This week has been taken up by Navigation. That is five days solid theory; in fact much of it reminded me of maths... so five days solid of maths lessons... well, more interesting than that, but in essence, that is what it was. The first day was pretty much all covering what we'd been told before, however we had three other peeps doing a different course doing it with us, and they were all starting from a pretty basic level. In truth, we all were, but the three of us on our course probably had a better foundational/background knowledge.
We were doing loads of chartwork and plotting courses, which sounds simple (drawing a line between two points) until you then realise you've got to account for how the tide will be moving you and affecting where yo end up, on top of that you then have to adjust your course to allow for leeway (how the wind/waves knock you off course) and all the calculations and notations for everything add up to create a rather complex and large topic to get your head around. Other than chartwork, which also included pinpointing your position on the sea, variation, deviation and such abbreviations as SOG, CTS, DR, EP, we also looked at the subjects of meteorology, tides (in even more depth, i.e. how to work out what is too shallow for your vessel, how to extrapolate information from a primary port to work out the tidal heights and times of a secondary port, how to work out how high a tide will be at any given time, involving graphs of tidal height, how strong a tide will be at any given time, the direction of a tide and how to account for it when planning a passage) sound signals (day and night/fog), day signals, light signals and patterns, buoys (IALA A and B) distress signals, collision regulations... etc...
So yea, lots and lots of information, however, it's required little effort on my part to grasp and learn it. It has all just made sense and clicked together, plus there is something quite cool (in a sad way) of standing over a chart with a pair of dividers, a plotter and a pencil and working out your course... even if it was on a training chart with fake names and places.
This morning didn't feel like I was going to have two one and a half hour exams.... but I did feel like I was joining in with everyone else who is having exams at the moment. I think my exams were probably the best though.... if you finish early you can go, four questions, you could stand up, results before leaving the exam room, simple... yep, everything you could ever want in an exam was right there. And yes, in that first exam I was there for an hour and got 100% :D :D :D :D :D I have never got 100% in a proper exam before (if you could call this a PROPER exam lol) unless you count that fluke at GCSE where I somehow got 100/100 UMS marks for all my science papers.... I'm not complaining but I was pretty sure there had been a mistake or they'd confused my results with someone elses.... ah well
In the afternoon those of us on the watersports course got the second test, the others will get it when they do the practical side of the course next week, we only get the theory. This turned out not to be a one and a half hour written exam but an appraisal and evaluation of knowledge through spoken answers. Basically our teacher was there and read out the questions which formed the written paper we technically should have been doing and we answered verbally, together, to confirm to him that we knew everything that was needed to pass. I'm sure I don't need to say that he was satisfied and passed us. So YAY!! :D :D :D :D And big respects to all you people out there slogging through hundreds of exams. I'm here hoping you do well.
What else has gone on this week... Cell group on Wednesday as normal, all good. Friday I had Catalyst Plus, which also was good. I ended up walking to it because I didn't want to get hot and sweaty on my bike; also I knew that Christians being Christians I could almost CERTAINLY get a lift back if I didn't have the baggage of a bike... either that or I'd have a long, cold walk home late at night to ponder my stereotypical assumptions of Christians and how they might need adjusting ;) Thankfully they held out and I got a lift home :D :D :D lol
Yesterday I went to Ryde for the first time to a church service called Connect2 (at least I'm pretty sure it was called that) that was all good. Some of the youth peeps I know have a band which does worship and hey were playing, so I was mostly going to support them. They're a great bunch and it will be well cool to see where this leads them and how they'll grow. I also wonder if once upon a time certain elder friends of mine started their journey in a similar place.
What else have i done this week... oh I KNOW! I went to see the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie. And, I'm relieved to say, it was well worth the watch. It was rather good. The only thing I think could have been improved on (other than a few scenes which were a bit pointless - MINORITY/FEW though they were) was it could have done with a central main character. There were main characters, defo, but one central character who was a goody... it was kind of supposed to be Jack I felt, but I don't really think Jack is a character who works well being the centre of the story, which is why in the original trilogy you had Will. Jack jumps everywhere, it's almost confusing sometimes. ON the other hand, Depp did marvelously well and Jack was just as he always was. I really liked the film: I'd buy it. Oh and you didn't necessarily NEED to have watched the first three to see this one... though I'd recommend seeing the first one just because it's amazing and will give you all the characters... having said that... seeing the trilogy first would probably be HELPFUL... oh and an extra note... the last line is a classic (maybe cliched, but made to be "not cringey") and is rather wonderful.
So yep that's been my week... or highlights of anyway... this coming week it's back to assisting/instructing after a day off tomorrow. Then sometime towards the end of the week we start our keelboating endorsement training (three days practising/two days assessment) which is all cool... all cool.... So I'll see when I can next gather myself to blog... until then... :D
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