Day Sail Part One

I title this post Part One because I just got home from a sail that made me get up at 6, board at 8, go out to sea till 3:30, then get ready and go to teach a lesson and socialize at youth group.

Seriously, aside from my youth group prep time, this is the first I've been able to sit down. I don't count sitting while socializing on Ottawa while out at sea.

So: waking up and getting there.

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce Bob. I will not meet Bob for some time yet, but Bob is the weather guy for the navy ship Ottawa. When the navy planned a family day aboard ship, they didn't really factor in the weather. If they have to sail in rain... it's Victoria. In Victoria the weather is like a woman in a shoe store where all the shoes are on sale and she's only allowed to pick one. It changes it's mind. Frequently.

So on this fateful day, when my godfather invited me to tour the ship as one of the family, Bob the Weather Guy stated that it would be overcast, dreary, raining, and all around miserable.

It was gorgeous. The water was smooth, the wind just right, the sun shining, and almost no clouds as we set sail up the west coast. During the drills: man over board, helicopter search and rescue, machine gun firing, anything that made us come up from the safety of the bowls of the ship into the warm and wonderful weather, it was glorious.

My godfather often picks on Bob for a reason.

Anyway, so we head out into this beautiful day by watching the ships hand raise the flag. Unfortunately the mike broke, so when the Capt'n stood up to tell us safety measures and his opening welcome speech most of us couldn't hear it. Luckily our family members clued us in after.

My godfather, Martin, works onboard navy ships in the Top Secret, Limited/Restricted Access, Communications Center and Radio. He takes and decodes military, airforce and navy radio signals and passes them on to those who need to know such things. Of the people on his ship of approx 100, only a handful have seen his office... and for today only, so did his family.

We toured the operations room and his work spot. Then he gave us the run down of his work. All over the place Top Secret, Secret, Restricted, and other forms of 'Don't touch us we are important' stickers where posted up on machines and desks. In the corner sat Martins desk, with a big hammer.

The Hammers name was Hammer of Stupid Questions.

Imagine decoding messages, receiving file after file, while your peers constantly come up to you with questions. You ask yourself, 'is this a question worth my time?', 'does this question take priority over top secret government messages?', 'Are you an idiot?', and so forth.

Luckily, if these questions are running through your mind, you have a solution: The Hammer of Stupid Questions.  At any point during this onslaught of meaningless questions, the message receiver can pick up his hammer and bang it on his desk. It pretty much means "Fuck off, I'm Working."

After doing our fun tour, of which I can tell you no more than that there is a room with lots of "Secret" stickers, and a Hammer that smites stupid questions, we head up to the deck to hoist the flags.

Martin has two daughters, Meara and Faith, and two goddaughters, Me and Amber, and his wife Nikki along on the boat today. Of his daughters, I'm a PO2 from 6 years ago before I left sea cadets, Meara is Able Cadet, Amber is a Sargent (i think...), and Faith, little navy league Faith, is a PO1.

If this means nothing to you then lets just say if all my sisters and martin were on the same ship and the same age, then Faith is the highest rank. Even higher than Martin.

Of course her rank is a navy league rank where her age group is from 9 to 12, and she'll have to start over in Sea Cadets and or whichever Core she goes into, but for this moment, in her little uniform, it's fun to think that my 10 year old sister outranked us all.

I will recount the tale of a flying Milk machine tomorrow. It's a good one. :)