Ok, so I haven’t been writing much lately. I promise to catch everything up in the next month.
I passed my flashing light exam by the skin of my teeth.
I am down to 1 day of classes!!!! In the last couple of months I have taken Ship Construction and Stablility, GMDSS (got my FCC license), MedPro (medical provider/1st responder), Emergency Procedures, Search and Rescue, Flashing Light and this week - my favorite — Basic Ship Handling. We have spent the week in the simulators doing some great exercises and learning a lot about fluid dynamics and vessel handling. It’s been great.
I have some assessments in the simulator for 2 days next week and then that’s all! Oh, well….then there are 3 more months of sea time and that little thing of the week long Coast Guard license exam. But I am on the home stretch.
I have flashing light on Saturday — and I am not ready.
AddictedtoLearning.com has a great learning tool for it though — so hopefully I’ll get it down by then.
I modified the test to have it ask the code first. You will need Flash — if you don’t see the buttons, then get the latest version of Flash Player.
Here’s an interesting learning chart:
Now, I have to say this class was a bit dry -but I enjoyed it. It dealt with the heart of the matter — what is a ship, how are they built, why do they float — and most important — why do the float with the keel in the water and the house in the air — and why sometimes.. they don’t and a sailors die.
The instructor, Richard Brookes, was great. He’s a great character, knowledgeable sea captain and a real sailor. It’s a real pleasure to learn from him.
What did I learn? Well, we went into deep detail and review of the elemental parts of a vessel, from stem to stern, keel to deck stringer.
We discussed sheer and shear, tension and torsion.
We reviewed and elaborated on free surface effect.
I know really get metacentric height (not to be confused with metaphysical heights) and mostly understand the stability curves. I am pretty sure I could analyze a stability report and understand the consequences of a cargo loading.
It’s a great subject, and I would like to take the advanced course.
“My mom made pancakes every single morning at our house,” he said, with a smile of fond reminiscence. He stopped abruptly. “My wife!” he corrected. “I called her my mom. My wife.”
– Mitt Romney - 2/1/2008
So, it will be a while before I update again. My hard drive failed recently, and I lost a lot of files. And a lot of contact info — so if your a friend of mine, please send me a quick note with all your pertinents.
