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Tips for living on a rolling ship
By Cees, radio operator. 30 March. We are in transit, sailing
from Italy to Palma de Mallorca. It is wind force seven
and the ship is rolling a bit. We are lucky because we are
sailing so we only tilt to one side. And when a ship moves
you have to respect some rules given by nature. One is gravity.
Normally this is one direction and down to earth. This is
everywhere the same. But if a ship rolls it means that down
is not always straight down. For example, when you want
to fill your glass with water it goes from left to right,
forward and backward. During lunch and dinner you normally
take a plate but when the ships rolls a bowl is much easier.
And if you manage to go to the table without spilling any
food you have met the next challenge. You have to sit down
and hold the bowl with food in one hand and use your spoon
or fork in the other. If you let your bowl go it will and
end up by somebody else or just fly in the air and land
in the lowest point.
Then we have the fridge. You have to wait for the right
moment, otherwise all the juice, milk and other stuff will
come out and then you have to clean it. Also opening and
closing doors is a different story. If you try to open it
at the wrong moment the door is so heavy that it is impossible
to get open. A few seconds later the door will fly open
and you have to pass through quickly before it smashes closed
again. Even walking is very funny to see. People are bumping
against the walls all the time and if you are walking on
deck be aware that it is wet and slippery. I nearly slipped
overboard when I was on my way to the bridge. For the people
who get seasick, you get used to this and after a while
you do not even notice that the ship is moving this much
unless you see people flying over the deck or in the mess.
In case I forgot to mention it, rolling means that we tilt
more than 30 degrees. I know people on the MV Arctic Sunrise
will say that is nothing, but for people who are used to
working in an office or factory try to imagine that your
work space is rolling 30 degrees and then back to the other
side and imagine you still have to work and then take a
look around and imagine the rest of your colleagues flying
around. Isn't that really cool!!!
Cheers,
Cees
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