Getting to Know You, DECEMBER** 2021 Edition

[Iridil]

On 12/1/2021 at 4:54 AM, TGP said:

DEC 1

Is going on a cruise something you’d consider doing? If you’ve never done that, what was the longest voyage on salt water you have ever made?

I just can't see myself taking a cruise.... even before COVID the idea of the germy stew and the captivity... and well just no

 

I think my longest sea journey was the ferry across the English channel (can't remember how long) I was young and slept on the floor....

[redambrosia]

On 12/2/2021 at 6:28 AM, TGP said:

DEC 2

Christmas decor: …Are you tired of seeing it yet? About how long have the stores near you been festooned with forests of little trees? Do you have a tree up of your own?

Haha! Tired of it?? Gods no! It looks like Christmas threw up in our house! My goal is to be that crazy lady that has a bazillion boxes of Christmas decor for both inside and outside the house. 
 

I freakin’ LOVE Christmas!!!!

 

I think the stores started getting Christmas stuff in about the beginning of October around here, most people didn’t start putting decor out until after thanksgiving.

 

I waited until the day after thanksgiving to start decorating my house for Christmas.

 

13 hours ago, TGP said:

DEC 3

Emergency preparations: do you practice for emergencies?

Not outside of work, no. I have been improving my emergency supplies though, as at least I have that going for my family.

[TGP]

17 hours ago, TGP said:

DEC 3

Emergency preparations: do you practice for emergencies?

Currently: no not really.

No exercises, no run thrus, not so much as an air raid drill. 
 

Preparedness: is a different thing. I confess to having a stash of water in bottles and some canned food about. 
 

Might be a good idea to do more. 

[TGP]

DEC 4
Who here has ever been in a storm at sea; what is the foulest storm you’ve been in?

[Auberon]

4 hours ago, TGP said:

DEC 4
Who here has ever been in a storm at sea; what is the foulest storm you’ve been in?

 

Nope.  Midwest thunderstorm. Lighting, tornadoes, the usual.

[Great Khan Artist]

5 hours ago, TGP said:

DEC 4
Who here has ever been in a storm at sea; what is the foulest storm you’ve been in?

 

Nope, no ocean here. 

 

We've had some humdingers, the mountains create some fabulous storms. I think the scariest one was when the tornado touched down just outside of Lethbridge. It was only a few blocks from our house at the time. It was really ominous, you could see the sky turning circles and the clouds were actually angry sea green. 

[Chaoswolf]

5 hours ago, TGP said:

DEC 4
Who here has ever been in a storm at sea; what is the foulest storm you’ve been in?

I have. Depending on how bad the storm is, it makes for some great sleeping weather.

 

I don't know/remember. There have been several hurricanes while at sea, many more while on land, and lots of snowstorms. The first one I remember was Hurricane David, back in the mid 70's. The schools let out all of the kids for safety's sake, but in my case, they kinda dropped the ball; no one was home, so I was stuck outside in the weather for a fair while. I lived in Massachusetts during the Blizzard of 1978, that was a pretty big deal.

[Pezler the Polychromatic]

6 hours ago, TGP said:

DEC 4
Who here has ever been in a storm at sea; what is the foulest storm you’ve been in?

Despite being a landlocked province, when I was growing up we had the highest number of sea cadets. Still no ocean here, though. And prairie thunderstorms are the norm here, though the genuine ice storm we had here this Spring was a doozy.

[Cranky Dog]

6 hours ago, TGP said:

DEC 4
Who here has ever been in a storm at sea; what is the foulest storm you’ve been in?

First time I took the overnight ferry from the mainland to Newfoundland, the sea was a bit choppy, but not stormy. You could feel the huge ship sway, but it was gentle.

 

I've seen a few nasty storms in my life. Mostly snowstorms in which I was stuck driving through. Low visibility. Poor traction. Can't properly see the where the road lane is and where the ditch is, so you aim for the general center line and drive slowly. It requires a lot of patience.

[Inarah]

6 hours ago, TGP said:

DEC 4
Who here has ever been in a storm at sea; what is the foulest storm you’ve been in?

 

I went out on a Maine fishing boat trip in a we bit of a bluster one summer, with a friend.  It wasn't a big storm, as Atlantic  storms go, but it was a smallish ship.  Waves were getting big, boat was rocking horribly from side to side and fishing was impossible.  The rest of the passengers had been drinking beer since dawn and were vomiting over the side.  I asked one of the crew where lifejackets were stored.  My friend doubted the necessity but I was taking no chances.  I can't swim.  We descended into the cabin as yet another wave took us in it's not-so-tender care, and found ourselves grabbing for handholds just to keep feet on the floor.  The boat dropped into the trough of a wave and then tilted, riding up the side of the next one and we found ourselves hanging onto the wall, looking down, out of a port hole on the opposite wall, at the water below us, just for a second, and then we dropped into the next trough between waves.   All doubts gone, we scrambled into life jackets and rode out the weather back to port.  Where we staggered into the local fisherman's diner and ordered the biggest fried breakfast platter they had. 

 

[malefactus]

7 hours ago, TGP said:

DEC 4
Who here has ever been in a storm at sea; what is the foulest storm you’ve been in?

 

I have. I thought is was exciting but that was when I was in my teens & firmly believed in my own immortality.

THE WORST was the Winter of '09-'10. We had lots of snow, single digit temperatures, AND no heat in the house.

[Glitterwolf]

On 12/3/2021 at 4:32 PM, TGP said:

DEC 3

Emergency preparations: do you practice for emergencies?

 

Military here...so yeah at work...quite frequently.

At home, no drills but I made sure everybody knows the safe way to exit the house in case of fire and which alternate ways out if the fire has reached the stairs.

Having a house with flat roofs helps a lot.

 

8 hours ago, TGP said:

DEC 4
Who here has ever been in a storm at sea; what is the foulest storm you’ve been in?

 

Never been in a storm at sea.

As for landbased the usual thunderstorms, hail and rain..

[ttuckerman]

9 hours ago, TGP said:

DEC 4
Who here has ever been in a storm at sea; what is the foulest storm you’ve been in?

No storm at sea.  The worst storm was probably just over 71 years ago.  Can't tell you much because I was a newborn.

[paintybeard]

On 12/3/2021 at 5:35 AM, TGP said:

OK. I’ll bite, why did your ship go the Looooong way?

 

(Osaka, Japan to Kuwait is 7800~ nm for the whole voyage, if going via Singapore then past India. Osaka just to Cape Horn alone is 9000+ nm.)

 

2 changes of orders during the voyage. First stop was meant to be Ecuador. That got changed to US Gulf (but we were too big to go through Panama) and once we had got into mid-Atlantic it changed again to the Arabian Gulf. I sweated conkers over whether we had the fuel to do this. 

On 12/3/2021 at 12:15 PM, Chaoswolf said:

In that case, it would be the deployment right after 9/11. We were at sea for 92 days from leaving home port to pulling in to another port.

 

Where did you go to waste 3 solid months?

On 12/3/2021 at 3:32 PM, TGP said:

DEC 3

Emergency preparations: do you practice for emergencies?

 

As I am currently with RNLi I do little else.

[paintybeard]

10 hours ago, TGP said:

DEC 4
Who here has ever been in a storm at sea; what is the foulest storm you’ve been in?

Where do I begin?

Swinging the lamp:

Was stuck behind Hurricane Katarina for 2 days off Yucatan, a few days before it got to Florida, even a 250.000 ton tanker could not move against that.

Been in big ones of Capes of Good hope and Horn, nasty ones in Sea of Japan and Japan, but probably the worst was the sudden onslaught of a Mistral in the Mediterranean. Lost the Main Engine and went beam on in Force 10 on that one.