As this world voyage in the Picton Castle is almost on the home stretch and our gang both keen and accomplished, we have set up an extra series of workshops for the long tradewind passage from South Africa to the West Indies in order to hone skill sets – many of our crew seek to sail further in ships of all types – here what we intend to cover is laid out below. If you are intending to work in ships professionally or even go crusing in a serious manner these are all important things with which to be familiar or better. In addition to the below we will, naturally, keep up with ship’s maintenance and sail handling as well as all the myriad duties for seafarers in a sailing ship at sea.
Professional Advancement Curriculum
Barque Picton Castle
South Atlantic Crossing 2011
Professional Advancement Overview
-Open to Any Crew Member-
This four week course of intensive instruction, to take place while underway from Africa to the Caribbean has been designed to focus and hone skill sets and competency in important areas of shipboard operation that the Barque Picton Castle and her officers are in a position to teach. This is based upon the premise that most of the crew have already developed a high level of familiarisation with much of the subjects. It will be a focused introduction and hands-on training in small groups for any crew member who is interested in advancing his or her skills professionally and rounding out their training to take forward to their next ship or vocation. It will require a full commitment and will be conducted and prepared for on the crew member’s off-watch. Assigned readings will be completed before each lesson as to bring a familiarity to the topic beforehand. Books will be made available in the tween-decks salon, where they shall remain for the duration of the course.
In short, we believe this will be a valuable opportunity for those wishing to further their career at sea or those who seek to acquire skill sets more seriously, not only for the hands on-lessons but also the focused daily study and book resource familiarization. Again, we ask for a full commitment for the entirety of the course, as this is a fair amount of effort on the part of all of us. However, some individual lessons within this course are likely to be covered during in-port or at-sea workshops. Regular ship workshops in ship technology skills will still be held.
Engine Room
– Outboard motors and Marine Engines
Fuel Mixes, 4 stroke vs 2 stroke, flushing, fuel manifold, cleaning and greasing, spark plugs
Assigned Reading: RYA Outboards pgs 4-11, 28-32, and 33-39 and Nigel Calder’s Diesel Engines pgs 1-11
– Marine Toilets
Overhaul, preventive maintenance, valves, rubber gaskets
Assigned Reading: Jabsco Manual
– Plumbing and Pumps
Check valves, gate valves, piston pumps, bilge pumps, priming, power
Assigned Reading: Nigel Calder’s Marine Systems pgs 358-364, 382-385, 388-391
– Generators
Starting up, maintaining a charge, volts and amps, amp hours
Assigned Reading: Chris’s Electrical Crash Course, Calder’s Systems pgs 48-50, 198-200, and 42-43
– Stoves and Boilers
Fuel lines, fans, heat exchangers, maintenance, overhaul
Chart House and Navigation
– Communication
VHF, MF, Inmarsat C, Navtex; range, application, propagation
Assigned Reading: Chapmans Chapter 24; pgs 544-558
– Radar
Tuning, gain, sea, rain, EBL, VRM, relative motion, true motion, squalls
Assigned Reading: Chapmans Chapter 25; pgs 565-568
– Collision Avoidance
CPA, TCPA, Radar plotting sheets, ARPA, visual bearings, rules of the road
Assigned Reading: Marine Radionavigation pgs 232-240 and Chapmans Chapter 7
– WX Observation and routing
Reading sea state, accurate wind estimation, prevailing winds, sea breezes, land’s effect on local winds, global circulation
Assigned Reading: Aux Sail Operations Chapter 12 and Chapmans Chapter 14
– Plotting and Piloting
Running fix, relative bearings, special case bearings, chart symbols
Assigned Reading: Chapmans Chapter 20
Rigging and Sailmaking
– Seizing
Renew seizing around deck; flat, round, racking, strop a block
Assigned Reading: Sam Svenson’s Handbook of Seaman’s Ropework pgs 134-144
– Ratling down
Rig up plank to stand on, work from left to right, heave clove hitches tight, proper ratline seizing
– Use and application of cordage
SWL, BS, classification of wire rope, characteristics of different types of rope, loads on tackles
Assigned Reading: American Merchant Seamans Manual (AMSM) Chapters 1 and 2 and Sam Svenson pgs 13-38
– Seaming
Flat stitch, round stitch, herringbone, baseball,
Assigned Reading: Sam Svenson pgs 156-168
– Wire Splicing
Assigned Reading: Sam Svenson pgs 145-155
Deck Maintenance
– Paints and coatings for steel and wood
Mixing, thinning, theory, surface preparation for steel, different types of paints, varnishing, deck oil, epoxy
Assigned Reading: Sam Svenson pgs 169-185 and AMSM Chapter 7
– Steel work
Cutting, grinding, fairing, oxygen and acetaline, welding theory
– Deck Gear
Windlass operation and maintenance, steering gear, Edison deck pump,
Assigned Reading: AMSM Chapter 8
– Carpentry
Tool use and application, tool sharpening, fasteners, wood types
Assigned Reading: Boatbuilding Manual pgs 19-45
– Caulking
Reefing, oakum, cotton, laying pitch, caulking irons, large caulking projects
Small Boat Seamanship – While In Port
– Coxswain Monomoy under oars
Proficient in use of commands, competent at docking, close quarters maneuvering
Assigned Reading: Knights Modern Seamanship pgs 239-253 and AMSM Chapter 11
– Coxswain Sea Never Dry under sail
Correctly set mainsail, trimming boat, sail on and off the dock, jibe, chicken jibe, actions to take if swamped
Assigned Reading: Knights Modern Seamanship pgs 228-236, AMSM Chapter 12, and Aux Sail Operations Chapter 6
– Skiff Driving
Beach landing, coming alongside in seas, making up a tow
Assigned Reading: Chapmans Chapter 9
– Be prepared to practice a great deal in small boats among the islands of the Lesser Antilles, Eastern Caribbean.
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