14th-20th of June 2021

Ok, Hello there! Where did we leave each other last week? Oh yes! Left Kotka for Delfzijl! An interesting loading as we have to be even keel. And finally, a few days sailing to get back into the (or should I say «a»?) Rhythm before we have to wake up early early or late late for pilot boarding and locks, and early morning discharging and and and.

Yes, you got me there. When we sail to Delfzijl there are always a lot of things happening, and unfortunately, we are often on a « shitty » berth…. Where there is no place for a proper gangway, where we have to shift and where at the end of the day when we are ion ballast then the pilot ladder becomes suddenly a very high climbing even! Joking. Nothing is high once you have worked in the rigs of tall ships right? But… carrying provisions on that ladder is never very handy.

The planning of such a day is quite important: provisions in the morning where we are still low enough on the water to not make it a commando or CrossFit exercise to ruin the rest of your day. Especially with the heat announced: over 30 degrees Celsius. Whereas for June, it is not too bad, but when you have not had over 18 for weeks, it is a sudden big change! Even for myself although I love warm and hot weather.

But let’s come back to the night before…. I am getting along too fast and missing the cool steps here!

Arriving in Delfzijl luckily we did not run aground. Ok. That we knew already because of our drafts right? Not more than 5,00m, even keel. But then we had to go through the locks to access the inner channel. That lock is a very narrow lock, but we fit without any problem. In the locks, we get a pilot on board because there is one bridge we need to pass that requires having a pilot onboard…. I always find that a bit strange because if you manage to enter the first locks, why would you not manage the bridge? Apparently, it is more narrow so people (captains?) have more difficulties. Well. Not Captain H. for sure. He is good at maneuvering so it passes very smoothly; probably because he has done this his whole life. Yeah. For sure… But the regulations want us to have a pilot so we have one.

I do not know why, but I like locks. Maybe because you do not need to make fast all lines but just 1 or 2 depending and you are just stand by. It goes fast and there is something to look at: bridges, cars, perhaps people looking at you and taking pictures, people cycling, locks closing and opening, water going up and down. When you think of it the amount of water pumped in and out at a fast rate… it is crazy and quite interesting. It is just like a ballast system: water in and water out.

Once out of the locks, we had a short turn in the channel and went for the narrow bridge. I usually take pictures because I do find them impressive. There is probably 30cm on each side of the ship and we are just sailing through at a slow pace, very carefully, but smoothly. Usually, the captain has the bow thruster on standby to control the bow of the ship at such a slow pace. On the stern, there is no thruster, he used the rudder of course, and together with the propeller he can adjust the stern of the vessel and make it go to port or starboard. According to the « kick ahead » he gives and the angle of the rudder, the stern will move more or less fast. For example: hard to port and from 0% to 60 % propeller for a few seconds ( the « kick ahead ») the stern will move to starboard ( the right side when looking ahead of the ship / to the bow) Of course you have to come back to the neutral position otherwise you will keep on turning and because you are at 60% forward, you will also start sailing ahead, which we do not want. To make it more controlled to pass the narrow bridge you will not give hard-to-port or starboard kicks but, you would be more gentle and subtle.

The Netherlands is also a country with quite some wind sometimes so you also have to be aware that the aft of the ship will catch more wind because of the accommodation building. Like for the tall ships you have masts and yards catching the wind, sails too; well it is the same here you have to think accordingly.

I always find it very interesting to be on the bridge during those maneuvering times because I always try to analyze the way the captain is doing his maneuver and to think ahead: « what would I be doing in his position right now? » I think that thinking ahead of how the ship is reacting is half of the job. But of course, I am only the one observing. I guess you just need to stay calm and know what you are doing right? Like if the ship is going to port and that is what you want then control the speed to stop her in time, when it is not what you want then adjust the rudder to compensate for the direction and adjust. Simple right? Yeah. Well, remember… I am just the observer. 🤪

Ok, so locks passed around 20h and moored an hour later; trust me I was directly into bed after that! Indeed, somehow they decided that we would start discharging the next day at 4 am instead of the usual 5 or 6 am! Really? I thought – or was hoping I would have a nice long sleep and a normal day in the harbour but, not. I had to open up hatched before 4 which meant I had to wake up around 3:15 am…. Way too early. Remember how I was saying last week that I could get very confused with my sleep? Usually, at sea, I go to bed at that time and there just one day I would have to wake up that early. You know I do not mind, of course, I do it, not is my job and it is what is needed for the ship; but I do get totally confused with my sleep sometimes and I usually look forward to long rests. I am not talking about the captain. He sometimes has very tough nights too when we arrive and depart early, of course, he is in charge so he has to be there too. But the other officer actually has the « easiest » normal daily routine in those situations. The good thing is that we can then always count on a « fresh » officer to stay longer and to take over if necessary.

So that morning, after 4 hours of discharging and deballasting, while the crew was waking up, I went back to bed for a few hours. This was going to be a long afternoon with provisions, getting life rafts back on board, a crew change ( the other officer was going home and A. Was coming back on board!), cleaning the hold, and making it ready for the next harbour (Hamburg! So a small day sail!). Yes. Exactly. Busy busy, chop-chop seaman life. 😉

In Hamburg, we had to wait at the waiting berth for a day. This was nice to be able to put in order the new deliveries we had and to enjoy the sun a bit. Of course, no time for going ashore, and not allowed to swim in the river. A pity because it was really warm. I think next time, I will just put on the deck wash hose! And maybe bring a small baby pool too ;-).

We had to bunker fuel, get rid of garbage, sort the new huge medicine box we had just gotten on board, do some greasing on deck, etc etc…. Doing a lot again just to be able to enjoy a nice lazy Sunday in the harbour. Trust me I really took my time to charge my batteries that day! It was really a lazy one walked 20 minutes on the quay before the inspector came for the hold inspection.

We would have to wake up at 4 am to shift berth to the loading quay ( take a short half-hour) and load the soya bean meal. This time not to Hvide Sande but to Aarhus – still Denmark though. So I wanted – needed- to take my time and enjoy.

A busy week, again, but what would we do if we were not right?

Take care and see you next week! :-):-)

Xxx Sophietje