The Bosuns secret store....?

I had been looking for sail repair needles! I had been looking for duct tape! I had been looking for leather bits! Where was everyone finding these goodies? In the Bosuns secret store, they said...

Funny that... I am the Bosun and the only person this seems to be a secret to, is me! I have now located said secret store...

I have another great thing. This is a box in my cabin, with the words "SAFE PLACE" written on the side. What a lovely thing.

Canaries Pentathelon

It has actually been stormy here, over last night and today, which has put our schedule behind. More jobs have been started and less completed. It is going to be a laugh trying to sail the ship over Christmas. I did´t really know where any of the stuff was, before we took everything apart.. The shambling chancer continues to blag it..

As soon as the working day comes to a close, running shoes on, run 3 miles to the club nautico, swim a few lengths in the beautiful pool. (It was great today because of the rain) Into the steam room, then the sauna and the last event....sipping cold beer on the terrace. Nice.

Premier League scout veiws 5 a side mayhem

It is monday evening and we are all exhausted,

I have not mentioned much about the work but it is hot, exhausting and dusty. The ship is in its 20 year survey. This means that there is a man from lloyds with a clipboard.

The nice man from LLoyds, tells us to take things apart, so that he can inspect them. Then we clean it, grind it, repair it, paint it and hopefully put it together before there are more things to take apart. He is ahead of us!! Now it is by a mile, the ship is in millions of bits.
It is steaming hot out here, which would be great, if you were swanning around on a beach amongst the bikini clad senoritas. However.. We are all in full overalls, work boots, hard hats, goggles, dust masks and most of the time ear defenders too. Just trying to paint a picture for my friends, who beleive that I just sit here the whole time sipping Gin and tonic.. ( we do but not all the time!)

My job here, is primarily to organise and motivate a mostly, volunteer work force. They are a spirited bunch! The 1st mate thought, finishing work on Sunday at 3pm would be a nice treat. A five a side footie match at the `Real Club Nautico´would be just the job for boosting team spirit and general moral.

For a start there was 15 of us so it was 7 on one side and 8 on the other. Prison rules apply ( no rules at all) and we continue in the afternoon heat to play a wonderful game that included more rules from Mr Queensbury, than from any football rule book. Much beers were then consumed and Mikey gave us all a very amusing apraisal from his expert view as Premier League scout for Middlesborough United. Returning to the ship, `cookie´had`prepared roast lamb with all the trimmings and we continued drinking the vino collapso till the wee small hours.

Sadly 7am Monday, soon came around and we continue a game of ripping the ship to bits and getting covered in a thousand kinds of dirt and grime..The Nice man from Lloyds and his clipboard seems to have only just begun..

Cheers to all

The bosun learns the routine and nursie does his doby..

Hello again,

Well, a few more days has passed and I am slowly getting to know the quirkey things that makes each ships routine, a little uinique..

Need a vacuum cleaner, well of course you have to visit Henrys villa.. want to do your washing then get Nursie to do your Doby?
want a tea break then it must be time for smokoe?

If you are `NOB´ that means its your night on board and funny enough, that also means that its your turn to be `mess man´( help clean up the galley) and also to clean the crew heads or toilets and dont forget, to turn on the rigging lights at sun set, or there will be trouble from the captain!

Must not wear overalls in the upper mess and on no account, must you throw rubbish from the deck into the skip, 3 stories bellow and deffinately not, wager the cook that she can not hit the skip with her rubbish from the deck! At least must not vocalise the dissapointing fact in the ships bar, that said cook, did hit her target with stealthy accuracy, whilst captain is also sitting in ships bar...causing more trouble from captain and having to buy him a beer for the cooks smug accuracy too. Blimey!

So, the comforting ships routine continues.. there are some problems being the new boy.. However, learning fast and keeping quiet in ships bar..

The sun was over the yard arm.. So was I

"This concentrates the mind" shouted Chris, I looked up to see Chris edging out to the end of the `Royal yard´ "poof, I thought" and looked out to survey the view over the bay from my vantage point, at the course yard, ( the lowest one)..

Yard arms, are the big spars that the sails hang from on a square rig ship. Lord Nelson Has 4 yard arms, on its two front masts. This story is taking place on the `Fore mast´ ( the stick at the front of the ship) we are climbing to the tippy top, to prepare the `royal yard´ (the highest one) to be lowered to the dock for some maintenace.. The added fun is, that the ship is no longer in the water. It his sitting on a dusty dock after being lifted out for our 20 year survey.

I continue to climb.. I am wearing a full body harness, rigger boots with steel toe caps, my big Knife ( of course) my `leatherman´ too. ( thats incaes I want to file my nails, open a bottle of wine or pick my teeth for some reason) I have the biggest adjustable spanner you have ever seen, tied rambo style over my shoulder and assorted other pliers and tools hanging from my harness. What is not hanging from my harness, is a rope or a belay devise. Climbing in the morning sun, the rigging becomes more narrow and I approach a `jakobs ladder´ or the´` futtock shrouds´to most of us its an overhang! Blimey!!! I thought, " this focuses the mind"

As I start to edge out on the opposite side to chris, I am sweating but finally the tether on my harness is attched to something. Normally when you are up here you edge out over water, which somehow is a little more reasuring. Today however a) the ship is about 3 stories higher than usual and b) I am edging out over a very hard concrete floor. Yikes.

" Did you bring the side cutters Chris?"
" No Mate!"
" F**K!"
" F**K!"

As my climbing frinds will know. The only possible worse thing than negotiating an over hang, is to back climb one... I am now getting used to the `futtock shrouds´ and I think of the 5 p´s before starting work in the rigging. ( prior preparation prevents piss poor performance)

Las Palmas, Stretch limos and Lord Nelson

Hi all,

After the usual, in flight discomforts of being rather tall, I arrived in Las Palmas.... It was an icey start in Burgess Hill so the the bright Canaries sun was a warm welcome. As was the stretch limo that was waiting to take me to the ship. Some of my friends think that this is an easy life!

The lord Nelson is now my place of work and its something interesting showing up for work on your 1st day of a new job. a) in a streched limo and b) knowing that you are actually here 24 hours a day for the next 3 weeks..I hope I like the folks. Some of them I know already but this situation of group dynamics is a constant worry..

So the cabin is ok. This week in a regular cabin mid ships (near to the bar) Next week will move into my more permenant home back aft..

Not much more to say today. Already been up at the top of the rig messing with some bits of string and playing with my big knife.

The good thing here is, that we get to use the, club nautico for free, so some of my coleagues dissapeared to use the steam room and sauna after work. There is also a 50 meter, out door, salt water swimming pool so will have to give that a go to. I heard that a pint of beer there is only 1 euro.. Might try that out at some piont aswell.

Going away tomorrow

Well, finished packing now and had some yummy tea.. put a new lock on my door to keep out the baddies and now just catching up with my new blog and having a play with some of the associated bits. Dai I hope that you are impressed..

nice run..

was a sunny an beautiful day

Icey Sunday

Good morning to my new Blog. Thank you Dai for setting me up. I am looking forward to our run this am...

Hello World

\blah lah b;ah as daren says