Classes

To be a Yacht Stew, there are a few requirements that need to be fulfilled. First of all, you have to be STCW certified. This course teaches you all about first aid, firefighting, all basic sea knowledge for emergencies, stuff like that. It was a 5 day M-F course.. from 8 am to 4-5 pm. Long week! I also took a Silver Service course, which teaches you all about how to properly be a slave for the rich and famous. This course isn't required, but makes me look much better on my resume. That course was 3 days, and was well worth it. I learned how to set a table with a million forks and knives, different styles of serving (French, Russian, American, Buffet, Plate..) and also got certified in flower arranging.. who knew! But about the STCW course...

On Monday, it was all classroom, and we learned basic rules and regulations of ships and classifications and blah blah blah, all the boring stuff.

On Tuesday, we continued the boring stuff, but the second half of that day we went to the pool for training. Ever watched the discovery channel and seen those guys jumping in the water in those huge orange/red "gumby" suits for rescues and such? Yup. Had to put one of those on and jump off a 5M diving board, flip over a huge life raft by myself, and prove I could survive in it. I hope to never be in one of those again. Granted I was lost in the damn thing because I wore an adult size and was later told if I was ever in an emergency and needed to wear one I would for sure need to wear a children's size. Awesome, thank you. Then we did more pool training, I had to tread water for a few minutes, swim a few laps of the pool, and do some drills with life jackets on. That was a fun day, I love the water and I learned a lot.

Wednesday was all first aid. It was a long boring day because I already knew most of the material but the teacher was this gorgeous firefighter that was hilarious and made the long day more interesting. My favorite part of that day was pretending like I couldn't find my pulse so that he would come touch me and find it for me.

Thursday was all classroom again, and this was firefighting. We learned SO much in one day about firefighting, all types or "class" fires: A, B, C, D, and K (see I pay attention sometimes). What kind of extinguisher you would use for which class and wow that was a lot of information in one day.
Friday, was the best day of the week. Real firefighting. We put on full suits of bunker gear, covered head to toe, had oxygen masks and all, and fought real fire. They do this training every week with these classes, so these guys know what their doing, but trying to convince me that when I thought I was going to light myself on fire was not going too well. I'm pretty sure everyone hated me that day, it was oddly unlike me the amount of fear I had for this. It wasn't so much the fire fighting part as it was being nervous that my mask wouldn't work and I wouldn't be able to breathe when we were in the fire trailer.

Anywho, they had this red trailer where the fire simulation was. It was a real fire, but definitely in a controlled environment. All suited up, we climbed up a ladder to the top of the trailor, then in groups of 3 and with 2 instructors (real firemen) we climbed down a ladder inside of the burning trailer. You then work together to crawl towards the fire, holding on to the walls and the hose so that you can find your way out. Once we got to the fire, we used the penciling method to drop water quickly and in short bursts above the fire and slightly put it out. We never put the whole fire out, as there were 8 groups of 3 that did this. Mind you, this trailer is pitch black, and 500+ degrees. Lets just say I have a WHOLE new respect for firemen after this, and this was a weak fire. Ha, not my thing, but it was so awesome to experience it. We also practiced using CO2 extinguishers, regular foam ones, practicing dragging a dummy out of a pitch black room, and the good stuff. All the while doing this on a gorgeously beautiful and HOT AS HELL Florida day. Needless to say, it was an amazing experience and I passed and am now STCW certified.

Now about getting a job... :)