Monthly Archives: February 2013

22/02/2013

Prison Justice

By hairygoose

Where have I been I hear you ask. Still here in Antigua but suffering the heart breaking pain of butting heads with the relief captain who also happens to be the boat manager.  It has left me feeling something of a recluse in fact. Depressing is the best way of describing it.  It seems at every corner, we manage to butt heads which is in direct contrast to the normal captain who is generally a pleasure to work with.

Today I had to clarify if it was the best financial option to pay for everything with my boat credit card when most vendors add the handling fee on top.  Surely with big invoices we are better to pay with a bank credit and save the fees? apparently I was wrong.  I have just paid an $8200 invoice with my card which was then marked up to over $8500 (around $360 of mark up) because apparently it is a little easier than balancing the accounts with a transfer.

Then I got a little nod.  The relief captain also manages the boat.  This includes fund management, which also covers the set up of the credit card. I checked the credit card deals out – they pay a hefty rewards scheme for travel and hotels with card use. So it is perfectly feasible that there is a deliberate action to use the card to boost personal points – even by loading credit cards. To me – this is wrong.  If you were to naturally accrue points would be one thing but to do your best to maximise them and add additional expense to the owner of the vessel is just not on.

Anyway – enough of that bollocks, I am on final countdown to holidays even though they will be taken up with studies for exams that I know I cannot pass.  Wednesday 6th March I will be Europe bound and heading for England and not returning to this side of the Atlantic until the end of March.

My run for fat loss is giving me improved strength and power even if it is not actually helping me burn fat.  Interval training works – and I was a non believer!  I do like to pop on a bit of the old AC/DC too, good tempo and often brings a smile to my face when I listen to those old rockers.

That’s enough for now – just really wanted to let you know I am still alive and kicking.  Off for a scuba all weekend again.

See you soon

Oh – I almost forgot, Prison Justice.  I read this story the other day on the BBC.  Can’t help but think the world might be a better place if more of this stuff went on.

Prison Justice

 

 

 

 

 

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08/02/2013

AC/DC vs Adele

By hairygoose

Some combinations are made for each other, like Cheddar Cheese and Branston Pickle or Apple Crumble and Custard or even Strawberries and Cream but AC/DC followed by Adele should never be heard on anyones playlist while out running, it is just wrong.

The AC/DC songs kind of make me chuckle, especially the ‘Problem Child’ track and I find the tempo good for plodding the trails and pathways but then Adele warbling on about chasing pavements just spoils the pace. Even trickier with sweat covered ear buds that keep popping out with every heavy pound.

It´s been a good week on board.  Shore power faults found, Straub clamps arrived for the main engine salt water intake and fingers crossed, my bad boy generator has now been on line for 8 hours.  I was reluctant to add that last bit as every time I write a note about it, it fails again.  My mark to beat is 10 hours, so by 20:30 this evening I can begin to get a little excited.  Better still, if it is still going in the morning, I may just leave it on all weekend to really prove it. Spares are en route from Rhode Island for the Nº 1 generator and pretty soon I could have this boat up to standard me thinks – then to really piss me off, we have to let the spanish take it apart again to work on it and that will mean another 6 months of putting things right.

My scales also told a very pretty story tonight – 92.5kg, that is my best yet.  Maybe this run for fat loss nonsense is actually working.

Weekend is here again which means scuba diving or surfing.  In fact tomorrow will start with a scuba at the slightly later time of 10:30, a couple of easy dives with some newbies and then a run in the evening.  If there are signs of swell, I will try to talk the deck boys into blasting around to Rendezvous beach to check out the surf.

I am of course officially now on count down – my flight leaves Antigua on 6th March and I don’t return until the 30th March.  Well honestly, I won’t return until December really as I have to meet the boat again in St Lucia.  If I am very lucky, I might get to dive there too – I am told that it is superb.

 

That’ll do for now.

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03/02/2013

R4FL

By hairygoose

First day of the fat loss programme, just wanting to shift that last 4 (ahem) kilos and hit the magic 90Kgs. I am by no way a technophobe but I hate it when there are tick boxes or selections for options but what those options do or how they affect your programme is never explained.  Everyone does it, Apple, Windows, any other software manufacturer you can mention – tick this option but I am not going to tell you what it does, most of the time it is hard to see the difference between the options until all of your data is gone or changed.

So I started my 30 minute programme which was pre-loaded into my runkeeper.  5 minutes warm up and then 30 minutes at 70% max heart rate but did the app tell me when the warm up ended ?  Of course not – so now I have to fiddle with the damn audio cue options to try and figure it out. No doubt I will be half a dozen or more runs in before I get it settled down all because no-one thinks to explain how it works before you start using it.

Double dive this morning and a trip to the beach this arvo to check the surf.  Yesterdays surf was a little better but nothing compared to the surf I had while the bird was here (who is also currently riding camels in Dubai).  Found a dead nursing shark today too, upside down in a cave.  Gave it a tug on its tail but it was definitely brown bread.

Yesterday I also fixed the Go Pro to the front of the BIC.  I switched it on and left it filming for what was probably an hour of trying for the elusive one. Wasn’t until I was paddling back to the beack that I realised it was in fact on stand by rather than record.  Probably for the best as the surf really wasn’t all that.  I was also wearing a real ‘Jams’ from Honolulu – but don’t worry, I have more.

Another week at work beckons but I will soon be in Europe once more.  My flight leaves Antigua on March 6th and I won’t return until 30th when I head for St Lucia.  Once there, final preparations for the sail across the Atlantic to Mallorca.

Life is exciting isn’t it?

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