Frag Out! Magazine

THE FIGHT AGAINST BOREDOM It is a common misbelief concerning the endless fight with the Somali pirates and seeking a shield against a barrage fire. The majority of time during contract is a certain routine, both during a transit while maintaining security and when staying on the platform. In the vessels we secure we are on duty on the bridge, watching a horizon through the binoculars and from time to time using a ship radar with a permission of officers (certainly, they will appear some malcontents who will cook up that it is untrue, but it is a waste of time to have personal squabbles with them). If we work fair and square, for sure our vision will sharpen and we will be able to notice little spots on the horizon in the short time after beginning a contract. Sometimes there are announced the doubled watches, especially in the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC) in the Gulf of Aden and in the Bab El Man- deb strait – depending on the speed of our ship it may last for one or several days (statistically, the fastest are the container ships, and the slowest are the tankers) - what has an impact of the fati- gue of the entire team. A duty during a transit is very simple and usually for a 4-person team it is provided according to the below specified shcedule: three hours of duty, nine hours of break (that is six hours of work during 24 h). The meals are delivered usual- ly: 07:30 a.m. – 08:30 a.m. breakfast, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. dinner, 5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. supper. So, if we want to have a full board we must do that at the expense of a sleep or ask colleagues for a 10-minute change. On the ships there are rooms which may be described as a community centre where one may find a TV set with a player and hundreds of the phenomenal movies … from India or Pakistan. On the majority of the vessels there is a better or worse equipped gym, someti- mes with a ping-pong table. Sometimes people who take with them their own exercise equipment (rubbers, TRX, etc.) can be met. There is a lot of time so the training effects will be visible after one contract. The ubiquitous rice and chicken are also a kind of diet which helps to improve an appearance. It would be a pity to waste time for the movies, so we may recom- mend the e-book readers, such as, e.g. Kindle, for the book lovers what significantly decreases a weight of our luggage and gives a possibility to possess a practically unlimited amount of the bo- oks. Very valuable are also easily available audiobooks which are very useful when it is not possible to read books. It can shorten many extending hours… It is necessary to take with you the additional headphones – the wire usually brake after exposure to sunlight and salt and in the middle of the Indian Ocean it is hard to find a find a shop with electronics. On the platforms we will have a possibility of fishing what is a great attraction. Let's remember that there are people who for the most of these pleasures will pay large amounts of money, and catching a barracuda, a mahi-mahi or a shark may deliver a gre- at deal of pleasure. So, there are sometimes the lovers of fishing who for the further contracts take their own improved sets for fishing sea monsters. While on the land, it is worth to sightsee, buy tropical fruit and fish – as well as use the local diving cen- tre – remembering first and foremost about one's own safety and considering a flight departure date (!). MARSCE

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