1 March 2006
What does the 2nd mate do?
by Nadia, onboard the Esperanza
©Greenpeace/Gleizes
Obviously, all this information changes and it's my job to keep them updated. Because the Esperanza sails all around the planet, we have more than 50 books and 500 charts... a lot of work. Those corrections are published every week, and when Mr postman can't find us because we are at sea, the amount of updates get bigger and bigger, especially after a campaign in the Southern ocean! While our deck crew was running up end down to get the ship ready for the departure, I was on the bridge travelling from one country to another with my charts.
A few weeks later, I finally manage to catch up on six weeks of updates. I was so happy and about to celebrate - but then I saw Thom (radio operator) with a big box for me : here's you birthday present, he told me.... For sure four more weeks! The corrections are an endless story - but I can say for sure that the world changes quickly.
Meanwhile I had to do the other part of the 2nd mate job... the voyage plan. Much more interesting and useful work for all the mates. I need to trace on the chart the courses that the ship will take to reach its destination. After I spoke to Pete (Captain) and the campaign leader I knew more about our plans, and can find faster and better routes to follow. Of course our campaign are always full of surprises so that plan can be adjusted at any time.
We've left Cape Town, and are now in the open sea. The better part of the 2nd mate's job has kicked in - real navigation, not just on paper!
- Nadia
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Comments
Hi Nadia...,
...and thanks for your excellent post here. It's great how we can read more about you and why you became involved with all this. As navigator, I'm wondering if you've seen this relatively new Google satellite earth map? It's not all hi res, but may be useful for zooming into estatuaries and inlets, ...no matter where on earth you are. And well, ...it's kind of fun to play around with too during those long nights at sea. Just scroll down the page, and under Google tools, you'll see a link to 'Earth'. Download that, and while it likely won't replace your charts, you're going to have a lot of fun with it - http://www.google.com/intl/en/options/
Good luck with finding the pirates, ...thousands of starving children are counting on you.
Posted by: Grateful Child at March 2, 2006 1:04 PM
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