peter bassill · operator
$ cat /off-duty/maritime.log

maritime.

Yachtmaster under sail and power, both commercially endorsed, with the ocean ticket on top. Five Atlantic crossings, two ships commanded, three years on the lifeboats, and five years keeping watch from ashore.

Ocean · RYA/MCA Yachtmaster Ocean Yachtmaster · Sail & Power, commercially endorsed Boat · SV Linea, Bavaria 430 Lagoon Atlantic · 5 crossings RNLI · West Mersea, 3 years
$ ls -l ~/tickets/
01 / The tickets

What I hold, today.

The commercial endorsement is what turns a Yachtmaster into a working ticket: skipper of small commercial vessels under the MCA's codes, not only my own boat.

OCEAN RYA/MCA Yachtmaster OceanSkipper on passages of any length, in all parts of the world. Astro-navigation included. current
SAIL RYA Yachtmaster SailSkipper under sail, commercially endorsed. commercial
POWER RYA Yachtmaster PowerSkipper under power, commercially endorsed. commercial
POWERBOAT RYA Advanced PowerboatSkippering a powerboat by day and by night in coastal waters. current
POWERBOAT RYA PowerboatHandling, launching and recovering a powerboat. current
$ whereis linea
02 / The boat

SV Linea.

A Bavaria 430 Lagoon: a 13-metre cruising yacht, built by Bavaria Yachtbau in Germany.

LENGTH
13.1 m
43 ft overall
BEAM
3.96 m
13 ft
NOW
Alcaidesa
La Línea, Spain · across the border from Gibraltar
NEXT
Falmouth
Cornwall · home

She's berthed in Alcaidesa Marina for now, a short walk from the Rock. Soon she moves home to Falmouth.

$ grep -c atlantic ~/sea-time.log
03 / Sea time

Five Atlantic crossings.

Three the correct way, and two the wrong way for the time of year.

In command

$ tail -f /var/log/checkins.log
04 / Keeping watch

The Yacht Checkin Service.

Five years as the shoreside safety and monitoring for yachts on passage.

Crews check in with me while they're at sea, over Iridium, SSB radio, the internet, or whatever else they carry. I'm their safety and monitoring ashore for the length of the passage.

It's the job every passage needs someone to do: know where the boat should be, and notice when it isn't.

IRIDIUMSSB RADIOINTERNETWHATEVER ELSE THEY CARRY
$ history | grep rnli
05 / Lifeboat crew

Three years on the inshore boats.

RNLI crew at West Mersea, on Mersea Island in Essex, between the Blackwater and the Colne.

B-570 Himley HallAtlantic 21. On station at West Mersea from 1987 to 2001. crew
B-761 DignityAtlantic 75. Took over from Himley Hall in 2001 and served until 2014. crew

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