-Mr. Ben Lynford is a Lighting Technician working on different productions on-board a cruise ship.  Stay tuned over the next few weeks as he blogs about his experiences at sea.

I’ve now been on board the ship for a week and have begun taking over the day to day responsibilities from the outgoing Lighting Technician.  This is the biggest light rig I have ever worked with, there are 36 VL 2500’s and 16 Cybercolors and around 40 conventional fixtures, many with color scrollers in the main lounge.  Controlling this rig is a Grand MA Light desk.

The biggest part of my job will be maintenance, cleaning and repairing the fixtures when the lounge is not being used.  There are large production shows in the lounge that are performed every cruise, but these are all pre-programed and all run on time code so there is not much that I have to do for the lights during the show once the time code starts.  The biggest job I have during the run of two of the Production Shows is loading and firing the pyrotechnics, I have taken and passed the certification test and once I get my official card I can begin loading and firing.  Because of the inherent danger with pyro, safety and safety procedures are very important.  The pyro is also run by time code, but there is a “dead man pickle” with two triggers that have to be held down when the time code tells the pyro to fire.  This is to ensure that the area is clear when the pyro goes off, and nobody gets hurt.  One of the biggest challenges with the pyro in the cruise setting is on this cruise the shows are performed twice in one evening at 7 and 8:45.  The shows last about an hour, so before the first show there is an hour to load the pyro on stage but for the second show there is only 45 minutes, and by the time more of the audience leaves that 45 minutes is cut down further.

The hardest thing I have done so far is taking down a VL 2500 cleaning it and replacing a logic card and putting the light back up in the air.  Normally, this is not all that difficult but on a ship, the shakiness of the Genie Lift is made worse when the ship is rocking back and forth.  In the past outriggers where sometimes not so important, but here they are crucial.  In addition, things are all secured in case of bumpy weather and not convenience, so the jumpers for a fixture is not necessarily in a position that is easy to reach, and it’s not moving!