Another day at sea

As the 8-12 watchs “Rondman” came down the ladder in the students quarters, i slowly began to wake up. Like my body already had adapted to the 12-4 watchs schedule.

I awoke clear minded and by 11:03 i had risen out of my bunk. I stood on my feet ready to pounce and attack yet another day at sea. I bounced out of my cabin fully clothed and climbed up the aforementioned ladder that leads from the students quarters up to the small mess and galley. I sat myself down in the mess and awaited nourishment. With a dull rumble in my empty stomach, I closely studied my shipmates plates as they came rolling out of the galley.

As the galley rat plonked down a fresh plate of food in front of my face, a rich stench of parmesan and freshly cracked black pepper entered my nostrils. I inhaled the plate of pasta as fast as humanly possible. After a wonderfully rich meal my cognitive state entered a new phase of clarity, and I then realized I had just enough time to drink a cup of java on deck. I headed to the galley in a humble manner to brew a cup. Unfortunately we are only provided with instant coffee, which is quite a shame. I prefer freshly ground arabica beans grown in a humid rainforest, south slope of course.

Approximately 16 and a quarter minutes later we mustered on deck for yet another watch exchange. My duty for the day was to be the bosuns assistant which means no extra burden for my dainty soul, the only difference between me and the regular workforce is that I get a little extra say in the decisions that are made on deck. This position is quite preferable if you ask me, because if you work the 8-12 watch you get to decide who has to clean the toilets and showers, which is quite disgusting if I do say so myself.

Anywho, the bosun assigned me and my fellow companion Edvin to hitch some footrope to the foremasts portside top shroud to enable other fellow crewmates to climb up to the top g and royal, these are the two farthest up sails in the mast. It is therefore quite important to be precise and thorough when this task is performed, you wouldn't want your crewmates falling down because of a loosely hitched footrope.

That was essentially what we did for the entire watch. quite a pleasant assignment. We performed this task whilst on the second platform in the foremast which is a sought after position as you have the shadow form the upper topsail as well as a light ocean breeze.

We mustered again, but this time to be exchanged by the 4-8 watch. We headed off the deck down into the student corridor. The thing is, after we get off watch we have lessons in our regular school subjects. We have approximately 15 minutes to freshen up before these lessons. You therefore have to be in quite the hurry to be able to snag one of the four showers before they get occupied by fellow crewmates who are equally as sweaty and smelly as you. Thanks to my superior intelligence and inhumane speed I of course managed to snag a shower.

I then studied, went terrific. Consumed dinner, tasted amazing. Went to sleep, woke up feeling fresh.

Theo