Log for May 13th T/S State of Michigan
And so we're off. Its great to finally be moving after a year of waiting. While classes have been fine, I hung up my spurs as an Automotive Engineer to get out sailing, and its been too long in coming. Now when I walk out back to the fantail and step out onto the deck I actually see something *different* when I look over the port side. We're making way and that's a great feeling.
Right this second actually we are just passing Grey's Reef Light, leaving it to port as we head toward the Straits of Mackinac. I'm sitting in the Officer's Mess (because its quiet and has outlets where I can plug in my notebook) after a long but enjoyable day. I had to get everything moved out of my house here up north in TC in the course of a day and a half, which as always was painful and worse than expected. I don't really even have that much stuff left, and yet it still took forever.
I woke up and biked over to the ship with the last of my stuff at about 0345 this morning. I'm staying in a stateroom with two other cadets (Byron and Cowboy), both of whom I get along with fine, so that's nice. I spent a little time changing out the lock set in my door which was busted and then met up with the Chief Engineer around 0500 to get my orders for the day. The engineers hadn't been put on watch yet, but most were up and available to help get the plant started and ready to leave. It started as typical with coffee, cigarettes and planning. Chief outlined the broad view of what needed to be accomplished and we split up to get it done. I started on getting things secured (making sure that there weren't any loose items in the engineering areas that could shift in a sea) and then headed down to the control room to join the activities there. After a few minor issues and false starts we got two generators up and on-line just a little behind schedule. After that we transferred control to the pilot house, and most of our heavy work was done.
I headed out to the fantail to watch the maneuvering. Not even to flatter the Captain, but it was an impressive thing to watch. It really is quite a big boat for the size of the harbor, and this and the available water makes the exit quite tricky. But just as smooth as you can believe we managed our way out with only very soft nudges along the breakwall (which was within 10 feet almost the entire time). I took this opportunity to grab a quick lunch and get to bed. We have a cook on board from Lansing who's prepared all our meals, with cadet help for prep and cleaning. Its been quite good so far (with very tasty steaks and potatoes cooked on the ships grill). Chief asked me to help him fire up the grill, so you can see my past experience has paid off as well.
This first day I was assigned as a "dayworker" which means rather than standing an engine room watch (4 hours on, 8 hours off; repeat indefinitely) I was working 0800 to 1700 doing basic maintenance, organization and cleanup outside of the engine room. It was fun, but made for a long day. Its now after 2200 and I've only had a couple 2 hours sleep periods in the last day and a half. But It feels great to be out doing something, and I'm already learning more than I did in class. And I'm just as sure as ever that I've made the right choice to come here.
Posted by ktismael at May 15, 2006 4:39 PM