I love getting up early.
This morning I am on watch from 4 – 6am. Being the watch keeper essentially means that I am responsible for the ship and generally making sure that all is well onboard and sitting on the bridge at this time of the morning is great especially as you get to see some amazing sun rises! The following is my personal log book entry so you can see what it's like to be on watch aboard a superyacht. 03:55am – Relieve the second engineer of watch duty. Arrive five minutes early for my shift to allow for the change to bridge conditions. 04:00am – Check current wind speed, wind direction, sea height and visibility readings. 04:10 am – Quickly pop down to the crew mess to knock up a coffee. 04:15 am – Walk down to the engine room to check the bilges and the ship's alarm log. There are no new alarms and all seems to be well. Take another sip of coffee to celebrate. 04:20am – Take ship to shore sight bearings. Notice a small yacht on starboard side – nothing to worry about for the moment but will keep an eye on it. 04:30 am – Check line of sight bearings for movements. No changes to original bearings. Sweet. 04:45 am – The sun is rising now and beginning to shift the dark night sky to a light blue colour. 05:00am – It’s quite a cool feeling to be sitting on the bridge of a super yacht and filling out the chief officer's log book for the first time. - Barometer reads 1017 and holding. - Wind is steady at around 7 knots. - Sea is calm at 1-2 feet. - Visibility is good with objects visible up to 7 nautical miles. -Sky is partly cloudy. 05:05 am – Walk around the decks and confirm that tender is secured. Check line of sight bearings for movements. Small yacht on starboard side is holding position. 05:15am – Sun is rising steadily now. The sky is changing to a light orange and blue colour. A near perfect sunrise! 05:20am – A small yacht sets sail on port side. Looks like a single man sailing – wonder where he is going but then realise I don’t really care, as it can’t be much better than where I am right now. 05:25 am – Quickly pop on to my Facebook account. Remind myself to attend Facebook Addicts Anonymous meeting when next ashore. 05:30am – Clouds are appearing on the horizon and slightly ruining my perfect sunrise. Unlucky. 05:35 am – Wind has changed direction now and the yacht is shifting direction on anchor. Walk the decks to make sure this shift in direction has not put us too close to the small yacht on our starboard. 05:45am – Shift in wind speed and anchor line has not put us at risk. We’re all good. 05:50 – The sky is really bright now, looks like it's going to be another scorcher on the French Riviera. 05:55 am – Check engine room bilges. No new alarms. Macy Gray playing on the sound system… 06:00 – Hand over to the 1st mate. Complete new entry on the chief officer's log book with current weather and ship status. 06:05 – Head back to bed to get some much needed rest. Another charter day today so will be another 14 hour day at least!
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December 2018
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