Do's and Dont's for Newbie Sailors
Posted by: jonahwhale
| 28 Jun 07 | 2 comments
If you are asked to be a "Volunteer Assistant Cook in Training" on a Greenpeace ship, here are some pieces of advice that I'd like to give you. You should: - Expect to work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week.
- Study up on whale identification, since there is a science behind noting their fins and blows. They generally don't jump out of the water like in the pictures.
- Bring 2 pairs of shoes, preferably tested for their traction on metal decks.
- Be prepared to burn both pairs of shoes by the time the voyage is over.
- Make friends with the cook and the radio operator, they supply your creature comforts: food and connection to the outside world.
- Bring the lyrics and music to your favorite songs. There are guitars and musicians, and a lot of song requests, and a lot of opening lines of favorite songs sung with skill and confidence, followed by a lot of humming and whistling as you realize that shouting along with the radio in your car doesn't actually mean you know the words.
- As Ashby says "Keep one hand for the ship, and one hand for yourself."
- Walk into the fly paper and get gooey stuff in your hair on the first day.
- Walk into fly paper again and get the same gooey stuff in your hair on the second day.
- Rip the crotch of your pants while scaling the side of the ship on a ladder.
- Get sea sick in the shower.
- Slam your head into the steel doorframe while carrying a 60lb vat of Feta cheese.
- If you do slam your head while carying a 60lb vat of cheese, don't drop the vat. Then you'll have a headache and a bunch of stuff to clean up off the floor.
- When the captain drops you off on shore, as you feel cool for a split second jumping off of a Greenpeace zodiac onto dry land in front of lots of people, don't forget to take off your life vest. As you stride away on your critical mission, an action or news conference for all the onlookers might know, you want to avoid having the caption shout "Hey, I don't think you'll be needing that life vest to go grocery shopping". Trust me, it just kills the mood.
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Comments (2)
diek on July 05, 2007 LOL!! You hit the living on board on the spot. Working in the galley isn't the best place for a first impression how shipslife is. Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed it at maybe see ya again. Greetings.
mjr_tom on July 07, 2007 and last but not least:
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jonahwhale
Student at University of Wisconsin at Madison
I am a greenpeace programmer living in Seattle. I use this profile for testing, so excuse me if I'm getting in the way.
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