7th term, week 3 🤩

6^th to 12^th of June 2022

After a nice weekend in Ferrol where I got to go for a walk in town and wine with Captain H. on Saturday evening and on Sunday a long hike to check the view of the bay from the top of the hills. It was actually a very nice hike: it probably took us 4 hours altogether with a couple of short breaks. But not because of us, but because of Dushi the dog that is getting older and was obviously really too hot. She spend Sunday evening very tired in her bed and seemed to throw up a bit. I think she had a heat stroke. I had never really seen that. usually, she just follows along easily but maybe this time, with her age, and the heat it was the limit. we will know the next time that we will not bring her on board with us but just leave her as the guardian of the bridge onboard!

So we started discharging on Monday morning, at a normal time. It seems that Spanish work « easy » hours here: almost normal morning, a long break in the afternoon and stop working at the end of the day at a decent time!

It took them a full day to discharge the vessel from all the timber we were carrying. Fun fact they were just pulling out the packages in such a way that was not so gentle… and some of the wrappings were damaged because of that. To not get me wrong, the loading was made good, it was just the way they were hoisting the cargo out. And probably they would not have been able to do otherwise. And it was nobody’s fault or nothing to claim about. They made a pile with the wrappings that were broken, probably to add another one after that.

I was surprised that it did not take them longer to complete. But actually, despite the long break at lunchtime, they barely took a break after that and it was not so hot weather either. Yep, like I said, I was looking forward to some nice hot sunny weather but not. For once in Spain, no chances of heatwaves, but grey skies and even rain are planned for the week. oh well.

Captain H. had to fly back to the Netherlands for a manager’s ISM course organized by the office so we had Captain D. fly in for 5 days. the deal was that this captain exchange would last the least possible as one wanted to be onboard asap and the other wanted to be back home on leave asap too! so we were keeping our fingers crossed that somehow we would be delayed one day extra in Spain and that they would be able to have a captain handover again before the weekend.

The dog was left onboard and she was probably the saddest of us all that her master was not there. She does not really let herself cuddle or pet. so she stayed a bit alone on the bridge and we took care of her of course with water and food, and I gave her extra cookies, but she was really really sad the first two days. It was a bit better of course, but you know. I cannot imagine being a dig and thinking that my dad abandoned me there with strangers right?

Our next cargo was a short day sail away more South. Still in Spain: Vilagarcia de arousa. We would load chipboards or hardboard. There are various names for this cargo but it is just MDF board: glues pieces of wood, very resistant, but also very sensitive to rain and to chocs in corners. The loading would be a little like loading plasterboards: a few hatches open in the middle and one or two forklifts driving around in the centre of the hold bringing the boards forward or aft. It takes 2 to 3 days to load this type of cargo.

And… we were going to have rain. It was planned all Wednesday. This was the captain’s chance to hopefully fly in and out of Spain. 

I was on deck the whole morning, and actually, t was not so easy because it was very fine drizzle just floating in the air but it was very wet and the surfaces would get damp very fast so I ended up telling the Spanish stevedores that we had to close the hatches till further notice. After lunch, I went grocery shopping for the vessel.

I usually do not really like doing that because I never know the quantities we need. Even though the cook writes on paper what he needs, or would like to have, I never know if I will have enough cash money for it all. And I hate going around with three to four carts, then people look at you strangely right? You get all the comments such as «Oh you have a big family » and you have to explain again and again that no the is for a ship, and for a few weeks of course!

But yes, we went to the big supermarket it was still raining and once we were out with the cook, and waiting for the taxi, I noticed that it was all dry and sunny again! I was hoping that they had not caught up on the loading so that the plan we had in mind would still work well!

When we came back to the ship, they had indeed continued loading, which was good in a way, as we were there for that right? As they stopped around just after dinner, we let the guys go ashore for the evening. The stevedores had been complaining about the ship rolling during the loading and blaming my ballast as not good.

So I wanted to make sure that all my double bottoms that I had emptied in preparation the night before were very empty and stripped. It is not good to empty the double bottoms during this time of loading because the forklifts inside the hold create a lot of movement on the ship and it can be very dangerous for them with cargo that can fall from a stack if we have too much list. and of course, this is without talking about the stability of the ship itself. Double bottoms are large and wide ballast tanks that are underneath the cargo hold. because they are wide, they should be either full and overflowed or empty and stripped so that no water remains in the tank and when heeling or rolling it does not affect the stability of the ship with the extra movement of water and extra added weight creating an extra unwanted list. This is called the free surface moment.

To not be under stress or pressure, I always like to empty double bottoms as soon as I can to not have trouble, doubts or pressure during loading. And I double-checked it was all very empty. It is always good to double-check: indeed, you never know if a valve did not close well, or if they were stripped correctly for some reason. Even if I know I did it well, I never take such a risk with these ballast tanks, and always take time to check again. Luckily; I was right and my tanks were good, it was their forklift of over 15t driving around and of course if it is on one side, it will give some list to the vessel.

The next day, I actually had a small argument with the foreman because he started telling me that he knew our type of vessels and that he was doing this for over 30 years and that basically, he said it was not the forklifts, but my ballasting that was not good, and that I should not tell him how to do his job…. Like what? and he is allowed to tell me how to do my job? I sometimes get quite furious when men think they can just put me down like that and be very macho. I am not at their service, and I can definitely act tough as well when they get in trouble.

But ok.

I ended up creating a compensating list until their forklift was out of the hold… really. I think I checked three times that all my tanks were either full or stripped during these 3 days in the harbour. but oh well. what can we do right?

On Thursday we knew we would still be there at least Friday morning which was perfect for the captain change. It would be a long day for them as when flights are early or late, arriving at the airport is even earlier right? And departing directly in the evening and starting your watch then is not always so restful. But both were happy people on the bridge on that Friday afternoon: cuddling his darling dog and the other relaxing and planning a trip to Santiago de Compostela before flying the next day. You see, as a seafarer, there are sometimes bonuses when disembarking in a foreign country right?

So there we were, leaving Spain o a Friday night after a full long day of loading. Ready to go back at sea after these days in the harbour, but also sad to leave this country we do not often sail to! I would not have minded a full extra weekend here. Off we were crossing the Biscay again to the Uk and….. celebrating Captain H’s birthday onboard Saturday! 🙂 yeah!!! I bet that is also one of the reasons why he wanted to be back on board: for his birthday! No, I think everyone would rather be with their family for these kinds of days, right? Well, this is exactly the reason why I always try to make something nice of it. I realize that this was the third time I was setting up a deco on the bridge for this special moment. This year I blew up twenty blue ( his favourite colour) balloons and taped them to the wall on the bridge and hung up a party decor over the bridge table. It is always nice to sing and make it a happy day. Cookie had baked a cheesecake and a carrot cake for him too!

Trust me, we could not move the whole weekend after that! good that it was Sunday the next day!

 see you next week!

xxx

Sophietje