Warsash Careers Open Day - The Crossing The Line Blog by CharlieDelta
I’m just back from a (slightly infuriating) three hour drive back from Warsash – I’ve found out the hard way that taking the route where you think there’ll be less traffic is not always the best option. Still, I’m home safe and it’s been an interesting and informative day.
On arrival this morning, there were some brief talks about Warsash, its history and the programmes that the academy runs. There were about fifty people there – prospective cadets, parents, friends and those of us confirmed for September/January. Everyone was divided into groups, with the confirmed cadets in a group of our own. We were very well catered for – instead of having the usual presentations about what a deck/engine officer does and so on, we had a seperate talk with the course leaders and some cadets who had recently finished.
The campus tour included the bridge and engine room simulators, engineering workshop, seamanship room, fire school, marine and offshore safety (survival craft) and the accomodation.
The bridge simulator is very interesting – the equipment is all real, and you are immersed to such an extent that you can almost feel the ship moving.
The engine parts of the tour were all hot and noisy, so I’m very happy that I’m going down the deck route!
The seamanship room was very interesting, and one willing September cadet hoisted himself in the bosun’s chair which is no small achievement considering it was like a sauna. Apparently it’s a good idea to do a bit of knot practice before joining, which I’ll put on my to do list. Though I do sometimes have trouble just tying my own shoelaces of a morning.
Marine and offshore safety was another interesting one – they’ve had a new lifeboat simulator installed which is again quite convincing.
We didn’t get a demonstration down at the fire school, though it was interesting to hear from our two cadet escorts about their experiences of the advanced fire fighting course just a week earlier in the baking heat!
The accomodation was, of course, what many of us were interested in, and it was pretty much as expected. The rooms are small, but not tiny, and the views from some are almost worth it. Apparently, there’s a big refurbishment coming up which should make things all shiny and new.
Overall, it was a good day with lovely weather, and I did mention to them that I’m only coming if the weather’s like that year round – wishful thinking! A lot of my questions about “what lies ahead” have been answered and some concerns dealt with. All that remains is to actually get down there and do it – just over two months now!
On my way back I just had to pop down to the docks quickly to see Queen Mary 2 which, to my shame, I had not seen before. Huge just doesn’t do her size justice – she towers over Southampton. It’s absolutely amazing to think that in January I’ll be going to sea, and I could well be on either this giant or any of the ones in the P&O/Cunard fleets. I must admit, it’s a bit worrying - it took me three attempts to pass my driving test and I’m still useless at parking – I suppose it’s probably a good thing that I won’t have to worry about doing the actual parking for some time yet!
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