My jobs

As the first mate (only mate?) I have quite a few jobs. Here they are, ranked in my order of preference (love to hate), with 2 scores on how well I think I executed them from day one to day 15.

Task

Pre-score

Post-score

Comments / explanations for score

Bartender 

10     

 10

I started mixing drinks when I was a kid (Pepsi and Sprite) and have just improved steadily ever since. This is one of my talents. I even bought an ice cube machine for the trip. It did not let us down.

DJ    

10      

 8

I love to be the DJ because if left to his own devices, the captain would only listen to Norah Jones, Nina Simone and French ballads. I came up with the idea of listening to the Rolling Stone top 100 albums of all time based on this being a four week trip. When we suddenly left for Norway on Sunday I did not have enough time to download the top 25 and add them to the Spotify queue before we lost wifi and 5G, so our top 15 was all kinds of messed up and I reverted to my "Perfect Day" playlist despite it not being a perfect day. 

Flagging  

 8    

 3

You wouldn't think that putting the flag up and taking it down would be so difficult. Should have been an easy 10, but with all the docking, fendering and bartending going on I made quite a few mistakes on this one.

Cooking  

 8      

 8

I like cooking, and did pretty well with the set-up we have on board. (No electricity underway and use of either the oven or the stovetops or the kettle, never more than one at a time.)

Cleaning the cabin

 7

 7

Anyone who knows me knows that I hate cleaning so when it comes this high up on the list you can imagine how much I dislike the other jobs :).

Washing windows

 

 8

They do kind of just get dirty again real fast.

Closing all cabinets and drawers

 5

 8

Steady improvement after the coffee catastrophe.

Making coffee

5

 8

Steady improvement on speed of execution.

Provisioning

8

 6

I was actually better at the start, I think because I was in known terrain. Obviously, the lack of wine shops set me back here.

Plugging in and unplugging the electricity

 0    

 10

Went from not trusting myself to do this (mission critical task) to doing it all by myself.

Fetching things (tools, water, snacks, clothes, more ropes, more fenders, battery packs, cords, etc.)

 4

 7

Majority of fetching is tools. Reidar and I both grew up in hardware stores, a definite advantage here, but unfortunately he knows most of the tools in Norwegian and I know them in English. Steady improvement in language skills contributed to the 7. When it comes to fetching other things, improvement due to general boat awareness and improved ability to stay vertical while fetching.

Looking out for boats

 0  

 7

I can see the boats, but I never know what direction they are heading.

Looking out for fishing gear

 4

 8

Sneaky little buggers.

Fendering

 3

 7

Definitely increasing in accuracy of where to fender and how deep, but room for improvement on speed. All my knots held so I give myself a bonus for that.

 Ropes

 3

 6

I am still chaotic with the ropes, and it took me way too long to learn the knots, but I fetched the ropes and set them correctly when we got into port in Kristiansand. See also docking.

Steering    

 2

 4

I am at best a relief steerer. It is OK if it is calm and there are no sails up, but that is very rare. If I am steering, it usually means that Reidar is doing something where he is vulnerable to an accident, often potentially caused by my steering. It is here I wish we had Johnny Depp on board with us.

Navigating

11Only in extreme cases (like when Reidar is in the bathroon.) Absolute nightmare. I have no sense of direction. I even got lost in Gothenburg going grocery shopping. Imagine me in the middle of the sea.

In case you are wondering, here are Reidar's jobs:

1. Captain (ultimate responsibility for absolutely everything)

2. Mule (carrying the heavy stuff, usually drinking water and extra sails)

3. Mr. Fixer (there is always stuff going wrong and he is always fixing it)





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