All Vessels shall maintain a proper watch

After James's successful debut as a foot model, he expanded his portfolio to wrist watches for one of Johns new watches. Check out, Oilean.watch and yes it's my birthday next month and I don't own a watch😊.

For the master mariners amongst you ,the next bit of the blog you already know.so go back to pouring over yachting monthly and dreaming. The non sailors may or may not be interested in what I have to say.

The first rule of the sea is always to maintain a proper lookout/watch. We do this to avoid collisions with other vessels and to sail the boat safely relative to the conditions you have and the crews experience. Not everyone is comfortable hurtling along full pelt at night with every sail in your wardrobe up and full.

Your eyes, ears and the instruments are crucial. All boats nowadays have AIS, Automatic identifications systems. Boats will appear on your screen and you can see what direction and speed they are doing. You use this information to decide if they are what is called "a dangerous target", in other words the risk of collision exists. Then you decide- using the ColRegs ( rules), what action must be taken to avoid a hit. There are lots of rules. I love Liams synopsis of the hundreds of rules, "stay away from the big f**kers, and flare if you care"!

We use radar too. It's fantastic for spotting squalls at night and gives you ample time to reduce your sail area before it hits. Seems like we have been in squall alley for 6 days now. I no longer go berserk when I see one on the screen.

Our watch system is every three hours. Its dark 12 hours a day here so it can be tough going. Staying awake ain't easy! I blast my head in the wind and waves when I feel the nods coming on. The daylight watches have tasks assigned to them, from simple housekeeping to engine checks, bilge checks and deck checks.

It's great to have such a fantastic skipper on board. The reassurance that you can wake him is soothing. I had lightening on my watch last night. I remembered Liam saying something about a biscuit tin and putting the electronics in the tin and putting it in the microwave. But that's all I remembered! James showed me where to get the tin, what items to prioritise and to flick the circuit breaker to the microwave. Any way no lightning struck.

I'm on dawn watch now. Roly poly sea and hefty gusts. I had hoped to cook bread for the crew's breakfast but I's better keep watch on deck and wait for someone to wake up.

Always keep a proper watch.
MARY