25th of September – 3d of October 2021

There I am back on board again!

It seems to me it has been so so long… because indeed I flew home the last term around the 5th of July and it seems that I had é extra weeks of leave!

Of course, it is all good because I had to catch up on some rest time… I will not complain! ;-). I flew to Klaipeda in Lithuania. This was quite an interesting crew change because the ship was delayed in the harbour because of very strong weather in the Baltic – let’s just be honest here: I was not looking forward at all to the rolling and all! I stayed 1 night and one day in Klaipeda, where lucky enough for me I got the chance to go for a walk between the rain drops and do some small sightseeing in the old town.

I found it cute! The annoying part was that I was just waiting the whole day, ready to join the ship; and from the moment I saw them approaching the berth and the moment I got the call from the agent to be picked up and go through immigration, seems like aaaaggggges. And if you know me well enough, I hate waiting and losing my time. Probably because I like to have it all planned ahead and to know what is or should be happening, when how and why…. Maybe it was also because I had no idea what the situation would also be onboard: would we be loading directly upon arrival? Or only the next morning? This is important information. Indeed as chief officer, my night watch starts at midnight and finishes at 4 am. But imagine having a long day of travel, a bad night in a hotel, a day of waiting; not knowing if you will be called any minute and checking your phone oh too often to track the ship’s AIS….. well, trust me, you are not fit at midnight!. And this is what happened: I arrived onboard at 21:30, got a quick handover and directly went to bed for a couple of hours rest before showing up at midnight, trying my best to be happy Chappy and smiley…. I was the « fresh crew » arriving on board so you are not supposed to complain about being tired…😂 

Also, another thing that was making me quite nervous was the new ( for me) captain that was onboard! I do not know if you see what I mean, but it is like having a new boss now and then. You never really know if they will like the way you work, if they will be strict, not strict, relaxed, picky, strange or whatever. But mainly, just like if your working style will fit with theirs. I noticed I really get nervous about these things. It is probably because I come from the sailing world – not because of the sailing but more because these are two completely different worlds…- and that I, therefore, feel like I have to prove myself over and over which is quite exhausting. Although it is now 2 years that I am onboard Ruyter – and of course, I am still learning who isn’t right?- but some tasks and now way understood and I think I am pretty well on the job. But I still have the feeling that I need to « catch up » the times I spent on board tall ships, compared to those that are my age and have only sailed these coasters since out of school and are now of course captains ( of course 😉 ). It sometimes feels like I am behind on where I should normally be, or supposed to be regarding my age.

You get me right? But To be honest, maritime studies are not the only thing I have in my background, and I am quite proud of the jobs and studies I have had previously sailing cargo ships. Anyways… this should probably be a topic in my « thinking further » section….

So I arrived on board, a bit chaotic for me in the sense of dropping my belongings in my cabin, meeting my reliever, meeting the « new for me » captain, assessing the situation and the ship’s status, and starting my night watch. You know what? In the end, it went all fine! Of course, it did. And the bonus was that because of the weather, the harbour was « closed » so we stayed in for the weekend…. And were very lucky to go to town in Klaipeda and have some fun on Saturday evening.

I was lucky, I had the chance to visit the old town during the day and visit the clubs during the night! It almost felt like a short holiday!

From Klaipeda, we sailed to Kalajoki, in the Gulf of Bothnia with over 3000t of Triticale. Kalajoki. Funny name. But like all Finnish names! I had never been there. The harbour was small but very clean and organized. When I woke up that early morning to open the hatches, I had a nice chat with the surveyor. He was saying that it was the first time they were discharging this cargo in this harbour. How cool! Can you imagine? We were the very first to discharge this grain from Lithuania to that particular harbour!. Maybe in a few years, some ships will have a back-and-forth contract with the two harbours…. Who knows! And we were the very first ones to do it… nice!

You are maybe wondering now what Triticale is right? Well, it is a hybrid of wheat and rye that was first bred in the late 19th century in Scotland and Germany. Fun! I find it sometimes amazing: we think that it is only recently that laboratories modify and « invent » new grains, and new fruits, try mixtures to avoid bitterness or add juiciness to fruits for example or create new varieties of grains. But no. Triticale is mainly used for feeding animals: dairy cows, beef cows… it is high in protein. Well, good to know. Maybe I should try making it so great with it!

Sometimes I am allergic to some of the cargo. I never really know in advance what will happen, but as we were loading there was a bit of wind so I had dust everywhere in my hair, my face, and my clothes. Great start for a first night onboard. The next morning I woke up with all puffy eyes and As I was talking to the stevedore – who was wearing super cool protective goggles – I said he was lucky or maybe used to the cargo and that he didn’t have to wake up to my face every day. He was friendly and we laughed about it. And you know what happened? Well, Life is sometimes really nice because, on Monday morning, he came back to the ship to drop off a pair of goggles for me! I was really surprised! Some people can be very generous and kind without asking or whatsoever. I believe that when you are kind to people, people are kind to you too (although we all know that doesn’t fully happen all the time right?!) but out of the blue receiving a small – but important if I want to track the puffiness of my eyes while onboard!- gift.

Thank you to this man; and maybe if we return to Klaipeda for the same cargo, I will show him I used them and am grateful! 🙂

So we left Klaipeda for Kalajoki in Finland and as we waited for better weather the voyage was a perfect ride. Being back on board with the crew you know is always a nice thing because you get back into a routine: they know you, you know them; no funny surprise meals on your plate and always good chats to get up to date while you were home and they stayed on board.

With captains, I always have a few days’ « delay » because I do not always know what they expect from me. Yes, I know. Obvious: to do my job. But depending on where they come from, they expect more or less from the chief officer paperwork wise or sometimes they load the ship slightly differently than the main captain I learned from and whom I am used to. I must say, he is quite relaxed on that matter – so far what I can see. Probably because of my past terms onboard, I am always very nervous with new captains because I have the feeling I always need to prove to them that I have my place on board and that I know what is happening even if I come from the sailing world. It often makes me feel that I know less which I do not think is true. But you know, the Dutch language, wanting to be very good at my job, wanting to be better if not the best, being tired from travelling, getting back into ship mode, recovering from the wheat allergy…. In the end, it all sums up and yes. Confidence is sometimes lacking. I am a person that communicates a lot: I talk about what I am going to do on deck, what I plan for the loading, and how I want to do it because I think it is important that the other officers or captain know my plan and that we can rectify according to who is on the watch or not for example. I do not like to have room for error, but more room for flexibility. I mean you guessed it after a few paragraphs on this topic in one same post…. I like to be good at my job; but who doesn’t?

Anyways. After Discharging in Kalajoki, we cleaned the hold and moved the two bulkheads back in position and sailed directly to Uusikaupunki, also in Finland. If you remember well, we have already been there a couple of times! We were ready to load fertilizer (NPK from Yara). The loading prospects were 10-12 hours, but of course, it always takes more time because there, you have to do an ultrasound test and a good inspection of the cargo hold. They come usually with two or three inspectors and go around the hatches to check if there are any leakages around the rubbers. Obviously, we do not want ( and do not have!) but I guess some vessels are less well maintained than others.

Having said that, rubbers also age and need to be changed and all of our rubbers were changed when in shipyard this summer; so luckily no problems on that side for us, the test was also perfect with no wedges and speed locks closed! 😉

When not rainy, in the yard terminal there is an easy loading port. You can read on the hatch crane how far we have loaded already and the guy in the crane is also on a VHF channel so very easy to reach for shifting loading position. It seems normal but often I find myself waving like a crazy woman from the coamings trying to get the crane driver’s attention! The good thing is that I have learned to whittle loud with two fingers on one hand. Fun fact: when I actually do whistle, all the workers and shore team stop what they are doing and look at me. Sometimes I can just see in their eyes and a small smile on the corners of their lips that they are thinking « yeah woman! ». haha

I enjoyed a very nice sunset. Perfect conditions. We left loaded heading to Szczecin…

See you next week for new adventures! 🙂

xxx Sophie