I’ve spent this week mostly reading and making notes.
With the exception of a couple of very practical hands on open university modules over the passed two years, Its been a very long time since I had to read, learn and make notes on anything fact or theory based that needs remembering as a fact, not a process.
The process of marine navigation is pretty logical and involves a lot of common sense, geometry and vector maths. All very applicable once I can get a chart & boat and start practicing. Even coastal pilotage is nicely systematic. There are some funny applications and abstract concepts involved in how navigation is derived, but they have little bearing (see what I did there?) on the processes.
Weather theory involves a lot of facts and events that whilst obvious in isolation, take a lot of what I consider abstract thinking. Lots of terminology needs remembering, not something I’m great with until I get familiar with the reality. Reading forecasts and applying real world weather is ok and that’s the main application at this point. Taking a synopsis and creating my own weather picture and considering global patterns to create real weather is another matter..and something I think best left to computers to get wrong, they seem svery good at that in the UK!
By far the biggest tomb I’m yet to dust off is the “International Rules for the Prevention of Collisions at Sea”. Says it all really! 391 pages of highway code for anything that bobs about on the briny. Something to be nibbled at in bites, not chunks! That’s next weeks task.
I hope, with a little review next week prior to heading south, I’ll be confident to get stuck in and spend the course lectures applying and refining this, rather than rushing to pick things up as I go along.
Now, All that’s left is to point the bath tub in the right direction and go somewhere!
Future Adventures 