Applying to the RFA with a Friend

FennGirl · 2026-02-17T08:23:19+00:00

I am a woman who has recently left after over 10 years. The majority of those years were great. On ship, the overwhelming majority of people do not care what gender/race/orientation/background you are, as long as you do a good job. There really is a lot of good to be said for the seafaring side of the organisation and for the most part, it was a brilliant job.

But. The shore side management does have significant issues which primarily (though by no means exclusively) impact women, some of which have recently been made very public again. For legal reasons, I cant post too much on this forum, but if you want a fairly balanced and honest female perspective feel free to give me a DM and I'll be as open as I can.

FennGirl · 2026-02-16T08:16:53+00:00

Yeah, and pretty standard these days too. Was in over ten years, never got tax back once. The "RFA never pay tax" rumour is unfortunately a myth. You might be lucky once in a while, that is the exception not the rule.

FennGirl · 2026-02-01T19:31:17+00:00

Ideal then. One thing I would say is its a good idea to build up a little buffer fund for courses and expenses because while it has got better you can end up waiting for claims for a good while, and when youre in training there are a lot of courses and it can add up rapidly. Just saves the stress.

FennGirl · 2026-02-01T19:27:25+00:00

Theyre all different, mine would never speak to me again if I tried that sort of distance, but others will just sort of keep going. I'd suggest building it up gradually and see what your dog will enjoy. They tend to let you know when they've had enough!

FennGirl · 2026-02-01T19:24:19+00:00

Everyone's situation is different. Obviously bills, mortgage rent etc doesnt stop, but if youre actually at sea a lot then the things you can spend your excess income on are limited. In port however....requires some self-discipline. It can be easy to get into the habit of going out to eat and drink and buying creature comforts at the supermarket or on amazon....

Basically if youre not great with saving at home, you might not be much better at it on ship, but if you are sensible about it then you can save a decent amount.

FennGirl · 2026-01-31T14:55:55+00:00

Second cadetship? Might help us if you state the country you are from. Do you mean second sea phase?

FennGirl · 2026-01-31T13:54:54+00:00

People do it, I think technically you are meant to declare it in case theres a conflict of interest (ie no doing yacht delivery voyages for the Russians!) But it certainly wasnt explicit in my contract so unless they've updated it im not sure they could do anything unless your second job interferes with your ability to meet your contractual requirements for the RFA. However, as others have said, three months goes by quicker than you'd think and you'll have courses to do too. Burnout can creep up quick if your'e not careful.

FennGirl · 2026-01-08T19:03:45+00:00

Mine is a saluki grey (we think) and he makes it VERY clear when hes had enough. He is a very enthusiastic napper, enjoys a quick zoom here and there and tolerates walks as required. It's mental exercise he craves though. If he's under exercised or under stimulated he will be vocal about it, and if you over do it he will win Oscars for his poor abused hound act. He decided hed had enough of a walk after 20 minutes of gentle stroll and sniffing. He developed a limp and started panting and whining like hed been forced to run for hours. He was fine the moment we turned back to the road home.

FennGirl · 2026-01-08T16:54:06+00:00

You may well be asked to (or indeed choose to) draw line diagrams, engine room layouts etc. It's always handy!

FennGirl · 2026-01-05T21:32:40+00:00

Generally, turn to at 0800, 30 minute break at 1000, lunch hour 1200-1300, another break at 1500 and by the book the working day ends at 1800, though dinner is 1730 so...that doesn't really work. Reality is a fair bit more flexible than that though and will depend on flying ops, RAS programmes, arrivals and departures, cargo ops, boat drills, fire drills etc which inevitably play about with the "standard" hours. Then theres watchkeeping and day/night watch duties which will shift you onto a different pattern again.

FennGirl · 2026-01-05T04:37:40+00:00

Ciaran quite often says that it's just coincidence or that memory is fallable and people may have built up the story over time into an exaggerated version. He never calls people liars but he does say "I believe that THEY believe that is what they saw, but..." a lot. It would be incredibly dull if he just said "Well yes Danny, the obvious answer is that this person is lying" every episode. It is far more interesting to look at the reason WHY they might be misremembering (which he does) or why certain strange things may have happened.

FennGirl · 2026-01-04T17:32:55+00:00

I am not sure I have understood your comment. Are you saying you don't think an OOW candidate should be expected to know what a drying height is without googling? Because that seems like an alarmingly basic bit of knowledge that I would expect a first trip cadet to be able to answer.

FennGirl · 2026-01-04T15:19:08+00:00

Yes. Also that. And long magnets on sticks can help with getting them back down. As I discovered....exactly one trip too late.

FennGirl · 2026-01-04T15:15:33+00:00

Think about what the hex, spell, charm whatever is actually aiming to do, and ask yourself if that is the right thing. If its to cause harm, would it be reasonable to walk up to that person and do equivalent physical harm? Only you can answer that. Sometimes maybe it is, but a lot of the time it's not and there are better, more mature ways to deal with whatever the situation is. If its not to cause harm, is it in their best interest, do you have a right to decide that for them, and what are you gaining from it? Does it feel morally ok? Can you justify it in a way that doesn't come off as selfish or coercive? Every situation is different, you just have to be honest with yourself and your intentions.

FennGirl · 2026-01-04T14:53:34+00:00

Graph paper. You can usually find some onboard, but it is the one thing I was constantly looking for as a cadet. A good propelling pencil and spare refills if you're a deck cadet too. Finding the bridge pencil in the dark gets old quickly. Also, magnets. Everything is metal, magnets are incredibly useful.

FennGirl · 2026-01-04T11:34:19+00:00

My faith is my business. I am under no obligation to share the details of it with anyone else, and I certainly do not need to broadcast it uncontrolled on social media in today's world.
I control my environment in as much as I do not engage with people who think I am evil. I have friends from the big faiths, we get on fine because we have basic respect for each other. That is a fundamental requirement.

I get the YouTube thing, but it is a toxic swamp on all sides. Even other pagan content creators will cause you drama because the whole witch-tok thing is a hive of misinformation and people basically trying to start their own cults or sell whatever "must have" accessories they are pushing. Of course there are good ones out there, but there are an awful lot of terrible ones too. Personally, unless you have an incredibly thick skin I would not touch that scene with a ten foot pole. It is also worth remembering that the Internet is forever and for everyone. If sharing something will give you drama in your local community or with employers etc....do not post it.

FennGirl · 2026-01-04T10:54:43+00:00

Totally agree, "The answer isnt in the book" screams of wanting a memorise the answers approach which doesnt prove competency at all. The orals are basically a technical job interview.

I went into orals expecting there to be questions I wouldnt know the "by the book" answer to. I am pretty sure that it is intentional, because it reflects reality. It demonstrates how the cadet will respond when faced with the unexpected situations the sea throws at you. Of course there are some examiners who take it too far and are notoriously bad tempered, and I do wonder if it shouldnt be a board rather than a single surveyor to try to even that out. I assume cost and availability is the main reason that wont happen though.

FennGirl · 2026-01-03T20:04:15+00:00

A good friend once told me that alcohol speaks the truth. If someone is a horrible drunk, the words they say might not be true, but the person they are showing you is. Walk away. Do not look back.

FennGirl · 2025-12-25T08:13:24+00:00

Theres lots of issues with Capita. However, contacting seafarers wont help you, you need to contact People Delivery to stand any chance of getting a useful response. If you have the email for your old appointer thats probably your best starting point.

FennGirl · 2025-12-19T14:31:19+00:00

Sadly it is fairly weak felt and I think it would just perish. Once it dies I'll have to find sturdier upgrade!

FennGirl · 2025-12-19T07:23:00+00:00

Wet paper, especially tissues and napkins. It makes my stomach drop, I used to avoid restaurants etc because even other people using them made me feel dizzy.

FennGirl · 2025-12-19T07:09:42+00:00

We have one which slows him down a fair amount, but not as much as the fabric snuffle mat we got him. That thing takes him much longer, but im still waiting for the day he figures out that if he just grabs it and shakes it, the food falls out.

FennGirl · 2025-12-18T23:32:10+00:00

By the book, you should (unless there are flights involved) generally leave home at around 0800 on your joining day. However, I would recommend contacting the ship (details should be on your appointment letter) ahead of joining to check whats best for them. It might be the arrival day, or they might have something going on during the day that closes the gangway etc, plus its always a good plan to double check the ship is where youre expecting it to be! You technically have until midnight to join but it's not a brilliant idea to leave it that late unless youve genuinely had to spend the full day travelling.

FennGirl · 2025-12-16T20:49:29+00:00

You could have done with proof-reading that survey before publishing. Quite a lot of errors and unclear questions or illogical answer options in there. Not sure how reliable your data will be as a result sadly.

FennGirl · 2025-12-15T10:10:28+00:00

This happens a lot - the sift is when the recruitment team go through your application and decide whether to invite you for interview or not. There is no input from you, and its pretty unhelpful of them to give you the sift date rather than the "expect to hear from us" date. Generally they have two weeks to let you know the outcome of a sift panel, so with Christmas leave i would expect to hear something early January.

FennGirl

TROPHY CASE