My school week ended with a lashing session lasting 1.5 hours..

I am beginning to really love what I am studying, now that the practical side of the education is showing. Yesterday we had lashing exercises, and today we had our most realistic lashing exercise. We were divided into groups, and each group received a MY number and the weight of an imaginary cargo. It was up to us to lash it in correctly. In my groups case, the MY number was 0.45, and the weight was 1000 kilograms. We then had to consult our little green book, and work out how many straps we needed to secure the load as securely as possible.

We worked out, that we needed two to safely secure the load, so we put a pallet on top of the cargo, and began strapping. One person in my group went "Hang on, we need to measure the angle as well. By my calculations, we need two more straps, so four in total. Let's get two more and strap them to the load as well".

By the time we were done, the teacher came around to inspect our lashings. On the first try, my group and I passed, but not without remarks. "Make sure you get the straps as close to the load as possible. What you have done here is good, but if the wood on the pallet is rotten, if the board snaps, the cargo will not be secure. Other than that, nice work!".

By then, break time was upon us. When we came back, we had to untie our straps, move to the left and start over with a new MY number and a new weight. We got the exact same numbers, so we corrected our previous mistake. The teacher was impressed with us, and just how quickly we strapped the load down. We then had to unstrap the load, put the lashing strap and the hook back where we took it from, and then we were finished for the day.

Tomorrow is a day off, which I am looking forward to. I can sleep in! Saturday is the exhibition, so we need to get there for 10 am, which is fine. New trucks, lots of new things to see.. It's gonna be so much fun!