EDH: Day 2

Tuesday, September 19th, 2006 at 17:39 | by Alistair Baillie

Well that’s Day 2 of EDH finished, today we learned how to use a “Bosons Chair” and how to use the long platform that is used for doing work off the side of the ship (I forget what its called). Fortunately we didn’t do it at any great height, we just had to tie the wooden board to the ropes correctly, then in pairs we had to hoist ourselves up to around 1m from the ground, secure it in place with a knot, wait a few minutes, unsecure it and then gently lower it back down to the ground.

We also had to use the bosons chair to lift ourselves up to around 1m from the ground, secure it in place, and then we had to tie a knot to allow us to lower ourselves back down to the ground safely. Not that there was any risk, but at least we’re not learning how to do it off the side of a ship, or we would of got rather wet.

The afternoon was spent learning about the different types of rope used on ship and what there breaking points were and how to tell them apart. Fortunately if the rope is made in the UK it has a coloured thread run through it which is used to identify what type of rope it is. Unfortunately the UK is the only country in the world that does this, so if the rope isn’t from the UK you’re a bit stuffed.

I’m beginning to notice a worrying fact that sea faring is rather dangerous with ropes breaking and slicing people in the vicinity to pieces, and where not being able to tie a bowler knot can mean life or death if you fall over board.

Fortunately I have finally learned how to tie a figure 8 knot (used to stop the rope slipping through a pulley), bowler knot and double bowler knot, as well as 3 other types that require a railing or bar, but I forget there names.

Tonight is the pub quiz in the student bar, so I’m probably going off to that and tomorrow will be day 3 of EDH and I don’t have a clue what it will involve, but so far its been fun.

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