w/VNhEpEobROI/AAAAAAAABLM/0jzZ3A4oOXw/s1600/boatst156.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a>In retrospect, it was, maybe, a blessing. For the past half
year I’ve worked only the midnight-to-noon watch, and the exhaustion of crew
change day – 12 hours of watchstanding followed by nine or 10 hours of driving notwithstanding
-- getting back on the family schedule is usually a week-long struggle.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I left the boat questioning, yet again, if I’m in the wrong
damned business. I have written, from time to time, about how much I love the
actual work: the boat-handling, the age-old practice of seamanship, the
mentoring of the younger guys, the interaction with the customers, the orderly
grind of paperwork – yes, even the paperwork.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have written, also, perhaps too often, of how
heart-achingly lonesome the experience can be; of how keenly I feel the lack of
adult conversation and the missing days with my family … the toddler’s firsts,
the pre-schooler’s flashes of brilliance, the teen’s wry humor, quiet nights on
the patio with the wife.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1xRy5GcGq5M/VNhEpaSm23I/AAAAAAAABLY/coj5M5x9Jw8/s1600/rain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1xRy5GcGq5M/VNhEpaSm23I/AAAAAAAABLY/coj5M5x9Jw8/s1600/rain.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a>Here’s my secret fear: I will die on the boat, far from the
people I love. Not in some dramatic disaster at sea – I worry more about my
drive to and from work than anything that
happens on the water – but as a victim of fried pork chops or cigarettes or not
enough sleep.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
During this last hitch, two near-contemporaries reached the
ends of their lives. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One, a few years ahead of me in high school, was generous
with his time and advice as I was contemplating a leap into the guide business.
He was just getting out, then.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The other I knew not at all, but I attended college with his
sweet and smart wife – now, astonishingly, his widow.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Both men were fathers, and I trust – I hope – they had time
to teach and inspire and love their children in ways that will stay with them
for the rest of their lives.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the quiet hours of my watch, the dark hours before dawn,
more and more I find myself thinking that is the only work that really matters.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But of course we live in a world in which it is necessary
for man (and woman) to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. That, too, I
often reflect as I justify my long absences, is an important lesson for the
boys. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-klprHZhNiHk/VNhEomcPDYI/AAAAAAAABK8/6BXSvC_76Pg/s1600/ST156something.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-klprHZhNiHk/VNhEomcPDYI/AAAAAAAABK8/6BXSvC_76Pg/s1600/ST156something.jpg" height="320" width="285" /></a>This ambivalence about the legendary work-life balance is of
course nothing new, and is perhaps near-universal in the western world anyway.
The only people I know who have come close to negotiating it satisfactorily are
self-employed and even that is no guarantee.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I left the boat two weeks early, in the middle of my
regularly scheduled hitch. It was an opportunity that presented itself on the
cusp of crew change. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With the price of oil half what it was six months ago, with
exploration and production budgets being slashed across the board and day rates
and utilization plunging, it’s no surprise that a couple of our boats are
stacked.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The crews of those boats have not worked in more than a
month. No work means no pay. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Cost-cutting at a boat company seems to go something like
this: supply requisitions restricted to absolutely essential items, grocery
budgets cut, manning reduced and vessel crew offered the opportunity
(eventually mandated) to work even time (two weeks on, two weeks off; a month
on, a month off). <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That last strategy allows for one stacked boat’s licensed
crew to be spread over three working boats, and everyone stays on the payroll,
albeit making one-third less. This actually results in a marginal increase in
payroll costs for the company: the same man-days, but a slight bump in benefits
and travel costs, so it’s generally a good-faith effort to retain staff before
taking more drastic measures.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hFxIb8hghhw/VNhEos-W0DI/AAAAAAAABLA/etN7cGCKqws/s1600/ST156.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hFxIb8hghhw/VNhEos-W0DI/AAAAAAAABLA/etN7cGCKqws/s1600/ST156.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a>Somewhere in the mix is a moratorium on raises, hiring
freezes, pay cuts, and, when all of that isn’t enough, layoffs.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am fortunate in that even time is a just-affordable option
for me. My wife works, and we can make ends meet, most of the time, if I work a
reduced schedule.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some of the other guys … probably not so much. A month
without work means the rent or mortgage goes unpaid, someone doesn’t go to the
doctor or dentist or a worn pair of brake shoes or school shoes doesn’t get
replaced.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, not least because it was an easy thing for me to do, I
was happy to give someone else my last two weeks.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XB6pGpkWAGk/VNhGTHWOASI/AAAAAAAABMQ/ieYoFeLDchw/s1600/moonstuffst156.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XB6pGpkWAGk/VNhGTHWOASI/AAAAAAAABMQ/ieYoFeLDchw/s1600/moonstuffst156.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But I left the boat angry. Seething, actually … a slow,
steady burn. My efforts the previous hitch to get an evaluation out of the
vessel master were rebuffed. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Between hitches, the office informed me I would
need evaluations from both the master and the relief master. My two weeks with
the relief master, I passed on that information, and he was willing. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But just as he sat down to fill-out the form, it occurred to
him that he might ought to touch base with the old man, who is known to be a
bit touchy about what he views as the prerogatives of his position (i.e.,
everything from micromanaging the work schedules of both watches to never
working midnight-to-noon to keeping every drawer and locker in his shared stateroom
stuffed with his personal items to pencil-whipping every single drill ever
submitted to declaring the entire boat a smoking area).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L_2ZYj4iaEw/VNhFwVlwHmI/AAAAAAAABL4/dfRqJzcTnvU/s1600/blanchardcoiltubing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L_2ZYj4iaEw/VNhFwVlwHmI/AAAAAAAABL4/dfRqJzcTnvU/s1600/blanchardcoiltubing.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a>Sure ‘nuff, the old man told the relief master it was not
his place to fill out an evaluation for me and forbade him to do it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thing is, there was – ostensibly, at least as of a month ago
– a pay raise riding on that. And personalities aside, I’m pretty good at my
job. The other thing is, it’s his f*cking job – one he should have done a month
ago, and one he should not prevent someone else, whose job it also is, from
doing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course, none of this was communicated to me directly,
because among other things the old man doesn’t do is this: talk to me. I mean,
literally, does not talk to me. He passes orders through the deckhands and
engineer; he grunts in my direction sometimes, but that’s about the extent of
it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Either the wrong sorts of people routinely (maybe even exclusively) rise to the top
in this industry, or I’ve had a run of bad luck, or God is repeatedly giving me
the opportunity to learn a lesson I haven’t yet adequately absorbed. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If it's that last thing, and if I had
to guess, it probably has something to do with humility.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In truth, the chances of a new guy getting assigned to a
boat with a crackerjack master (as opposed to one who got his leadership skills
– if not his license -- from a Crackerjack box) are slim. Those positions don’t
often come open, because no one wants to leave those boats.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I left my boat, maybe, for the last time. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cNmTp_mcCF8/VNhFwSwR74I/AAAAAAAABL8/yCTSkmXAFdg/s1600/slipb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cNmTp_mcCF8/VNhFwSwR74I/AAAAAAAABL8/yCTSkmXAFdg/s1600/slipb.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a>I said goodbye to her, just in case, and thanked her for
keeping us safe through the winter. She’s not a bad old girl, and deserves
better than she gets from us much of the time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Leaving mad was impetus, finally, to ask the office for a
change, a transfer to a different boat, when such an opportunity presents itself.
As is often the case, my timing probably could have been better. We’ll see, I
guess.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I left the boat without letting my wife know I’d be home
early. We were on the phone when I jiggled the front door handle, so I got to
hear her alarm at a possible intruder in stereo. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dZmw2smYXsI/VNhEpGgNQCI/AAAAAAAABLk/1a_izR6FFGs/s1600/mud.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dZmw2smYXsI/VNhEpGgNQCI/AAAAAAAABLk/1a_izR6FFGs/s1600/mud.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a>When she let me in, I was met
with children literally jumping up and down with joy, a happy, licky dog and a
spouse who couldn’t stop laughing through her tears.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A minute through the door and I was sitting on the kitchen
floor and the 2-year-old was in my arms, head on my chest, murmuring: “DaddyDaddyDaddyDaddy.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The 4-year-old was draped over my right shoulder and the 70-pound Labrador was
attempting to crawl into my lap. My wife was still laughing. And crying.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At my lowest, and my lows are at least as often chemical as
situational, I sometimes wonder if I don’t just gum up the works when I’m home,
if they don’t prefer me gone.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This early homecoming put that question to rest, and for
that, anyhow, I am grateful.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14570283696784196927noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4958930617793354835.post-25725443060076397242015-01-15T00:28:00.002-06:002015-01-15T00:28:41.298-06:00There is Cheese at the EndAn old salt on <a href="http://www.gcaptain.com/" target="_blank">gCaptain</a> recently gave a newbie some advice about getting a toehold in his climb up the hawsepipe. He ended with this encouragement: "It's a rat maze, but there is cheese at the end."<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DcpZIxmoeTs/VLddHLQvxNI/AAAAAAAABJ0/uscpnd0iimo/s1600/2014-12-29%2B09.30.27_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DcpZIxmoeTs/VLddHLQvxNI/AAAAAAAABJ0/uscpnd0iimo/s1600/2014-12-29%2B09.30.27_2.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a>I spent close to 30 minutes on the phone with my evaluator at the Coast Guard's National Maritime Center today. Partly convincing her that yes, I really do want to test for master and mate at the same time and she could in fact write the letter that way. And partly pointing out the three places I had specifically requested a split issuance of my AB and STCW endorsements.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So far as I can tell, everything is fine at work and I'm not planning on going anywhere, but with our clients' budgets tightening and day rates falling, well, it can't hurt to have every endorsement I've ever earned printed in that little red book. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So anyhow, I have my approval to test. I'm still working the plan my long-suffering spouse and I hatched nearly five years ago. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
At this point, I can smell the cheese.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In the meantime, I'll probably take two more classes -- some sort of prep for the exam, which I hope to sit in June or July -- and an approved Celestial Navigation course, just so I don't have to do that all on my own and then sit that module at the Regional Exam Center.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
After that, I'll have to take the new(ish) Leadership and Managerial Skills course to keep my license </div>
<div>
after the end of 2016, and at some point will want to add ARPA, GMDSS (I already have the FCC license, but I self-studied so will have to sit through two weeks of "training.") and ECDIS.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
After that, I will have periodic refreshers for RADAR, firefighting and basic safety training. Maybe some other STCW endorsements, as well, but only the same ones everyone else will have to stay current on.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
More than four years on, I'm still happy with my decision to change careers.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w1YF5PDxqeU/VLddIJ6cRwI/AAAAAAAABKA/eyq5B4EClr4/s1600/20141229_085718_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w1YF5PDxqeU/VLddIJ6cRwI/AAAAAAAABKA/eyq5B4EClr4/s1600/20141229_085718_3.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
I love the work. I mean, I <i>really</i> love it. Not just being on the water, which is part of it, but also the combination of hands-on, physicality (moving and maintaining a huge hunk of steel) and the mental challenges of risk analysis and customer relations and voyage planning and crew supervision and training.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It's the perfect career field for someone with a touch of ADHD.<br />
<br />
And it connects me to -- places me in -- a tradition that runs deep in my family and throughout the history of human civilization.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It's also tough as hell on family life, and that's the part I don't love. But, as I explained to someone I work with a couple of weeks ago, that -- for me -- is the whole point of upgrading my license. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It's not that I feel like I "need" a bigger boat (though I will be happy to operate a larger vessel, and will be grateful for more amenities and the additional crew); I <i>need</i> the 180-day schedule, and with the bigger license on a bigger boat, I can afford it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And it is not, for me, a dick-measuring contest. As my brief career as a porn star under the stage name "Dirk Swank"should have made clear, that's not a concern.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I've met terrific boat-handlers who act ... well, almost ashamed, that they hold "only" a 100-ton license. I've witnessed awful decision-making by people who hold 3000GT or All Gross Tons licenses.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-62KIXQf33dw/VLddH8vJHnI/AAAAAAAABJ4/lEQ7PdlyMoo/s1600/20141229_095036_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-62KIXQf33dw/VLddH8vJHnI/AAAAAAAABJ4/lEQ7PdlyMoo/s1600/20141229_095036_1.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></div>
The license doesn't make the mariner; in fact, it's more likely the other way around. A license says "you may." Skill, experience, and training answer the question: "But <i>can </i>you?" And a 100-ton captain can go to jail and pay a fine and lose his livelihood just as easily as an unlimited Master.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In my experience thus far, the answer to that question is utterly independent of whether the license holder graduated from a maritime academy, PMI/MITAGS or the eighth grade.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
One thing I should mention here is that there are a number of mariners who have gone before me, and a few making the same trudge I am at the same time, who have been hugely helpful. <a href="http://newenglandwaterman.com/" target="_blank">New England Waterman</a>, for one. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And the axe-wielding (by this I mean guitar) Scottish Sea Dawg known on gCaptain as Jemplayer, for another. He wrote <a href="http://www.gcaptain.com/forum/maritime-employment/9158-read-job-includeing-graduated-cadets.html" target="_blank">the definitive guide to getting hired in South Louisiana</a>: it's posted there as a sticky, check it out.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And my buddy Jess, a fellow veteran of the tour and charter boat days and with whom I've worked at three different companies. I bet it will be four before we're done. And Charles, and Ryan, and Shawn, and some other guys I've met through this blog or out and about.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eHbaAiar4-o/VLdcsHcNEHI/AAAAAAAABJs/XhTimzDeAFU/s1600/carrie1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eHbaAiar4-o/VLdcsHcNEHI/AAAAAAAABJs/XhTimzDeAFU/s1600/carrie1.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Since I've now turned this into an Academy Awards acceptance speech, before I've even done anything at all noteworthy, I might as well say: Thanks Capt. Mark. And Capt. Brian. And Chief Bryant.<br />
<br />
You guys have helped me out a ton, and the stuff you have taught me has made me an immeasurably better sailor. And no, I don't hold you responsible for my f*ck-ups.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And finally, none of this would be possible without my long-suffering spouse, Alexander. Ha. Uh ... Carrie. I mean Carrie. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
A rockstar in her own profession, a working mom, and despite the fact that I sometimes refer to her as "The Old Lady," an incredibly attractive and accomplished woman who looks a lot younger than me -- I'd even characterize as a "MILF" (wait a MINUTE ... so that's where that "M" comes from. Huh.),<br />
<br />
I'm not sure why she puts up with me and my unorthodox career. Except that I sometimes help out with the children, when I'm home, and <i>they</i> seem to like me well enough.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So, anyhow, thanks guys. And gal.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And I bet at least one of you have already googled "Dirk Swank," haven't you? <br />
Hahahaha ... oh, I slay myself.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14570283696784196927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4958930617793354835.post-71108407675743119842014-12-30T09:22:00.000-06:002015-01-14T23:24:21.724-06:00Weather Window<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WF2g-R_vSQc/VKK2FoV1hOI/AAAAAAAABH8/-BOiKJXgrgc/s1600/2014-12-24%2B07.54.26_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WF2g-R_vSQc/VKK2FoV1hOI/AAAAAAAABH8/-BOiKJXgrgc/s1600/2014-12-24%2B07.54.26_1.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a>Christmas dinner was two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the past week on the boat, I’ve had just two hot meals,
not counting a bowl of microwaved oatmeal. Mostly it’s been pretzels and
crackers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Weather, you know.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Gulf of Mexico in winter, as I’ve written before, is a
study in contrasts. There are, in any winter month, days of astounding
tranquility and beauty. They usually come on the heels of a raging, blundering
cold front that heaps the seas and generally makes us miserable for 24 or 36 hours.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0BWifngGZqI/VKK2Q1R4NvI/AAAAAAAABIE/kCPMyos9ZDk/s1600/2014-12-24%2B11.40.32_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0BWifngGZqI/VKK2Q1R4NvI/AAAAAAAABIE/kCPMyos9ZDk/s1600/2014-12-24%2B11.40.32_1.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a>In the day or two leading up to a cold front, typically we
have a strong onshore flow that brings with it 20-25 kts of wind from the
Southeast and moderate, but still less-than-comfortable seas of six feet or
better.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Even in the wake of a cold front, it doesn’t get truly cold
out here in the middle. This great basin is also a terrific heat sink (surface
water temps in our area of the Gulf right now are averaging about 72 degrees);
last winter we had snow flurries in Fourchon, while 100 miles offshore air
temps dipped to maybe the low 50s.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We are still, for a few more days at least, working with the
seismic fleet. Mind-numbing, 12-hour wheel watches. Headings and speeds
dictated by survey lines, not the weather, which means wretched, broken sleep
for the off-watch folks when the weather is crappy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the upside, it’s a job. And it’s good for the boat to
have a job, in winter, when the price of oil is less than $60/bbl. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m also getting to see some of the vaunted deepwater
projects out here: drillships and MODUs and LLOG's nifty Delta House
Floating Production System, finished-out at the facility where my sister-in-law
works back in Texas.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SjOPLDqU0hc/VKK2SfrmDuI/AAAAAAAABIM/ytB3c_q2BEQ/s1600/2014-12-27%2B11.37.40_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SjOPLDqU0hc/VKK2SfrmDuI/AAAAAAAABIM/ytB3c_q2BEQ/s1600/2014-12-27%2B11.37.40_1.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a>The long wheel watches cry out for some sort of stimulation;
reading and television are out, which leaves strictly auditory entertainment
(below the volume of the VHF radios, of course): <a href="http://www.floggingmolly.com/" target="_blank">Flogging Molly</a> to <a href="http://jondeegraham.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Jon DeeGraham</a> to <a href="http://thetrishas.com/" target="_blank">The Trishas</a> to sea shanties to <a href="http://www.jjgrey.com/" target="_blank">J.J. Grey</a> to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Townes_Van_Zandt" target="_blank">Townes van Zandt</a> to …
<a href="http://www.audible.com/t1/30trial_at?source_code=GO1GBSH060214909Y&mkwid=spdQYPEA7_dc&pcrid=50691450489&pmt=e&pkw=audible%20app&gclid=CjwKEAiAt4mlBRDXwt_m9ICU4DcSJAAS_X0WPaZE87l7KqbeThplc1KZeygfFKc1TUR3KfSqpqbbvxoCWGrw_wcB" target="_blank">Audible</a>!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I downloaded the app, and a couple of books, before leaving
the house.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=phil+klay+redeployment&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=44185199643&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6870963670237966656&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_6u4a0mteqy_b" target="_blank">Redeployment</a></i>, by
former Marine Phil Klay, is a thought-provoking punch in the gut. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5CunjnOv_0k/VKK86s-MJfI/AAAAAAAABIc/XRwROLcNMc8/s1600/2014-12-28%2B09.45.46_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5CunjnOv_0k/VKK86s-MJfI/AAAAAAAABIc/XRwROLcNMc8/s1600/2014-12-28%2B09.45.46_1.jpg" height="187" width="320" /></a>Some of it resonates with my own (Army) near-war experience.
All of it makes me feel more certain than ever that our political leaders must
employ and deploy our military might only for damned good reason. Because that
shit breaks people. Breaks them beyond repair, sometimes. And I’m just talking
about our people, the ones who come home.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Something else I do to amuse myself out here is take
pictures. <a href="http://www.slowrideguide.com/" target="_blank">Capt. Dean Thomas</a>, the world’s best (and, quite possibly, most
laid-back) kayak fishing guide recently turned me on to <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2413000,00.asp" target="_blank">Snapseed</a>, a Google app
that easily turns ho-hum snapshots into dramatic images. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, you know, I’ve been overdoing that.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gh0EY3AN2Ew/VKK_EOHkoTI/AAAAAAAABIo/QbRrDdl6JC8/s1600/20141226_072749_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gh0EY3AN2Ew/VKK_EOHkoTI/AAAAAAAABIo/QbRrDdl6JC8/s1600/20141226_072749_1.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are a lot of things I see out here that I’ll probably
never be able to capture photographically: the spray of stars overhead, the
comb jellies and dinoflagellates scintillating in our bow wave, the lights of a
drillship reflected from a low ceiling of cloud; a pumpkin-colored moon on the
horizon.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Archimedes asked for a lever and a place to stand; I would
need a fast, long lens and, also, a <i>steady</i>
place to stand. Not terribly likely to happen out here.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am reminded just now of another fun aspect of the job we
are currently working … as I think I’ve mentioned before, the majority of the
crews on the seismic vessels are European. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jjaXWIrfUnQ/VKLC3j1dxRI/AAAAAAAABI8/_VYIfqh3ALM/s1600/2014-12-30%2B08.32.34.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jjaXWIrfUnQ/VKLC3j1dxRI/AAAAAAAABI8/_VYIfqh3ALM/s1600/2014-12-30%2B08.32.34.jpg" height="127" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Most – at least the ones we deal with over the radio – have a
fair command of English. Some speak an elegant and formal brand of the
international maritime language, and all seem to be highly professional
mariners.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This appears to have had, over the past couple of months, a
salutary effect on both radio procedure and clarity of communication among the
crews of the support vessels. Everyone’s just a bit more courteous, too.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
And that ain’t a bad thing.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14570283696784196927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4958930617793354835.post-14338284173376999162014-12-22T01:19:00.000-06:002014-12-22T01:19:58.523-06:00"Twas the Night Before Crew Change<div class="MsoNormal">
'Twas the night before crew change, when all through the
house<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-a3LtAIz7NRY/VJfEtsdqJaI/AAAAAAAABHA/N17JQyT-Ii4/s1600/crew3.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-a3LtAIz7NRY/VJfEtsdqJaI/AAAAAAAABHA/N17JQyT-Ii4/s1600/crew3.png" height="146" width="200" /></a>Clothing and gadgets and books bewilder my spouse.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The bags still empty soon will be stuffed to the gills<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remember the razor! Remember the pills!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The children were nestled all snug in their beds<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I crept 'round the toys and kissed their sweet heads.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And mama at the Keurig hands me a cup<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While I carry my bags out and load them all up.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The truck is all fueled and I guess I am too<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It's time to get going, to get away from this zoo!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Like the cat at the door, I can't quite decide<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If I want to be on the in or the outside.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CP_RyFkv-30/VJfEJOJpPBI/AAAAAAAABGc/Q7aYwv5jbPQ/s1600/29ff870a32703d8b941d73a8041f9c7b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CP_RyFkv-30/VJfEJOJpPBI/AAAAAAAABGc/Q7aYwv5jbPQ/s1600/29ff870a32703d8b941d73a8041f9c7b.jpg" height="149" width="200" /></a>On the boat I am missing the joys of my home<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The children, the wife, the time spent alone<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Little things too, like a walk on dry land<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And a pint of dark stout, snug in my hand<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At home I am wond’ring how is the crew,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Are the seas heaped-up high, the wind blowing too?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Is the AIS working, is the new anchor on board,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Did lube oil get changed, or was it ignored?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
No matter right now; I’ll know soon enough<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here in the driveway I think: do I have all my stuff?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I check the list in my head for the very last time<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And hold my wife in my arms as the midnight clock chimes<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5zSeWwgvw7w/VJfEuP0RMoI/AAAAAAAABHE/9tZcyLA9swQ/s1600/crew4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5zSeWwgvw7w/VJfEuP0RMoI/AAAAAAAABHE/9tZcyLA9swQ/s1600/crew4.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a><o:p> </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Pulling out of the ‘hood I settle in for the drive<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I don’t need to go fast, I just need to get there alive<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Down Seventy-One to Interstate Ten</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Five hours through Texas, five more through Lousianne<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now Bastrop! Columbus! Now Sealy, now Houston too!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Come Beaumont! the border, Jennings, and Cajun country true!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Past the edge of my state, into the deep south!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I retool my vocab, put some drawl in my mouth!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As the sky becomes bright I stop for gas and some joe<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rough men throng the counter in fire-proof clothes<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At last at the office, I greet shipmates and staff<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As I load-up the carryall we gossip and laugh<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Meanwhile back at the house the tree’s all aglitter.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The children race between gifts in a gift paper litter.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mama sips at her coffee, then turns to her phone.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Merry Christmas my love, can’t wait ‘til your home.”</div>
<br />
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<o:p></o:p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14570283696784196927noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4958930617793354835.post-47911056899328278722014-12-16T14:01:00.001-06:002014-12-16T15:18:51.336-06:00(Re)Mindfulness and the Wayback Machine<div class="MsoNormal">
My dad got a new truck about a year ago. I don’t think I did
more than admire the deep green metal flake exterior before last week, when he
stopped by en route from my parents’ home in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piney_Woods" target="_blank">Pineywoods</a> of northeast Texas
to an appointment with destiny at the very southern tip of the state.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yQ_zTcZPBO0/VJCMD-s-GeI/AAAAAAAABFU/ygT-iFOVRwY/s1600/2014-12-12%2B19.02.45.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yQ_zTcZPBO0/VJCMD-s-GeI/AAAAAAAABFU/ygT-iFOVRwY/s1600/2014-12-12%2B19.02.45.jpg" height="313" width="320" /></a></div>
My mom has long been encouraging a parental move back to the
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Coastal_Bend" target="_blank">Coastal Bend</a>, where they both grew up and where the majority of the extended
family still (or again) lives. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Papa has been resistant, for reasons I’m not sure I entirely
understand but have something to do with a love for tall, whispering pines that
recall carefree college days and a deep-seated dissatisfaction with what his
sleepy hometown on the coast has become (someone had the nerve to put in six –
count ‘em <b>SIX</b> – traffic lights a few years back!). <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The devious woman who gave birth to me has tried various
strategies to get the move underway, including this rather blatant bribe:
“Honey, don’t you think you should get a boat?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He’s a guy who grew up in Rockport. A guy who worked on
boats professionally for four years of his young adulthood. The idea took root,
finally blossomed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vV_oJinj2ME/VJCMGUATPJI/AAAAAAAABFc/p1w8TXt9AJM/s1600/20141212_080711.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vV_oJinj2ME/VJCMGUATPJI/AAAAAAAABFc/p1w8TXt9AJM/s1600/20141212_080711.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a>My brother and I went to work scouring <a href="http://www.yachtworld.com/" target="_blank">YachtWorld</a> and
<a href="http://austin.craigslist.org/" target="_blank">Craigslist</a> for suitable vessels. There were several spirited debates about the
type of boat that would be best, the price range, the power package.<br />
<br />
In the
end, we located an almost-new center console with a fuel-efficient outboard and
high gunwales (for the grandkids, you know) and warranties on everything.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In San Benito, 546 miles from where the folks live now.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vGYn6ES5npA/VJCMG3bDdEI/AAAAAAAABFg/kKTeI00dnb8/s1600/20141212_143756.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vGYn6ES5npA/VJCMG3bDdEI/AAAAAAAABFg/kKTeI00dnb8/s1600/20141212_143756.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a>I already had a trip planned down that way with my oldest
boy, to harass some snook and get a look at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Forrestal_%28CV-59%29" target="_blank">USS Forrestal</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Saratoga_%28CV-60%29" target="_blank">USS Saratoga</a>,
currently being recycled in Brownsville. That trip fell through due to a couple
of unmissable finals reviews for the teenager, so I shifted gears and planned
the trip with my brother, who, fortuitously, was off work those couple of
days.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That got nixed when his 5-year-old caught the flu.<br />
<br />
Then Papa
decided he wanted to make the drive and pick up the boat himself: “Can you go
with me?” he asked.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Well, sure.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So it ended up being a father-and-son trip after all, with
one of the same individuals but a different father and son. We shifted-up a
generation.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_cNrsac8hwg/VJCMMwDbeVI/AAAAAAAABFs/IDYs4zaQY8A/s1600/20141212_144559.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_cNrsac8hwg/VJCMMwDbeVI/AAAAAAAABFs/IDYs4zaQY8A/s1600/20141212_144559.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a>My dad’s truck rides like a limousine and has so many bells
and whistles that my father had to operate the electronics while I was driving.<br />
<br />
Our route took us through the northeastern corner of the <a href="http://www.rrc.state.tx.us/oil-gas/major-oil-gas-formations/eagle-ford-shale/" target="_blank">Eagle Ford Shale </a>boom,
through the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Ranch" target="_blank">King Ranch</a> and deep into the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_Grande_Valley" target="_blank">Rio Grande Valley</a> (yes, we know it’s
really a delta, and it’s as flat as Ally McBeal, but we still call it “El
Valle”).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Papa is halfway between 65 and 70, closing in on 70. In
my own middle age now, I have more in common with him today than perhaps ever before. Or at least since I was his mini-me nearly half a century ago.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--zGKiqxZeSA/VJCMQNxUkxI/AAAAAAAABGA/aRikbwF7Grk/s1600/20141213_113732.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--zGKiqxZeSA/VJCMQNxUkxI/AAAAAAAABGA/aRikbwF7Grk/s1600/20141213_113732.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a>What surprised me, more than it should have perhaps, is what
he has forgotten … his, well .. tentativeness, about things I figured he was
comfortable with, because they are things <b>he taught me </b>25 or 30 or 35 years ago.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Like <a href="http://www.onlinetowingguide.com/guidelines/backing.html" target="_blank">how to back a boat trailer</a>. Or<a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Learn-How-To-Cast-A-Bait-Casting-Baitcaster-Fish/" target="_blank"> how to throw abaitcaster</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For decades now he has deferred those simple pleasures in favor
of work and more work … work that has financed kids’ educations and moves,
financed kids’ boats and adventures … he’s still working, but he is finally
getting to enjoy some of the fruits of his labor. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6abYdy1Cfoc/VJCMPKoTosI/AAAAAAAABF0/nDkA15yvWY4/s1600/20141213_115821.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6abYdy1Cfoc/VJCMPKoTosI/AAAAAAAABF0/nDkA15yvWY4/s1600/20141213_115821.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a>Like the spaceship truck, this week our wayback machine; like listening
to Jimmy Buffet (something else he introduced me to, back when <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A1A_%28album%29" target="_blank">A1A</a> was a
recent release) with a fishing pole in his hand on his boat. And actually catching a
fish.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s about damned time.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We even got to fish with my brother on the way home, all of
us risking spousal disapproval by taking a little extra time to “try out the
boat again” and also try out one of my brother’s top-secret winter fishing
holes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was an excellent time, all around. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nlJD2GIhpEE/VJCMPkqEmmI/AAAAAAAABF8/M6_AhoYAgE8/s1600/IMG_0550.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nlJD2GIhpEE/VJCMPkqEmmI/AAAAAAAABF8/M6_AhoYAgE8/s1600/IMG_0550.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a>It was<i> time</i>, life's greatest gift, and something I am more keenly aware of every more rapidly passing year. Especially given my work schedule, which compresses the best part of my life into two-week vignettes.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That gift of time is enough, to be sure. And not everything in life has to be a teaching (or learning) moment or have some profound underlying meaning.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But our trip south last week also got me to thinking about the things I do with my
own kids, the things I introduce them to or teach them as a matter of course
that someday I won’t even remember. Things that may loom large in their eventual, complex
understandings of how they came to be the people they will be.<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
No pressure, there.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14570283696784196927noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4958930617793354835.post-57240781244988742202014-12-07T14:03:00.001-06:002014-12-07T14:03:28.087-06:00My Tropic of Cancer, a Paper Chase, and The Holidays<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xJWhoeE6Fm8/VISyB6h4vxI/AAAAAAAABEc/6welHJW22UM/s1600/cancer.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xJWhoeE6Fm8/VISyB6h4vxI/AAAAAAAABEc/6welHJW22UM/s1600/cancer.JPG" height="200" width="152" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>More exciting than my version</i>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Growing up less than 300 miles north of the by-God tropics, I spent many of my childhood days on a small boat under a big sun without, as it now seems, adequate protection.<br />
<br />
My folks tried. But it was the late '70s, early '80s, and sunscreen technology was not where it is today.<br />
<br />
SPF 8 was a big deal back then. And what 15-year-old boy wants to wear a shirt in the middle of summer on a boat on the bay?<br />
<br />
My genetic bequest from the Mexican grandfather did not include dark skin and hair, as it did for some of my cousins.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9uZSCCOTcU0/VISt7Tit24I/AAAAAAAABDc/YeY8jFsuwyg/s1600/ostiones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9uZSCCOTcU0/VISt7Tit24I/AAAAAAAABDc/YeY8jFsuwyg/s1600/ostiones.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Off-loading oysters in Fulton Harbor on Aransas Bay.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I got the Dutch-German-Irish allotment, and those early days are now coming home to roost. I also got lots of bad sunburns. Really, really bad sunburns.<br />
<br />
Not in an awful-scary way, so far. Mostly just little basal-cell carcinomas popping up here and there, and mostly they can be scraped-and-burned or frozen off.<br />
<br />
If you're going to get skin cancer, basal-cell carcinoma is the one to get, they say. It doesn't metastasize, and it grows oh-so-slowly. Worst-case, my doc says, is that it may eventually slide down into the muscle to the bone, requiring a more radical excision.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aBRo27scZ3E/VISt7e0HUMI/AAAAAAAABDk/5Tahgfohgjo/s1600/lonestarpatrick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aBRo27scZ3E/VISt7e0HUMI/AAAAAAAABDk/5Tahgfohgjo/s1600/lonestarpatrick.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The eldest taking a turn at the tiller of the new-old<br />knock-around boat courtesy of his grandfather.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This last one had to be excised, that is, cut out, and ... damn. It kinda smarts. Eight stitches and a bit of bruising arouind the site, it sort of looks like I was in a knife fight. Felt like it too, when the doctor chopped a spot the lidocaine had not penetrated.<br />
<br />
So, kids, my advice to you is use sunscreen. Lots of it, everywhere. Wear long sleeves. Especially if you are fortunate enough to spend your youth in the low latitudes.<br />
<br />
The next round begins tomorrow, and I should be all tuned-up and healed-up in time for the next crew change a few days before Christmas.<br />
<br />
<b>Christmas Cheer</b><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5TmD17A3B58/VISwezT2cnI/AAAAAAAABEQ/PZRCbO2h7MI/s1600/worboatcalendar.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5TmD17A3B58/VISwezT2cnI/AAAAAAAABEQ/PZRCbO2h7MI/s1600/worboatcalendar.png" height="201" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Screen capture of some of Ben's calendar pages.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Speaking of Christmas, if you are looking for a nifty nautical gift for the mariner in your life, you really should check out <a href="http://newenglandwaterman.com/" target="_blank">New England Waterman</a>'s workboat calendars -- pick a company, or order the generic workboat version.<br />
<br />
So far he has a Hornbeck Offshore Services version, one for the boats of Edison Chouest Offshore, one chock-full of tugs in the Northeast, and I'm not sure what-all else.<br />
<br />
Ben's photography is pretty damned good and he's uniquely placed to capture moments many people never get to see.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-y_DGrACB6cg/VISv5DW3g3I/AAAAAAAABEI/CJU61lV5ZJw/s1600/captain-black-s-hideaway-hoodie_design.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-y_DGrACB6cg/VISv5DW3g3I/AAAAAAAABEI/CJU61lV5ZJw/s1600/captain-black-s-hideaway-hoodie_design.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>What I look like at the end of a<br />winter hitch.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Another option is<a href="https://bowsprite.wordpress.com/" target="_blank"> Bowsprite New York Harbor</a>'s whimsical nautical art -- on cards, tea towels, playing cards and any other number of textiles and paper products.<br />
<br />
I recently had the distinct pleasure of showing Christina and fellow maritime blogger <a href="http://tugster.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Tugster</a> (Will van Dorp) around our own Port Fourchon. Each is, as we say in the South, "good people."<br />
<br />
Finally, if you'd like something wearable, may I humbly suggest my own <a href="http://workboatwear.spreadshirt.com/" target="_blank">WorkboatWear</a> for nautical t-shirts, hoodies, coffee mugs and the like?<br />
<br />
All the best designs come from the mad graphic genius of the <a href="http://adventures-of-the-blackgang.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">MonkeyFist Design Bureau</a> up in Maine.<br />
<br />
<b>Paper Chase</b><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wfJWD_mpE9I/VISt7uORENI/AAAAAAAABDg/GFh9ZMhiokc/s1600/ancestors.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wfJWD_mpE9I/VISt7uORENI/AAAAAAAABDg/GFh9ZMhiokc/s1600/ancestors.jpg" height="320" width="199" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>I call this activity "honoring my ancestors," <br />the ones from County Down y los de Sonora.<br />It was helpful in getting through the paperwork</i>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Part of my must-do list this extended time between hitches was to take the Rating Forming Part of a Navigation Watch (RFPNW) assessments and test for my AB-Unlimited. Not because I plan to sail on either document, though I could and they are handy to have, but because they are required for my raise-in-grade to master less than 500 GRT, Master OSV less than 3000 ITC, and STCW II/2 -- Master 500GT-3000GT.<br />
<br />
Now, three years almost to the day after starting that upgrade process: Done.<br />
<br />
I believe I've checked all the boxes. We'll see if the Coast Guard agrees. All 59 pages of application materials were transmitted through the ether last night.<br />
<br />
Assuming the good folks in West Virginia and I are on the same page, in due course (probably about a month), I'll receive a letter approving me to test for the aforementioned licenses. Sometime in the next 12 months -- I'm shooting for June or July -- I'll plant my hiney in a chair in a brightly-lit room in Houston and spend two days attempting to prove I'm worthy of the wheelhouse of a larger vessel.<br />
<br />
In the meantime, I'll be spending nearly all of my "spare" time studying. Some of the things I'll be studying have been covered repeatedly in training and testing I've already completed. Others I use on a daily basis.<br />
<br />
Still others haven't been tasks common to sailors in this country anytime in the last 30 or 40 years, but what can you do?<br />
<br />
I'll keep you posted.<br />
<br />
And, wherever you are this month -- ashore or at sea -- Happy Holidays.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14570283696784196927noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4958930617793354835.post-42404787299945960292014-11-17T09:32:00.003-06:002014-11-17T09:32:48.259-06:00And now for something completely different<div class="MsoNormal">
Well, we’re back on the job and I can’t decide if it’s the
best job ever, or the worst job ever. My opinion changes with the weather,
mostly because our heading and speed over ground do not.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_7Ys4FtuP_Y/VGoSxMEWnDI/AAAAAAAABCs/4_Ydpg008tM/s1600/2014-11-12%2B06.07.36.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_7Ys4FtuP_Y/VGoSxMEWnDI/AAAAAAAABCs/4_Ydpg008tM/s1600/2014-11-12%2B06.07.36.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a>We are one of a fistful of support vessels for a five-ship
seismic fleet searching for buried treasure about a hundred miles offshore from
south of Pensacola, Fla., to off of the South Pass of the Mississippi River.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sometimes we act as a guard vessel, ahead and outside of one
of the big boats, warning approaching and crossing traffic that we require a
7nm CPA astern and 3nm abeam and ahead. Other times we are chasing the tail
buoys at the end of five miles of steerable streamers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qaMcQzktObM/VGoPmUFWn-I/AAAAAAAABCM/fwMsLeNkCts/s1600/2014-11-12%2B06.11.38.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qaMcQzktObM/VGoPmUFWn-I/AAAAAAAABCM/fwMsLeNkCts/s1600/2014-11-12%2B06.11.38.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a>On yet other occasions, we act as the safety standby vessel
when one of the survey ships launches a workboat to service their cables
underway, or crew changes via helicopter. Sometimes they send us out ahead of
the fleet to scout for reported obstructions or to provide current readings at
a given location.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The planning that goes into something like this – both ahead
of the project, and during operations -- is mind-boggling. The two seismic
survey ships have dedicated navigation departments. I imagine them to look
something like an Aegis missile cruiser’s combat information center.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Anyway, it’s good to be working after too many weeks
pushed-up on the mud. An idle boat + oilfield slowdown = one nervous crew.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vQzcmxQQQ7Y/VGoR0O_yeOI/AAAAAAAABCg/b0Y29rDCkL8/s1600/2014-11-15%2B10.12.46.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vQzcmxQQQ7Y/VGoR0O_yeOI/AAAAAAAABCg/b0Y29rDCkL8/s1600/2014-11-15%2B10.12.46.jpg" height="286" width="320" /></a></div>
It’s hardly worth mentioning – but I’m going to anyhow (send
the cheese care of my wife) – that with the new job came the promise of my
third-in-a-row late crew change.<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My first hitch I voluntarily worked-over for another captain
and the customer then held us over in the field. I can live with that …
weather, customer whims, emergencies – these things make our crew change dates
and times a rough guide rather than an actual schedule.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the end of my second hitch, we were off-charter and at
the dock two hours ahead of the relief crew’s arrival. About 30 minutes before
they were due to show up we got a call from the office informing us that one
guy wasn’t going to make it, but a fill-in was on a plane, and we could expect
them in “a couple of hours.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BPpPsS88v4g/VGoPxNn-TSI/AAAAAAAABCU/fM3GrIPv6ys/s1600/2014-11-15%2B07.43.31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BPpPsS88v4g/VGoPxNn-TSI/AAAAAAAABCU/fM3GrIPv6ys/s1600/2014-11-15%2B07.43.31.jpg" height="244" width="320" /></a>Mmmmm … not so much. Twelve hours later I was actually,
finally, on my way home, by that time going on 24 hours since I last slept.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This time we knew a good 30 hours in advance of our
departure from the dock that we would not be back in time for our scheduled
crew change. That, in fact, we would miss it by at least several days.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“If you need to get someone down here early, you’d better
call your office now,” the company man said. I concurred, and listed the
reasons, including the fact that the deckhand who has been on the boat
70-something days at this point had a ticketed international flight the day
after we were scheduled to be home.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YctF5TEQx2Q/VGoTu7n5sSI/AAAAAAAABC4/YwmYgJdV6U0/s1600/2014-11-16%2B06.27.30.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YctF5TEQx2Q/VGoTu7n5sSI/AAAAAAAABC4/YwmYgJdV6U0/s1600/2014-11-16%2B06.27.30.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a>Anyway, I went to bed thinking it would be resolved through
the chain-of-command. Didn’t happen.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I spent, literally, many hours scheduling everything I
needed to do in my “off” time so that it did not interfere with the boat’s
schedule. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Two surgeries, two endorsements for my license upgrade and a week-long
vacation with the family.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MUUoRklhfXs/VGoT3fbwj5I/AAAAAAAABDI/rUCAANMVQCs/s1600/2014-11-16%2B12.52.50.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MUUoRklhfXs/VGoT3fbwj5I/AAAAAAAABDI/rUCAANMVQCs/s1600/2014-11-16%2B12.52.50.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The procedures have been rescheduled, the vacay reservations
amended.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And now I’ll have to take extra time off of work to make all
this happen, and the company will have to find someone to fill-in for me. I am
assured by my crew coordinator it won’t be a problem, but it’s still less than
ideal for everyone.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is no guarantee our crew coordinator could have found
fill-ins on 24-hour notice, but he sure would have tried. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jKf4B-wS5NQ/VGoTxoLlCVI/AAAAAAAABDA/R5DP5RBfPvM/s1600/2014-11-17%2B05.56.38.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jKf4B-wS5NQ/VGoTxoLlCVI/AAAAAAAABDA/R5DP5RBfPvM/s1600/2014-11-17%2B05.56.38.jpg" height="190" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The bottom line is
that this little delay is costing the family thousands of dollars. Possibly
as much as $6,504, depending on when I get back to the boat. (The $4 was the
change fee for my plane ticket home.)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Waaaa, right?<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But hey, we’re working. And that’s a good thing. It’s about
to be an uncomfortable good thing – a norther blew through at 0552 with 40+
kts of wind. Seas are forecast to build to 10-12 with the occasional 16-footer thrown
in for good measure. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The entire fleet is running before the weather now.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14570283696784196927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4958930617793354835.post-64071501890554343372014-11-07T04:26:00.000-06:002014-11-07T04:26:17.481-06:00Diversity in the WorkplaceA workboat is a pretty self-contained and limiting environment. While the boat itself may touch down in three different states (or, alternatively, sit in one place) over the course of a month, the crew members typically don't leave the vessel.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1pwC9W7uAYo/VFyY228xiaI/AAAAAAAABBM/9QwFCrmW7u4/s1600/10277739_10152764972524630_873730081190101041_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1pwC9W7uAYo/VFyY228xiaI/AAAAAAAABBM/9QwFCrmW7u4/s1600/10277739_10152764972524630_873730081190101041_n.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Pink-spotted hawk moth,<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.3599996566772px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Agrius cingulatus.</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Sometimes we have to to hike across a cement or gravel logistics yard to deliver paperwork to a dispatcher. But that's about it.<br />
<br />
And for someone like me -- someone who has always been curious about the world around him -- that is sometimes a hard way to live.<br />
<br />
My paternal grandfather was an enthusiastic taxonomist and amateur naturalist: plants, fungi, rocks and minerals, artifacts ... he enjoyed searching for, identifying and collecting found treasures.<br />
<br />
My favorite activity with my father, as a youngster, was "going to the flats" (the tidal marsh across the street, on the banks of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Intracoastal_Waterway" target="_blank">Intracoastal Waterway</a>) or to <a href="http://www.nps.gov/pais/index.htm" target="_blank">Padre Island National Seashore </a>where we could find everything from horned lizards and king snakes to olive and sundial shells to glass fishing floats.<br />
<br />
There are some <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fishes-Gulf-Mexico-Louisiana-Adjacent/dp/0890967679" target="_blank">professional taxonomists in the family</a> as well, and they served to heighten my interest in the natural world over the years.<br />
<br />
In college, exploring the Trinity River bottomlands when I should have been studying, I was delighted to find beavers on campus, in the heart of one of the nation's largest metropolitan areas.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-invkueoRUoY/VFyZQRlS-4I/AAAAAAAABB0/CNFGjSE4vLU/s1600/Facebook-20141030-100648.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-invkueoRUoY/VFyZQRlS-4I/AAAAAAAABB0/CNFGjSE4vLU/s1600/Facebook-20141030-100648.jpg" height="194" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Black Witch, </i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small; text-align: left; white-space: nowrap;">Ascalapha odorata.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
When I lived in deep South Texas I was charmed not just by the austere beauty of the <a href="http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/156406/" target="_blank">Tamaulipan thorn forest</a> and the vast <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laguna_Madre_(United_States)" target="_blank">Laguna Madre</a>, but also by the rich procession of tropical species, many of which are found nowhere else in the United States.<br />
<br />
I was so enthralled with the flora and fauna of South Texas that I enrolled in a program sponsored by Texas A&M University and the Corpus Christi Convention and Visitors Bureau and became one of the early <a href="http://visitcorpuschristitx.org/listings_certified_all.cfm" target="_blank">certified wildlife guides</a> in the area.<br />
<br />
On the boat we spend a lot of time in South Louisiana, which is an interesting landscape, but aside from resident bald eagles and black bear crossing signs on the highway doesn't offer many s)urprises. That is to say, it's not so different from where I grew up: the same Gulf of Mexico, the same spartina and black mangrove marsh, largely familiar and predictable shorebirds and marine life ....<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cGRwoIAm4HI/VFyZJomQ34I/AAAAAAAABBc/e79ptidrabc/s1600/2014-09-26%2B00.29.47.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cGRwoIAm4HI/VFyZJomQ34I/AAAAAAAABBc/e79ptidrabc/s1600/2014-09-26%2B00.29.47.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><i>Banded sphinx moth, </i><span style="color: #141823; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.3599996566772px; text-align: left;">Eumorpha fasciatus</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Being stuck on a boat for 28 days does offer two advantages, though: the first is a couple of 1,000-watt halogen work lights illuminating our deck.<br />
<br />
The second is that for 27 nights in a row I have nowhere else to go and nothing else to look at, other than what those lights attract.<br />
<br />
And what they attract are moths. Sometimes hundreds, sometimes dozens, sometimes just a handful, but every night it is not pouring rain, there are moths on the deck.<br />
<br />
Often there are scores of tiny moths, "micromoths," that are probably intricately patterned or delicately formed, but are too much of a chore to identify with my 45-year-old eyes.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VOVH_ITSYNk/VFyZFcKsvtI/AAAAAAAABBU/usR2EHymAX0/s1600/2014-09-26%2B00.30.44.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VOVH_ITSYNk/VFyZFcKsvtI/AAAAAAAABBU/usR2EHymAX0/s1600/2014-09-26%2B00.30.44.jpg" height="310" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Tersa sphinx, </i>Xylophenes tersa</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Sometimes, maybe once a week or so, there are macromoths -- hummingbird- or even sparrow-sized insects that are intricately and beautifully patterned.<br />
<br />
Until recently I hadn't thought much about moths. I was familiar of course with a couple of the large and obvious hawk moths from home, and I certainly paid attention to the occassional saturnids -- luna moths and imperial moths -- that came to a porch light.<br />
<br />
But I always sort of assumed that butterflies, the daytime showboats of the order <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lepidoptera" target="_blank">lepidoptera</a>, where more interesting and glamorous than moths.<br />
<br />
I've recently learned, though, that of the roughly 175,000 species of butterflies and moths, the former account for only about 18,000. All the rest are moths.<br />
<br />
And while plenty are drab or vaguely patterned (the mostly nocturnal moths typically find their mates through pheremones rather than color and pattern, as do the diurnal butterflies), many sport incredibly beautiful colors and patterns, particularly on their often-hidden hind wings.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SfnQ5ViRexI/VFyZQVtZfLI/AAAAAAAABB4/7K8vATQwtUg/s1600/2014-10-29%2B07.28.16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SfnQ5ViRexI/VFyZQVtZfLI/AAAAAAAABB4/7K8vATQwtUg/s1600/2014-10-29%2B07.28.16.jpg" height="289" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><i>Ello Sphinx,</i> <span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; text-align: start;">Erinnyis ello</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There are two fun groups on Facebook that I turn to for entertainment and education; the first is a group of working mariners and ship spotters called "Supply Boat History."<br />
<br />
The second is a collection of amateur and professional lepidopterists called "Mothing and Moth-Watching." Both have active members from around the world.<br />
<br />
Who knew?<br />
<br />
The moth-watchers have been particularly helpful and encouraging, mostly confirming IDs (Mississippi State University has a terrific resource in their <a href="http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/MainMenu.shtml" target="_blank">Moth Photographers Group</a> site).<br />
<br />
One morning a week or so ago, I was excited to post some photos of a new-to-me moth that I had proudly identified as a rare-ish Louisiana endemic.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E2IwguoBfrM/VFyZOQTy_FI/AAAAAAAABBs/ayZilBMeCiM/s1600/A.louisiana.reed.3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E2IwguoBfrM/VFyZOQTy_FI/AAAAAAAABBs/ayZilBMeCiM/s1600/A.louisiana.reed.3.jpg" height="218" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Louisiana eyed silk moth, </i>Automeris louisiana</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A couple of hours later, the fellow who first described the insect back in 1981 was commenting on the photo. How cool is that?<br />
<br />
Out here in the oil patch, it's mostly (though not exclusively) white men working on boats. And our view of the natural world, while sometimes stunning (especially at dawn and dusk), is necessarily circumscribed.<br />
<br />
With that in mind, I can view the moths only as a gift, renewed every night under the aft deck worklights.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14570283696784196927noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4958930617793354835.post-85368539908224434562014-09-21T08:19:00.002-05:002014-09-22T05:07:33.570-05:00Voyaging<div class="MsoNormal">
Mariners working in the oil and gas industry in the Gulf of
Mexico rarely undertake voyages. We have trips, and make runs, but – even though
the Coast Guard and our companies may require voyage planning – we typically
don’t think of them as voyages.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Or I don’t, anyway.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Maybe that’s because we usually start and end at the same dock
in the same port: Point A to Point B and, sooner or later, back to Point A. Within
the context of those roundtrips, we sometimes stay at sea for days or even
weeks at a time, but that’s just “standing by.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Fegyi6rO1Dk/VB7LS6ufU5I/AAAAAAAABA0/Nfa5j4z1-tQ/s1600/2014-09-15%2B17.18.31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Fegyi6rO1Dk/VB7LS6ufU5I/AAAAAAAABA0/Nfa5j4z1-tQ/s1600/2014-09-15%2B17.18.31.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Sand Island Light, at the entrance to Mobile Bay.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A recent job took us from Port Fourchon, La., to the
Theodore Industrial Port near Mobile, Ala., (two entire states east!), and then
to Amelia, near Morgan City, La. Point A to Point B to Point C before returning
to Point A. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was something like 620 nautical miles round-trip. Days of
the week changed while we were en route. It felt like a voyage. A short one, by
most standards, but a voyage nonetheless.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is history everywhere, but it’s more obvious in some
places than in others. <i>Coast Pilot Vol. 5</i>
warns vessels to proceed at slow speed through the entrance channel to Mobile
Bay so as not to disturb the wreck of the <i>USS
Tecumseh</i>, a Union ironclad sunk when it struck a mine beneath the guns of
Fort Morgan during the Civil War.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--Znep3yH2CM/VB7J1TkWagI/AAAAAAAABAs/TxHEDVg9RAY/s1600/2014-09-15%2B17.57.37.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--Znep3yH2CM/VB7J1TkWagI/AAAAAAAABAs/TxHEDVg9RAY/s1600/2014-09-15%2B17.57.37.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>This impressive cumulonimbus cloud over the eastern<br />shore of Mobile Bay made good on its promise of a rain and<br />lightning later that night.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The <i>Tecumseh</i> is presumed still to have live munitions
aboard, and the wreck is marked with a yellow buoy. I figure the danger is long
past, but the government’s warning is an exciting note in a pretty staid
publication.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When the ship blew up, the other ships in Admiral David
Farragut’s flotilla began to turn back. This occasioned his famous order, today
remembered as: “Damn the torpedoes (mines), full speed ahead!”*<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Theodore Industrial Port is a tidy (and quiet) little
deepwater facility that probably deserves more business than it apparently has.
It’s about 20 minutes from the home of the other captain on the boat, and I had
the benefit of his local knowledge and stories as we sailed up the Mobile Ship
Channel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BOWDjdTm2RM/VB7JyVAJ6XI/AAAAAAAABAk/lecZswpwvdM/s1600/2014-09-17%2B11.40.26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BOWDjdTm2RM/VB7JyVAJ6XI/AAAAAAAABAk/lecZswpwvdM/s1600/2014-09-17%2B11.40.26.jpg" height="320" width="201" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Our deck cargo on this job came from<br />the Big & Tall section of the store.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We picked-up about 200 tons of reel-lay equipment and set
out for Amelia. There are three possible routes to Amelia, but the Intracoastal
Waterway route didn’t make much sense for our vessel or our schedule so we
shaped our course south, back around the Mississippi passes and across the
northern Gulf to the Eugene Island Channel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I spent the better part of a year navigating the 50+ miles
from the Eugene Island 1&2 up the Atchafalaya River to Morgan City, most
often in the dark and sometimes in lousy weather. It is no one’s favorite
approach, and it is burned into my brain.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The more direct route to Amelia, and one that would allow us
to bypass both Vessel Traffic Service and the Bayou Boeuf Locks, is to take the
cutoff up the Bayou Chene** just above the Horseshoe (or just above Crewboat
Cut, if you come that way) not far north of where the river enters Atchafalaya
Bay.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Unlike the river channel proper, Bayou Chene is haphazardly
and indifferently buoyed (though if you can stay in the center of the channel,
there’s plenty of water). The other captain hadn’t been up the Chene in 17
years, and I transited it several times last summer, so I got up early to keep
him company.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p>We made it to the dock without incident, got unloaded before
noon, and headed back downstream for our return to Port Fourchon.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-C6ooxEKdzxE/VB7JRwWCDfI/AAAAAAAABAc/VCifpw_BEns/s1600/2014-09-18%2B11.12.50.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-C6ooxEKdzxE/VB7JRwWCDfI/AAAAAAAABAc/VCifpw_BEns/s1600/2014-09-18%2B11.12.50.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">'<i>Murica! A pair of bald eagles on Bayou Chene.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In an episode that hearkened back to my days guiding birding
trips in South Texas, I told the other fellows on the boat that there was a
good chance we would see some bald eagles on the daylight trip back down the
bayou. About a minute after I said that, an eagle flew across our bow.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I counted six between the ICW and the cofferdam -- I’m guessing they were three, resident breeding
pairs, and no doubt will be joined by many more birds as we move deeper into
fall.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This trip – this voyage, if you will – also gave me an
opportunity to reflect on the state of our industry in the Gulf of Mexico. The
signs are mixed, and troubling.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m_5ExFEKEu8/VB7DF8uR_GI/AAAAAAAABAA/kVbZrw25Ccw/s1600/20140917_092910.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m_5ExFEKEu8/VB7DF8uR_GI/AAAAAAAABAA/kVbZrw25Ccw/s1600/20140917_092910.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>These two Seadrill drillships were anchored and idle. Maybe<br />waiting on customs or something else, maybe just waiting<br />for a job.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We saw two drilling ships anchored and apparently idle just
seaward of the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (or LOOP facility).***<br />
<br />
This comes a
year after I read that the big oil companies couldn’t get enough drilling units
into the Gulf fast enough for all the work they had lined-up. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Day rates for the
most advanced units last year were up around $675,000. Today the same units are
going for just a little more than half that.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the way back to Fourchon, we noted that the number of
ENSCO jack-up drilling rigs – used on the shelf -- now stacked west of Belle
Pass has risen to five. Last time I went by and counted, there were just three.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A Seadrill executive noted just last week that market conditions
are bad are projected to get worse next year before stabilizing in 2016. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And one can’t help noticing all of the idle steel in
Fourchon itself. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is a busy port – in terms of vessel movements, it must
be the busiest in the Gulf of Mexico and perhaps one of the busiest in the
world. At any given time there are well over 300 targets showing on my AIS and
it’s hard to get a word in edgewise on Channel 13, the VHF frequency used for
bridge-to-bridge communications within the port.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AdL9crYb5DY/VB7DN7syN9I/AAAAAAAABAI/qctfnZqBSfo/s1600/20140911_141149.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AdL9crYb5DY/VB7DN7syN9I/AAAAAAAABAI/qctfnZqBSfo/s1600/20140911_141149.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Chouest and Gulfmark boats tied-up in Slip A in Port Fourchon.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of those 300-plus AIS targets, a whole bunch of them
represent boats waiting on work. On the west bank of Bayou Lafourche right now
there are upwards of 30 boats pushed up in the mud. On the opposite side of the
bayou, a number of large liftboats remain idled. Some have been there at least
six months.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In Flotation Canal, I was shocked at the number of large
OSVs tied-up three abreast on the pilings and in Slip A and Slip B. These boats
belong to companies I usually think of as always busy with long-term contracts.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Meanwhile, some of those same companies (and a lot of
smaller ones, too) continue to build new, larger vessels at a prodigious rate.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the other hand … the past two years have seen record
lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico, increased success in the deepwater and ultra-deepwater
sector and a wholesale reshuffling of owners and operators in established
fields on the shelf. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the same time, the door has been opened to exploration in
the nearshore Atlantic off the U.S. East Coast, and Mexico’s government has, at
last, invited greater involvement of foreign companies in exploiting its rich fields
in the Gulf.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So it’s a mixed picture, and one I don’t understand well
enough to decipher.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-90K0CT30mKk/VB7DN8o8RCI/AAAAAAAABAM/PL_EWWz5WKo/s1600/20140920_110930.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-90K0CT30mKk/VB7DN8o8RCI/AAAAAAAABAM/PL_EWWz5WKo/s1600/20140920_110930.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Everyone else's boats pushed up in the mud north<br />of Flotation Canal, Port Fourchon.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Taken together, all of this looks like a major (but perhaps
temporary?) slowdown in the Gulf of Mexico. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That doesn’t necessarily mean my
job is in danger – and nothing I've heard or seen at this company suggests that
it is (we get mechanics and supplies and groceries promptly and without
argument – there’s no sense that budgets are being squeezed) – but if I understand the law of supply and
demand, more boats and less work means
lower day rates, at the least. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And I’m guessing lower rates for the boats effectively caps
or puts downward pressure on rates for the mariners who man them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My impression – and it’s just an impression, not supported
by any hard data – is that hiring has slowed and much of the company-hopping
for ever-increasing day rates has pretty much come to a halt recently.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m happy where I am and not planning on changing jobs
anytime soon. I also have the luxury – blessing, really – of a wife who has her
own, very good career. So whichever way the industry is going the kids will
still have shoes and we’ll still eat.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If I were just entering the field though, or a young man
contemplating a first career, I’d be giving this some serious thought.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>*What he actually said, according to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Farragut#Civil_War_service">the
Wikipedia entry</a> (which I read as I was at or near the spot where Farragut said the words almost exactly 140 years earlier – ain’t technology
wonderful?) was: "Damn the torpedoes.Four
bells, Captain Drayton, go ahead. Jouett, full speed."<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>**It’s amusing, how pedestrian – and repetitive – the names
of waterways can be. If my slipshod translation is correct, Boeuf means “cow,”
and Chene comes from the French for “dog” – So Cow Bayou and Dog Bayou,
respectively. Near Theodore, three rivers or bayous enter Mobile Bay on its
western shore: Fowl River, Deer River and Dog River. There probably are
analogues where you live.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>***Upon further investigation ... Seadrill's website says both of the ships we saw are under contract through 2020. So maybe they were just hanging out waiting to get started.</i></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14570283696784196927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4958930617793354835.post-36946834994371418302014-09-05T21:48:00.001-05:002014-09-05T21:50:10.178-05:00Three Plus Two Equals a Long Hitch (and other math)<div class="MsoNormal">
Three weeks in shipyard, a few days floating around
Fourchon, nearly two weeks on two different jobs.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I finally made crew change on the morning of Day 36 in
Venice, the polyp on the rectum of the American Midwest.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZlushEJAxMI/VAp0qf36k7I/AAAAAAAAA_E/y5icEOpefa8/s1600/unnamed%2B(6).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZlushEJAxMI/VAp0qf36k7I/AAAAAAAAA_E/y5icEOpefa8/s1600/unnamed%2B(6).jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a>It’s fun to poo-poo Venice (see what I did there?), but in
truth it was sort of nice to be back.<br />
<br />
When I got up for my first watch after we arrived, there on the boat
sterning-up next to us at the back of Slip 2 was a fellow I had been in the DP
Induction course with a few months back.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A boat I worked alongside last winter is still there, and I
caught up over the radio with one of her captains. A boat working the same job
we were on was captained by a mutual friend of several guys I’ve worked with in
the past.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In Fourchon I got within waving (and photo) distance of <a href="http://www.newenglandwaterman.com/" target="_blank">NewEngland Waterman</a> and enjoyed a quick visit with The Rocket Scientist. One night
while running to a platform 70 miles offshore I crossed paths a good friend I’ve
worked with at three different companies, starting back in the South Padre
Island days. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PUd9aYsuMtU/VAp0qBUFNhI/AAAAAAAAA_A/J-430SRMAn0/s1600/unnamed%2B(5).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PUd9aYsuMtU/VAp0qBUFNhI/AAAAAAAAA_A/J-430SRMAn0/s1600/unnamed%2B(5).jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a>Both he and another Texas captain stopped by to say howdy when we were in shipyard.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All of that got me to thinking about the “loose” connections
some of us maintain out in the oil patch.<br />
<br />
Those connections are useful in all
kinds of ways; not least in alleviating the loneliness of those long stretches
away from land and from home, but also in job leads and recommendations and in
up-to-date local knowledge about passes or working channels. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YmbTq6-sBWE/VAp0peZFLvI/AAAAAAAAA-0/aN_WPWAgmH4/s1600/unnamed%2B(3).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YmbTq6-sBWE/VAp0peZFLvI/AAAAAAAAA-0/aN_WPWAgmH4/s1600/unnamed%2B(3).jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a>Those loose connections also will get you a bag of sugar, a
12-pack of Dr. Pepper or a gallon of paint in a pinch.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s a commonplace that a sailor’s favorite ships are the
last one and the next one. That said, I couldn’t be much happier with the boat
and crew to which I was assigned.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Joining them in shipyard, well in advance of our various
inspections, gave me the opportunity to spend some quality time with parts of
the vessel I might not get around to messing with in weeks or months, normally.
<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-64V1N77pdAw/VAp0p668KJI/AAAAAAAAA-8/hXmKXg-uyyM/s1600/unnamed%2B(4).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-64V1N77pdAw/VAp0p668KJI/AAAAAAAAA-8/hXmKXg-uyyM/s1600/unnamed%2B(4).jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a>It also gave me time to get to know my port captains,
shipmates and safety guys, and to learn some of the paperwork routine before
worrying about handling a more massive vessel with different propulsion than I’m
used to.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was nervous about that last thing: this is my first
steel-hull vessel, and my first really big twin-screw vessel, and my first real
DP boat. And before and after everything else, driving a boat (well) is what I
get paid for.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Turns out that what friends who made that transition ahead
of me said is true: workboats are easier than crewboats.<br />
<br />
It’s different, for
sure, but it’s mostly a process of subtraction: subtract two throttles, subtract about 3,000 horsepower, subtract a whole lot of maneuverability and responsiveness, subtract the expectation that you’ll get anywhere fast.<br />
<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All of that math comes down to this: think ahead of the
boat, not with it, and know that everything – including stopping – takes longer.
Oh, and this: that bow thruster really isn’t optional in some situations.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The short week home has been all kids all the time, except
for Wednesday, when The Old Lady and I attended Wednesday Night Church Services
(aka, the Jon Dee Graham/James McMurtry double bill at the Continental Club in
Austin). <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bnp-XgWSh_Y/VAp0pChFp6I/AAAAAAAAA_k/X-0Dr6EWGNw/s1600/unnamed%2B(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bnp-XgWSh_Y/VAp0pChFp6I/AAAAAAAAA_k/X-0Dr6EWGNw/s1600/unnamed%2B(1).jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a>I didn’t know how much I needed that until about the second
verse of the first song.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I got to catch up a little with some folks I used to hang
out with two or three nights a week. I was astonished to find out that the baby
I knew one guy’s wife was expecting last we talked is now seven months old.<br />
<br />
I
was saddened to hear another friend’s mom died last week.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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It was another reminder of the value of those loose
connections, this time on land, where people I care about and with whom I have
much in common but I too rarely see in person, also make me feel a little less
lonely.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14570283696784196927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4958930617793354835.post-2095561023284299582014-08-06T19:28:00.000-05:002014-08-06T19:28:48.613-05:00Some Days You're the PainterAnd some days you're the paint. You just gotta roll with it either way.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-klwrXW0xhzQ/U-LG2VmQKdI/AAAAAAAAA-Q/qmdFIgjijBo/s1600/20140730_125504.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-klwrXW0xhzQ/U-LG2VmQKdI/AAAAAAAAA-Q/qmdFIgjijBo/s1600/20140730_125504.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
<br />
I joined the new boat in shipyard: bottomside and classification society survey this week, followed by the topside (safety) inspection a couple more weeks down the road.<br />
<br />
I was pretty thrilled that the shipyard guys sandblasted the hull and back deck and painted both for us.<br />
<br />
I was less thrilled when they sandblasted the boat in dry dock right next to us immediately after pressure-washing our vessel mast-top to keel.<br />
<br />
That's sort of the way it's been going: get the windows in the wheelhouse taped-up, then watch it rain for three hours. Start painting the wheelhouse, then quit and hope it sticks when a thunderstorm rolls in.<br />
<br />
So it's good we have a little time. Apparently we'll need it.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-luhv3r4Du3U/U-LG2A97XoI/AAAAAAAAA-M/eVeY0kt4SHI/s1600/20140802_095351.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-luhv3r4Du3U/U-LG2A97XoI/AAAAAAAAA-M/eVeY0kt4SHI/s1600/20140802_095351.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a>Not least because there's ... well, there's a lot of paperwork with this company, and I'm still trying to wrap my head around the two daily reports, three weekly drills, the monthly and quarterly and 90-day (not the same thing as quarterly) drills, weekly trainers, the three separate monthly vessel condition reports, etc., etc.<br />
<br />
The new boat is still under 100 GRT, though it's 170-ft. long. We operate with a five-man crew, which is better than the last crewboat's four, but probably not quite enough to comfortably handle all of the ISM paperwork we're required to do.<br />
<br />
Still, great training for the next boat, which will (hopefully) be over 100 GRT.<br />
<br />
This company's got them, which is one of the reasons I wanted to work here.<br />
<br />
First impressions: good crew with the best kind of friendly, helpful and salty old captains; we don't have to twist anyone's arm to get the supplies we need (heck, we've had five mechanics on board the last week to completely rebuild our mains, generators and bow thruster -- and they're not even broken).<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-U1sb7BG3kxE/U-LG1a9HXmI/AAAAAAAAA-E/tluqj9FECX4/s1600/unnamed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-U1sb7BG3kxE/U-LG1a9HXmI/AAAAAAAAA-E/tluqj9FECX4/s1600/unnamed.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a>I feel a little like country mouse in the city, arriving on a steel hull from a crewboat. We have an icemaker. We have a pressure washer that is plumbed to fittings throughout the vessel. Our compressed air also is plumbed to fittings throughout the boat.<br />
<br />
We have WiFi and satellite TV, and the company pays for it.<br />
<br />
We have an honest-to-God satellite phone, and we can use it to call home when we're offshore.<br />
<br />
So far, so good. I'm happy to be back at work.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14570283696784196927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4958930617793354835.post-44546547020059875482014-05-10T23:06:00.005-05:002014-05-15T13:15:25.608-05:00Feelin’ Classy<div class="MsoNormal">
Well, I’ve been in class a lot lately, anyhow. Can we just call it
good and let the title slide? Okay. Thanks.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Hawsepipin’ ain’t easy. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7OezkT-xJUI/U2721HVMCGI/AAAAAAAAA8Y/OOeLiLUgy6M/s1600/SeaAggies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7OezkT-xJUI/U2721HVMCGI/AAAAAAAAA8Y/OOeLiLUgy6M/s1600/SeaAggies.jpg" height="244" width="320" /></a></div>
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Kids, take it from me, if you think you want to be a sailor …
get yourself to an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_maritime_colleges#United_States" target="_blank">academy</a>. I’m not saying earning a degree and a Third Mate’s
license in four years is easy, either, but it’s a damned sight more
straightforward.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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To give you an idea, <a href="http://mitags-pmi.org/pages/workboat_academy_programs" target="_blank">MITAGS-PMI</a> designed a “workboat academy”
that gets you from a dead start to Mate 1600 tons Near Coastal (Mate 500 tons
Oceans) in a regimented 32 weeks of classroom instruction and 52 weeks of
shipboard training. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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They have lots of smart people guiding you along the way,
making sure you punch the right tickets and get the correct STCW endorsements.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It’s two years and about $32,000, though you’ll make a
little bit back with a cadet stipend (see update in comments below) while you’re at sea.<o:p></o:p><br />
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Do it on your own, and you get paid (better) along the way,
but you’ll have to figure-out which courses and exams you need, which endorsements
are required and which ones the company you hope to work for wants … and you’ll
have to try to schedule classes between hitches. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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You’ll drive overnight to save on a hotel room, brown bag it
when you can, and scrimp on things at home. You’ll easily still spend between
$10,000 and $15,000 on training, unless you’re fortunate enough to work for a company
that pays your way.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WxNexGJhwjU/U2721F-GwhI/AAAAAAAAA8g/Es54I2jTD8Q/s1600/baaf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WxNexGJhwjU/U2721F-GwhI/AAAAAAAAA8g/Es54I2jTD8Q/s1600/baaf.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a>I’m not complaining. Compared to what I spent at college,
and its payoff in the “real world,” it’s a heck of a deal.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Over the past three months I haven’t exactly been burning up
the road – classes got cancelled, I bailed on some others when the kids were
sick or the money got tight – but after the past two weeks in Louisiana I’ve
knocked-out almost everything on the Coast Guard’s checklist for Master 500,
and I’m ready to go back to work.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I should have approval to test from the Coast Guard by
August, and if I hit the books hard can sit the exam by November.<o:p></o:p></div>
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There are quite a few approved schools out there, on all
three coasts. I completed my Radar Observer, Basic and Advanced Firefighting
and PSC/Lifeboatman courses at <a href="http://www.fletcher.edu/index.cfm?md=pagebuilder&tmp=home&pid=336" target="_blank">Fletcher Technical Community College</a>’s Houma
campus. I give it high marks for good instructors and equipment and the best
prices around.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.sanjac.edu/continuing-professional-development/corporate-and-workforce/maritime" target="_blank">San Jacinto Community College</a> in Pasadena (Houston), Texas,
provided Vessel Security Officer, Bridge Resource Management and Basic Safety
Training. You’ll find their courses listed under Mid-Atlantic Maritime Academy
on the <a href="http://www.uscg.mil/nmc/courses/default.asp?tab=1" target="_blank">Coast Guard’s website</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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At the moment, San Jac merely gets the job done, but wait a
year and you can take classes at their <a href="http://www.sanjac.edu/continuing-professional-development/corporate-and-workforce/maritime/new-maritime-center" target="_blank">new, 56,000 square foot training facility</a>
on the Houston Ship Channel. They already have the best full bridge simulator
set-up in the country.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://www.coastguardtraining.com/marine.htm" target="_blank">Young Memorial Community College</a> in Morgan City also offers
cheap training, and one of only two approved online (you still have to test in
person) AB courses in the country. That’s a real time saver when you’re working
28/14.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--9Lh1FAw_Sc/U27215F-KwI/AAAAAAAAA8c/l6O2hDINNVQ/s1600/new_logbook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--9Lh1FAw_Sc/U27215F-KwI/AAAAAAAAA8c/l6O2hDINNVQ/s1600/new_logbook.jpg" /></a>Dynamic positioning training is in high demand right now …
in mid-April, the only place I could find an available seat before mid-July was
at <a href="http://www.houstonmarine.com/" target="_blank">Houston Marine Training</a> in Kenner (New Orleans). The curriculum and
instruction are good, the DP simulator equipment not so much, but they’re
supposed to get new systems this summer.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Houston (How-stan) Marine is now part of <a href="http://www.falck.com/us/ProductsandServices/safetytraining/Pages/default.aspx" target="_blank">Falck-Alford</a>, by
the way, with all that implies.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Here’s a word to the wise … if you don’t yet hold an STCW
certificate (i.e., 500-ton or better license), but you want to knock-out your
DP induction course, take the time to send the <a href="http://www.nautinst.org/" target="_blank">Nautical Institute</a> a request for
approval to train. Because, at some schools anyway, you won’t get your
certificate and logbook without that letter. (Shoot me an emal at
crewboatchronicles (at) gmail if you’d like a copy of the form the NI
requires).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R7UAoSRbTwI/U2721fm_AmI/AAAAAAAAA8s/EkvzjYOIIfA/s1600/lifeboat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R7UAoSRbTwI/U2721fm_AmI/AAAAAAAAA8s/EkvzjYOIIfA/s1600/lifeboat.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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Along the way so far, I’ve discovered that the very best
part of all of these classes is meeting other mariners from a wide range of
backgrounds and varying experience. I’ve been in class with maritime academy
graduates, guys who work on tankers and guys who work on tugs.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I’ve met ABs and folks about to be ABs and mates in training
and Chief Mates Unlimited and a whole lot of other guys like me.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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It’s always cool to share sea stories, but even better is
getting insight into the way different sectors of the industry do things and
the scoop on how different companies treat their people.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The adventure continues.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14570283696784196927noreply@blogger.com5