Sunday 5 December 2010 [INDIAN OCEAN]

Picton Castle at sea (Indian Ocean); Sunday 5 December 2010 בס"ד

All hands 0800, and first thing I did was work with the 4-8s covering and battening down the cargo hatch. Then WT called me to the aloha deck, where he, Sophie, and I got a “talking to” about the quality of the primer job along the fantail bulwark from the Captain. There were some globs in the coat, drips on the grating bench, neglected spots, etc. Since I'm the BM now it's my job to make sure this doesn't happen. Mixed some primer, and Frankie and I got to priming and trying to clean up the messy spots left for us. Then at about 1000, hands to the windlass, and we weighed anchor and motored out of Benoa Harbor, out to sea again. I had to clean up the paint locker area under the ladder quickly, then once out of harbor we did a fire drill and an MOB drill. Luckily (or maybe not luckily, but intelligently), I had checked the station bills earlier since we've got new people, and learned I was now reassigned to forward extinguisher duty, and I made sure that I knew which onces to grab. Otherwise, I'm still on fender rescue boat for MOB and assist launch ships boats for Abandon Ship. After the drills, I got a team and cleaned out the rescue boat, which was pretty grimey from doing two weeks of skiff runs. Gave it all a good, soapy scrub, hosed it down when deck wash came by, soogied, etc. Loosed and set headsls next, then put a shank lashing on the port anchor. To do that, I needed to dig around the line locker, and in doing so, I discovered several really sloppy coils, which I'd ended up redoing. WT impressed upon me the importance of making sure people close the line locker properly, lest we bust the hinges or take on water, and how I should instruct people to do so. Soon after, we had lunch, then after about half an hour, 12-4 took the deck, and off watches were stood down. I put [people] on the priming job, and when I'd check on it, they had already gotten primer everywhere it shouldn't be and nowhere it should. I tried explaining and instructing, but it's a weird thing to tell your equals what to do in an official way. I have been called Fred only a few times today and “MR. Bosun's Mate” many several. It's as if I went from being one of “us” to one of “them” in an instant, but it will take getting used to I suppose. I'm not the only one who has had this experience today; Shawn and Brad are now Lead Seamen of their watches and Shawn related to me that it was a similar feeling for him. Well, we both don't wanna screw this up, so we'll have to deal with our very minor upgrades in authority quickly and appropriately. “Any man can handle adversity...” sort of idea, even though we're still very low on the food chain. Anyway, back to reality, up and loose all sail, and I went to the foresl and had an interesting jam when the bolt rope was pinched between the furl and the jackstay underneath the stunsl iron, and took some creative fenangling to manage it free with Robert. Back on deck, had new people assigned to the aloha deck after WT examined it and said it need to be perfect. Still getting over telling people to do something instead of just doing it myself. Back and forth for a while, swet the well deck, then lost a primer worker so I just finished it myself. Cleaned up and finished for the day. Did some forearm workouts, pullups, etc, for a bit, and then a quarterdeck muster about the passage plan, then dinner. More workouts after. Taught Abby how to grind coffee, and helped Shawn take up on halyards. While writing this log, the engine fired up and we took in all sail. Now to organize my bunk and bedtime. Fifth night of Hanukkah.