Here I am at KTY Training on the River Hamble near Southampton being trained on the hoof to get all of my Ocean qualifications that will allow me to take part in the record breaking Atlantic Ocean Rowing Record in January 2011. It stands at 33 days at the moment and we are hoping to complete it in less than that - hopefully by three days!
Day One was an introduction to the VHF short range radio. Now, I have to say that I have been using one for years and never realised I needed to do a course or have a license to operate it. It seems to work fine without one. :-). However, I was impressed with the depth and usefulness of this course. It was very good and made me understand a lot more about our Coastal and local radio arrangements.
Day Two saw us completing Ocean Safety with letting off flares and performing lifeboat drills in a local pool. Fantastic fun and we all learned so much under brilliant instruction.
Day Three is all about Sea First Aid. I think that even with my fairly extensive knowledge of First Aid gained over SO many years experience and practice, I still learned lots of useful tips and hints.
Tomorrow sees us starting five days of Ocean Yachtmasters on land training. This is a minimum qualification that the Spanish authorities are looking for in all Ocean Rowers before they sign off against the start of any organised Ocean Rowing event.
Let's see what the first day holds in store. Apparently there are lots of mental maths to perform and we have been told to bring our calculators with us! Sounds like I'll need to make my shoes and socks off to use my toes as counters. All about lats. longs. Degrees, Minutes and Seconds. Whatever that means!! He said, laughing. (I know really).
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