Through Fire and Water

I am BACK!!! I have just returned to Winnipeg after completing my BST/STCW Training in Mobile, Alabama. In layman's terms, a marine safety course that is internationally recognized. It was a very interesting course, and even more interesting were the people I was able to meet. Many stories were told and some good laughs had too!

The training consisted of three stages, first aid, marine fire fighting and personal survival skills. The first aid was pretty standard with not too much to tell there, but the other two topics were very interesting. For those of you familiar with my wild spirit, the course seemed to be tailored to me. As you can see in the photos, we donned the heavy professional safety gear of fire fighters, complete with an oxygen supply. We set a bunker on fire and entered as teams of three men operating the hose, each taking our turn at the nozzle. I thought it would be hot, but I had no idea just how hot it really was. With the fire raging ahead of us and smoke obstructing our view, we plunged into the smoke and maneuvered our way close to the fire. It was intense, just the way I like it.

What really surprised me was the heat threshold that seemed to divide the room. There was a very clear division between the smoke and the clear area below where we preferred to work. More surprising was the division of the heat. If you were to place an un-gloved hand two feet from the floor, you would feel relatively no heat but as soon as you raised to to three and four feet, it was suddenly and explicitly unbearable. Now I truly understand the reason why they tell you to crawl.

Then came the survival skills. This involved a lot of theory which I will not burden you with. A more worthwhile note is the water training we embarked upon. The goal: survival in the case of an abandoned ship. We had one minute to put on our exposure suits and then had to leap into an inflated and covered lifeboat - seven men in a six man boat. Sounds simple right, first you must understand what an exposure suit is like to truly understand the difficulty of the situation.



Recall Gumby, the large and bulky stick figure that was grossly un-proportionate and could be bent into any shape? Swap out the green colour for red and you are good to go -- the exposure suit. In this suit one might be able to last hours in the frigid arctic waters and float extremely well. Sealed tight the suits trap air around you and keep you dry, and in a matter of fact, rather comfortable. There were a number of tasks we were assigned to do; jumping into lifeboats from variable heights, exiting the lifeboat, water entry into lifeboat, and righting an overturned lifeboat. Even in the pool this was all more difficult than it sounds never mind the added struggle against weather and waves crashing down upon you.

All in all this was a very informative and surprising adventure involving a pleasant mix of class and trial. I feel more confidant in my abilities to handle a crisis aboard a ship and while hopefully never needing these new found skills I would still be ready to employ them in a heartbeat if the need ever arose.

This Thursday, the 21st we are off to Benin, Africa! We are so excited and really ready to be on board the ship. Keep checking the blog for updates and information.