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What does a bosun do? Everything. Maintenance. Sail training. I am responsible for the safety of the rig and responsible for the deck management during all kinds of manoeuvring. What I like most is the freedom, that I can choose when things get done and how. I want that responsibility so that I can do the job and do it properly. I like to make things better. And I like to educate. Both crew and trainees, some are fast learners and some are not. If they are willing to learn, I am also willing to teach. I always start with safety. Safe handling of the winches and the ropes, knowing where the ropes are, and they should know how to hoist a sail. But most important is that the boat needs to be their home. In the beginning, they are guests, but they need to feel at home so that they feel free to play. Only then they can learn. I really like to motivate them to get over that line.
First I wanted to join Masterskip as a biology teacher, but they had enough biology teachers so I joined as interior manager, but then I wanted to be on deck so I became a deckie. When I was asked for the bosun job I really wanted to do it, it was an opportunity.
As a bosun you have to get everything on deck organized in time, to allow for room for learning, for letting people make mistakes. Say that we are tacking. I keep my hands free, it looks as though I am doing nothing although I think my role is very important. I have to watch every detail: who is standing where is everything safe, are there no lines getting stuck. Then if something happens I am free to fix it, or better, send someone else to fix it. But I have to be that step ahead. And I have to know what my crew is capable of. If they make a mistake I feel that I made a mistake, because I asked something of them that they could not yet handle.
Next, to the actual sailing, we do all kinds of maintenance on deck: Ropework, steel work, paintwork, rig work, sail stitching, blocks, winches. What I like the most is not fixing things but improving things. For example, how things run in the rig, finding the ways in which there is the least possible chafing on all those lines. The blocks for the sheets now have little springs under them so that they do not bang into the caprail everytime a sheet slackens. Or the grease nipples that I installed to get grease in places where it did not go before.
A big part of maintenance has to do with rust. It’s everywhere. And I always lose the fight. But I am still fighting. You can clean rust stains away with acid, it’s necessary to keep the boat looking nice, and we make money with a nice looking ship. But you don’t solve the problem. That’s why I don’t like it: it is time-consuming but you don’t improve the situation. Proper de-rusting is needle gunning or hammering all the rust away. Then really look if all the rust is gone. I really enjoy that and I have gotten good at it - I also learnt that many people cannot really distinguish rust from steel. If you de-rust in places that you cannot look into properly, use a mirror. And you always have to think: why is it rusty here? A lot of steel-steel connections can get much less rusty by putting Teflon bushings in between. And if wood is not kitted well onto steel, water and thus rust will be able to get between it. You just always have to look.
The most important thing as a bosun is to always think three steps ahead. What is coming next? Sailing, manoeuvring, sail training, planning maintenance periods and making order lists in time. Think situations through before they happen. In that way, I can facilitate everything that needs to be done.
Time management is hard. There is always work to do and if I take a rest I feel that I am wasting time. I have to learn to get my head around that.
I don’t know but I think sailing is a kind of addiction. You either hate it or you love it. I really like the small community that you live in on board. I get lost in the real world.
If I get bosuning totally figured out it is time to become a mate. And from there onwards. I’m gonna be a captain at some point. First of smaller boats, but then of something like this. That is my goal, to be capable of manoeuvring such a ship completely in the way that you yourself want it. And I don’t just mean the helming, but getting all the people to really sail the ship together. I think that is a great job. I can’t imagine I’ll ever get bored. Sailing is a hard job so if you sail too much it will get difficult. But it will never become boring.
