MIFfed in Oslo: Floating is Nice, But Low Viscosity Also Helps

Recommendation: Qualified Buy

by Geoff Uttmark

“Anything out there to crash into?” queries the Captain gruffly.
“Only Bermuda (or equivalent),” replies the Third Mate.
“No time like the present to find out if this kid can steer.”

So begins the crawl up the hawspipe to captaincy for those whom the sea calls and forever embraces. The course may be a straight pencil line on the chart, but the seismograph-like record penned in ink by the “Iron Mike” bears witness to just how far the ship has gone, and the helmsman needs to go, to actually get somewhere. Mid-ocean manual conning as antidote to sleep on the graveyard watch has now gone the way of many other “quaint” seafaring traditions. The practice did, however, have other merits. It taught, for instance, that even the humbling “wavy line” course with its attendant chiding from shipmates got you to the next sea buoy when your ETA said you would be there. Nothing is ever as simple as it appears, but perseverance does pay off.

This is only an excerpt of MIFfed in Oslo: Floating is Nice, But Low Viscosity Also Helps

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