Sunday, June 01, 2014

Work today

I'm not a passenger on the ICE - I'm actually a full member of the crew and I'm expected to do all the sailor things - including navigation, steering, and mast work.

Today I had to climb the Mizzin mast - the secondary mast of the ship to raise the sail. First I had to bring down the halyard to tie the sail. Afterwards I had to tie supporting ropes which held the sail protector.

There were over two dozen sailing terms I had to absorb - and mostly forgot straight after.

Climbing the mast was quite a feat for me. It was over 10m tall - and I had to climb it without a safety harness at the start. The tricky part later on was the tying of the support ropes  which I had to do with one arm wrapped around the mast.




I've always been scared of heights - when I was 3 I fell down 5m onto marble floor and nearly got killed.

The trick is not to worry (too much) about falling - but concentrating on the task at hand.

The top of the mast is 10m and if I kept on worrying about falling I would be totally captivated by my fear.

There were two support ropes to tie - and I had problems tying the 2nd one because my arm was slippery with sweat.

Anyhow I managed to do it all without falling.

I had problems sleeping the night before... I woke up at least three times with a hard-on. I miss my female companion in Singapore. And there is no outlet otherwise :) One of my friends is irritating me with photos of his female friends - he's a real charmer that dude. 

For afternoon tea I ate a sinful delicious cinnamon roll with plenty of icing sugar and black brewed coffee. Gosh darn it was good. The last time I ate such a monstrosity was back when I was attending a Pentecostal church whose sermons threatened to go on for hours - the preachers loved the sound of their own voices - I loathed their sermons and would sneak out to a shop called Saint Sinamon to eat their pecan caramel cinnamon rolls. Eventually I developed acid reflux in my stomach. But I had few vices other than a sweet tooth back then.

Gosh I wasted so much time at church...


No comments: