Fw: A watch keeper life 02.00am 20th May N39:53.44 E011:47.16
Tioram 4
Tina & Tony
Mon 19 May 2014 23:59
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It,s 2.00 am on Tuesday morning and just had the
change of watch. Pete is off to bed. Another still night with just a light
breeze from the south. Not enough to sail so motoring on. There are few small
rain showers showing up on the radar to port which we will miss together with a
610ft long criuse ship called the DIMONIOS (a small one by modern standards, the
new ones are double this lenght) 14.7 miles away steamng our way at 20
konks which will pass behind us at a distance of 5.25 miles. Her destination is
Napoli. I should see her clearly as we cross her path. We get all this
information from our AIS system on the boat, its now a matter of monitoring the
instruments and marking sure that she does not alter course towards us. If I
detect a change of direction I will call her on the radio and ask her to comfirm
that she is aware of our position via her radar and ask her to stay clear of
us as she passes. This is all part of being on watch, night or day. A
constent monitoring of radar and AIS for approaching traffic. The Med is a busy
place.
A good night to all
Tony
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