Skills

Spent yesterday afternoon learning more about the lifeboat. Boy, is there a lot to learn: some of it technical, a lot of it physical, and getting a knack for some of the gestures needed is quite humbling. Coiling ropes, for instance, so that they will not spontaneously knot, is something which looks easy when you see somebody experienced doing it, but when you try it yourself it is surprisingly laborious and uninstinctive.

One of the skills I must practice and practice is coiling and throwing the light line with the weight on the end, which is used to haul in the real towline onto the boat in distress. I spent about an hour and a half doing this yesterday, and got very wet. It didn't seem to annoy the mullet swimming lazily around the lifeboat, even though the weighted ball at the end (pomme de touline) plopped really hard into the water, at variable and usually derisory distances from our boat. Meanwhile, the local fishermen were looking on with grins of polite amusement.

Quite a long time was spent on familiarising myself with the VHF radio, which has a relatively restricted range - roughly to the horizon. This instruction in its use meant the set was actually on, and listening to the constant squawk of radio traffic made me realise just how much activity is going on in a relatively restricted sector of coast.

Then came paperwork. The chartroom was full of certificates and permits. But what was even more interesting was the instruction manual for burial at sea. Apparently the station makes money to defray its expenses (which are enormous) by proposing the casting of the ashes of cremated loved ones out to sea - in a biodegradable, ecologically certified urn. The 'service' to be read out was not quite my cup of tea (too much artificial sweetener), so I asked who had to read it out. "Not the cox, that's for sure!" was the prompt reply, followed by "I give the orders around here!", which made me think I might have to brush up my French oratorical skills.

Finally, I have been allotted a 'parrain', or godfather, who I am to work with on deck. He will be the one to keep an eye on me and check that I am not endangering myself or anybody else. The parrainage required, you guessed it, a libation (in my case water, in theirs... something a bit stronger).