A Day at Sea

Today was my first day at sea. We went.. umm, let's see... approximately 100 meters away from the dock. It was very exciting let me tell you. I was the roaming fender. I stood on the bridge deck holding a sausage fender making sure that the boat didn't hit anything. After we drove clear of those obstacles I ran down onto the bow to help Ben throw out the bow and spring line to the fuel station/boat. We then sat there "at sea" from 9:30am until 5:00 tonight while a grand total of just under 7,000 gallons of diesel fuel filled up our tanks. It was loads of fun! Serious!

I can't really remember what I did today to be quite honest. It was great, though. My muscles are just barely starting to return to what they should be at the very least. Man I've really let that slide, haha. The muscle that's the most sore is the one right under the bend of my right elbow on my upper forearm. That's the muscle, apparently, that is used to do those tiny little circles when polishing or cleaning in general. Haha.

So here's the story on the Revelation. The captain that was on it is now leaving. Pete is there to take his place but the boat is so old and mostly unkept that it has a lot of idiosyncrasies to learn. The old Capt. is Laz. Laz is staying on board until the engineer shows up on the 10th of May. From there he's trying to find another job. He's English, by the way. I've been working on the Revelation for 3 days now and going on into the weekend. Laz told me this morning that he wanted to take a few of my CVs so that he could pass them out and keep one himself. I thought that was great so I let him take however many he wanted tonight. He then asked me if I was willing to fly somewhere to get a job. I said yeah, of course. He then said, "Well I'm looking for a job too and mostly in Europe but when I get a job I'd love to take you with me to work on deck." Hahaha, yes! He said that he will never hire another American. He said that he would definitely hire an Alaskan!

I've discovered that in my case, it is best to be upfront with the captains. I now, knowing full well that the consequences may be not getting the job, will tell them that I am a rookie and that I really don't know very much at all concerning yachts but that with a little direction I will do just fine. If they say no, that won't work... well then that's not a job I want anyways. I keep thanking Ben and Pete for teaching me as much as they have. Ben said to me, "Even the best captain in the world started out knowing nothing. It's only right that we teach you this stuff." They're great. They explain everything to me.

I am loving it here so much. I've been here a week but it feels like it's been longer. In a good way, though. I am more confident now that this is where I want to be than I ever was before. I cannot imagine myself doing anything different for the time being and by golly, I'm going to the Med. I'll be there within 2 months, guaranteed! Pete's going to give me a recommendation and send me on to his agent and then with Laz gunning for me as well and the day-work I hope to be doing on the Itasca, for which I may be counting my chickens before they hatch, but still....I think I'm doing dog-gone alright!

I'm taking my camera with me tomorrow..haha unless I forget again. I'll take pictures! It'll be fun. I'm going to go have a ham and cheese sandwich now. Cheers mates!

Love you all. Woof,

Jacks