It was a disappointment not to be able to sail to the Shetland Islands, but it has bought a bit of time for us to catch up on our studying!
We decided therefore to stay in Wick. Its not the run down place I was expecting, the marina is nice, with water and power, showers, close to shops and to a Wetherspoons – I was thankful for that last night when I have managed to catch up on my blog and upload a load of photos to previous ones!
We also have space around us to play “pontoon bashing”!
So – I was up with charts and books out by 9am and started working on the exercises, and was shortly joined by the boys half an hour later. I was scratching my head and struggling if I’m honest, and feeling so thick! I started to get frustrated with myself until I looked around and saw the boys had the same expressions on their faces.
Tank watched us and I could see a plan formulate in his mind! A teaching session came along. Very worthwhile it was too and the little lights started to switch on. He is very methodical and clear in his thinking and doesnt make us feel like twits when we get it wrong – which is always a good thing for us students!
A break for lunch when we devoured a mountain of sandwiches – its amazing how hungry you get when you have been sitting down doing nothing – our brains need alot of feeding!
To stop us sinking into a post lunch lethargy, tank asked me to do an engine check, then get her fired up! Off we went to start to steer RBE around.
Tank explained what we had to do – but first up was me – every time! I’m not sure if it is easier or harder to go first – at least I get to do it straight after the explanation when it is still fresh in my mind, but I get to make all the classic mistakes which the others learnt from me. Whatever, it didn’t really matter as we are all enormously supportive to one another, and Tank didn’t seem to mind at all when I kept crashing the boat, its well insured after all! (only joking Neil!!)
We started to draw quite a crowd on the pontoon as they watched us turn the boat in figure of eights endlessly, but Tank looked over to them and said he was feeling dizzy, they did give us a little laugh!
Tank puts John through his paces!
A really useful exercise and we all feel alot more confident now in moving this beast around in the water.
John looks a bit happier - he only knocked a little hole in the boat - sure Tank can fix it!
Back to the pontoon and time to prepare dinner. Again, I have cooked a gammon joint with onions, leeks and carrots and stock with lentils. Then roasted in the oven with a honey and mustard glaze and served with cauliflower cheese, chanteney carrots, sugar snap peas and mashed potatoes. The soup is now made as the leftover ingredients so we are ready for another meal!
Ive managed to do some more exercises as the food was cooking – multi-tasking at its best whilst John had a siesta and Mike went for a quick sprint up a hill! I now feel virtuous and am now sitting in Wetherspoons writing this. We now have an inverter on board which means that if I can still charge my laptop and camera batteries up even of we don’t have shore power – thanks for that Neil, so it means I’m not tripping anyone up as I seek power sockets in the pub any more!
We are planning more study tomorrow, and the saloon on RBE is turning into a classroom. We are very grateful to Tank for his efforts with us – cheers mate!
I’m going to keep this blog short (yes, this is short!) as I’m poor company right now and Mick leaves us tomorrow and I’m not sure if I can remember how to have a conversation so had better go – goodnight!
Bye Mick!
