To all the windsurfers who work the grave yard shift.We get to sail great locations during the week with no interuptions or water polictics.
Plan for your days off , check out the forecast.
That is part of the deal.
0300hrs in the morning- body clock is slighly out of wack.
What do reckon MrRudd is up to at this present moment- captain pugwash.
Still on a adrenlind rush from the last two days of sailing.
Sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

shift work is were its at. living the dream.

we have just started 12 hour shifts at work, so will get 4 days a week off, or to put it in other terms i will have to work 12 days a month :), oh im just thinking of the amount of windsurfing i can get done next summer.

NO way ! I did 5 years of 11pm to 7 am and at the time I though this is great all the windsurfing I get to do I used to enjoy heading home seeing all those people going to work. But when I stopped nights. WOW. I couldn't believe how much more alert and better I felt and I could sail for longer had more stamina, was less tired and better coordinated. Id never do it again.

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rob1977 said...

shift work is were its at. living the dream.

No work is living the dream! Few hiccups with being able to buy food but lots of free time!

I'd like to shift work; shift it to somewhere warm and windy!!

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Krisiz1 said...

rob1977 said...

shift work is were its at. living the dream.

No work is living the dream! Few hiccups with being able to buy food but lots of free time!

grow your own food?
do ''special jobs'' for ppl to get the other essesntials haha

I'm on 3 weeks holiday so I'm getting out on the bay during the week. Usually find I'm the only one there. Noone else to chat with
BUT it is winter in Melbourne. Probably appreciate it a lot more if I had 3 weeks off in February.

I reckon shift work is great. I can be fast asleep, whilst the wife is doing some crap work somewhere, at night

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Rider5 said...

NO way ! I did 5 years of 11pm to 7 am and at the time I though this is great all the windsurfing I get to do I used to enjoy heading home seeing all those people going to work. But when I stopped nights. WOW. I couldn't believe how much more alert and better I felt and I could sail for longer had more stamina, was less tired and better coordinated. Id never do it again.

I agree with this. As someone who does 12 hour shifts and just finished 4 nights in 6 days, I think people shouldn't take on the decision to do it lightly. I actually feel so much better when on leave. I mainly do it for the money. Once the need for the extra money has gone, I'm looking to get off 24 hour shift work.
Also consider the health risks like 3 times more likely to get cancer etc.

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nobody said...

Rider5 said...

NO way ! I did 5 years of 11pm to 7 am and at the time I though this is great all the windsurfing I get to do I used to enjoy heading home seeing all those people going to work. But when I stopped nights. WOW. I couldn't believe how much more alert and better I felt and I could sail for longer had more stamina, was less tired and better coordinated. Id never do it again.

I agree with this. As someone who does 12 hour shifts and just finished 4 nights in 6 days, I think people shouldn't take on the decision to do it lightly. I actually feel so much better when on leave. I mainly do it for the money. Once the need for the extra money has gone, I'm looking to get off 24 hour shift work.
Also consider the health risks like 3 times more likely to get cancer etc.

The need for extra money will never go! You have to work out when it's time to live before it's all over. It took me until 42yo to work out that there is more to life than chasing the extra buck! I had 4 kids in a private school whose peers had everything from their own planes to BMW's but my kids were happier after we sold our business and had me home every night than the trappings of the extra quids! I understand you have to establish yourself financially but no-one goes to their grave wishing they'd worked harder!

As a long time shift worker(paramedic) There is no doubt a happy medium. the advantage is: long weekdays of windsurfing downside has been stated above but ..not everyone is cut out for shift work. In the end those who have never done it will never understand it those who can hack it will reap the rewards!

I worked shift work most my life. I went to do a monday to friday job for 2 years and could not wait to get back to shift work, lost a few good sailing weekends but also gained a few midweek sails when others were at work which meant less traffic to contend with on and off the water!

I worked nights for 1 1/2 years with plenty of sailing.
A couple of times I sailed Scarbs all arvo then off to work pulling 14 hours ,then on the way home the golf course looked good so played/walked 18 holes. Then home to bed but the seabreeze just kicked in so all arvo sailing Scarbs again then straight to work for another 14 hour shift, man, was I knackered.

I used to work 2nights/2days/ four off
nights were sleeping shifts and no work was expected on nights! (allowed) Had some beds and big recliners. Used to get to work at 5.30pm cook up a feast and then settle down in the recliners and have some ice cream and watch a movie or some tv. Every second hour some 5 minute checks in the control room. Off to bed at whenever with 1 person out of 3 (so every third nightshift) taking it in turns to get up every second hour till 3am and do a 5 minute check.
so I worked 2 days out of 8 and if i wanted some time off I took four days out of my 30 and got a 12 day weekend! Couldn't windsurf much but because I was in darwin and there's bugger all wind there.

agree with what others have said though. a few times we had some breakdowns and I'd only get a small amount of sleep - I was so buggered and didn't think it was worth it. I might have been a bit soft though!