3d Term, Week 9 🤩⚓️

15th of March till I fly home on the 22nd!

There we were Monday morning still in Szczecin, Poland, finishing the discharge of the steel coils. There was not much left but enough to take up half a day and wait for the pilot to board so that we could proceed to Riga. This gave us time to prepare the hod, sweep it well, and make sure there were no remaining from the previous cargo in it: bits and pieces of plastic, lashing steel, etc. It goes fast and if you do not pay attention the guys working in our hold would also leave their crap behind that we would have to pick up and clean up for them: wraps of snacks, sweets, papers, empty cans, and bottles of water…. It is often like that. But I am never so happy with it and I often cannot keep my mouth shut for this type of things and I make sure that they pick up all their trash before they finish. Sometimes it is a bit of a fight. But I am right: before the cargo, the hold is clean and ready and after the cargo, the hold should be as clean as possible. Maybe because I am a woman they try to have me there, but I know my voice can sound louder from time to time, and trust me; I do know how to use the sound system when necessary!

Moored in Szczecin, Poland. Grey and rainy.

It is important to make sure everything come out of the hold at the end…

A nice and clean hold, ready for the next cargo

We were finally underway to Riga in Ballast. It was a 2-day sail and we would load Sun Flower meal pellets. It looks very much like sugar beet pulp pellets, but it is not the same ;-). We would bring this cargo to Gent in Belgium, which meant a nice few days sailing. Even if we had to pass via the Kiel Channel once again; if we were lucky enough it would not bother us too much in our watch schedules and resting hours. Fingers crossed!

I think this was my first time with this type of cargo…. Let me check. Yes, indeed it was my first time! Now you must be thinking how I checked so fast into my memories for that right? Well, I have a secret. I do not have any memory for such things: cargos, places I have been to, distances, events… No brains at all so I write it down! I have a note on my phone and I write down on each of the trips the distances and cargos we have been transporting…. 😉 especially when onboard Ruyter we tend to go several times to the same harbors and also a few times in the same term! And a few times in the same harbors but not with the same cargo either! Yep. As you can see I can easily get myself confused after a while, so I write it down. To be as precise as I can.

The loading in Riga went quite fast. It was a touch-and-go harbour which is nice because I could easily prepare my handover and take care of the last-minute things. There are always last-minute things to arrange when you come closer to a Dutch or Belgium harbour: deliveries, technical orders…. This time it was our gangway. We were going to receive a new gangway in Gent with a new platform! How cool right? We were all so happy about it because our platforms always got stuck with the gangway. But the reason we would get a new one was not so nice of course… it broke. Well to be more precise, it got literally destroyed by the crane driver in Szczecin…. He did not look where he was driving and ran over it like if it were butter. But it was not as if we had quickly moved our gangway just on his path by surprise right…. I mean, you get it. Shit happens and no one got hurt.

On our way back to Gent, we of course passed via the Kiel Channel and I enjoyed being once again in the locks. It felt like these locks were becoming our familiar second place to be with the ship. I do not mind they do not take long, and I usually try to make fun on the foredeck taking selfies or showing my life on Instagram or just chit-chatting with the AB on deck with me at that time. There are a lot of things to talk about: the way the germans through their heaving line, the way the gangway is set, if we need to take freshwater or not…. Always something to talk about indeed.

How can you not love sunsets at sea? Never bored of it…

I felt like this time the channel was quite busy with more vessels than usual. But I must admit that we were this time in a sort of convey so there were always vessels ahead of us and behind! And perhaps the last times I didn’t see the other vessels because of the darkness of the night… just kidding 🙂 even when it is dark we still see the other ships 🙂

Does it happen to you too that when you know you are going home; I mean obviously I always knew it would be the case; but I mean the moment you have a fixed date, then suddenly everything becomes somehow « lighter » or more « cheerful ». You enjoy way more small things that you do onboard: mooring, cargo, watches…. Like a new you. The same happens when you just join the ship. You are fresh from leave so full of energy if you did not have a bad long travel day. At the end of your term, you are re-energized because you know you will get enough rest once home again so you are not trying to save on some rest or sleep.

Happy officer on the forecheck during mooring operations!

Anyways. Kiel Channel and arrival in Gent went quite smoothly. If you do not count the long waiting and drifting at Steenbank; then the locks in Terneuzen… The pilots always seem to postpone the boarding times and the locks always seem to be congested. Every single time. I can understand it is a busy area and if you have bad weather or infrastructure work in the locks, everything is slowed down. Do you have the same?

And then there it was suddenly the end of 9 weeks onboard. And my 3d term turns a page for new shore adventures… till I will join again in 8 weeks.

And say bye to the ship for the next 8 weeks!

I hope you still enjoy reading all my adventures and I am looking forward to my next term! But for now, rest is well deserved! Thank you all my dear friends and see you soon!

Xxx Sophie

3d Term, Week 8 🤩⚓️

8th – 14th of March 2021

There we were after a good weekend of rest in Eemshaven, we were ready for the steel coil party on Monday morning!

Probably because we were so close to the office, and perhaps for other reasons also, a lot of persons came to visit us. I say « us » but for sure it was more for the ships and to see what was going on, and how operations were going too. It is funny because you can recognize them easily. After all, their safety jackets and boots are very nice, shiny, and clean! Oh well, I cannot blame them, they do not need to wear them in the office behind the desk right? The funny thing is that of course they apply the safety rules by the letter and wear the helmet at all times… also inside. Personally, I find that sometimes wearing a helmet is more in my way than normal. I often forget that I have that extra space that I need to take into account and I find myself bumping my head way more often than usual. Haha. Also..; I am not so sure that a helmet would be of great aid if a 20-ton steel coil came to fall on my head…. But that is of course another debate.

There was a big crane that was hired for transferring the coils from one ship to another. We had also a few extra persons onboard.

Cargo transfer from one vessel to another

We had to make sure that a few of the bigger coils that were above 25t had to be on Portside because the crane in Szczecin did not have an arm long and strong enough to take those coils out from starboard. As long as we knew; it was not a problem. Because this was a particular case, two super-cargos from the office were onboard the ships to make sure there would be no damage and an inspector from Tata steel was also onboard making sure that the cargo would be again properly stowed from one ship to the other. They had all the plans and were mainly leading it all. I was making sure that the new captain was happy, that there was enough coffee and that the ballast was correctly taken out of the ship and stripped. I remember the new captain was slightly nervous to have the ship properly stripped and I found it strange that he asked me a few times to strip again « just in case ». Which I did of course – captain’s orders- but felt a bit hurt of course that he would not trust my deballasting and stripping of the tanks. But they were good empty so; I had nothing to be afraid of.

It was fun to see that we arrived in ballast so we were more than 2 meters higher than our sistership and that slowly slowly we were at the same height and finally ended up being the one loaded and them in ballast 2 m higher than us! As I was regularly checking the drafts it was fun to see. Also, the nice thing is that we were at the very end of the harbour so the quayside was also accessible ahead of us with a small jetty. We could really check the bows of both vessels. I made a couple of nice pictures too of course! Also crazy selfies – but that is not a surprise for you, right? 😉

It took us over 2 days to transfer all the coils, and we were almost going to start day 3 of loading but we managed to do a little bit of overtime with the crane driver to have it completed at the end of the second day. I was glad about that because it enabled us to leave directly in the evening rather than losing again half a day. We have still 3-4 days till our destination port of call and well you know; Eemshaven is nice but there is not much to do without a car there.

The two sister ships alongside each other; Ruyter is loaded, Sprinter in Ballast.

A fully loaded cargo hold with steel coils.

While underway we heard that we would not be heading back to Hamina for the next voyage, but it would be Riga with some bulk cargo. We had to face the now the other part of the timber slings: storing them away hoping we would not have to take them out for a while…. Indeed it may seem stupid but a few trips ago we were hoping that we would have a few backs and forth trips with timber which meant that it was easy to just drop the lashing equipment in the hold while sailing in Ballast from Germany back to Finland. Up to now, it hadn’t really happened this way. But we had managed to leave the slings on deck in what we call the « swimming pool »: the area just in front of the accommodation. It is not ideal, but properly covered and fixed to the deck it was not such a problem. Just looked very messy. But you know, who cares if it is only for a couple of days.

This time we decided to store them back in the lashing store in the forecastle. Which meant tidying up and rolling all the slings properly, folding all the tarpaulins and bringing them back and counting all the timber slings, putting them by bundles of 25, and dropping them off via the hatch and the crane forward. It was almost as much work as making the deck cargo fast! Haha but you know what? This time, we had time to clean up the lashing store beforehand and I made sure that all the slings were together in one place and all the tarpaulins together in another place. That was a good job to be done together.

Putting away all the timber slings together with the AB’s

Half a day later we passed Kiel Channel during the day. It is my favourite when it is during the day because I find that there is always something to see. And I must admit that it was also good weather so it makes it even more enjoyable. After Kiel Channel, we still had 2 days sailing to Szczecin, our discharge port. Although they work fast there, we did not manage to complete it in one day and they do not work on weekends and nights there so we had a weekend in the harbour! Lucky enough for us we were allowed to go ashore!

I was looking forward to walking a bit but also to visiting this city. I spent a good part of my Sunday walking around the streets and going from one iconic place to another. I found that some parts of the city were really cute and well taken care of and the buildings were big and nice in other parts. All around the city, some panels indicate the direction and the time by foot to go to a « viewpoint » on the river to a landmark, or a museum, or a pretty fountain… It felt like they were trying to improve tourism there and make it attractive. I was really glad I had the time and that just the moments I was out, the sunshine was with me. It was my little architectural and tourist break. Very well appreciated as this was my first time there too.

When I was on tall ships, Szczecin was a big sponsor of the Tall Ships Races. One of the regattas even ended or started there; I do not recall really. But they were investing in a lot of polish youngsters to go at sea and experience some life onboard big sailing vessels, making friends and learning how to live together and be more understanding. They would also sponsor a lot of other youngsters all over Europe for this same sailing experience. Yes so I had heard about Szczecin quite a lot but it was my first time here and was nicely surprised.

On Monday we would finish the discharging and prepare the hold for our next cargo in Riga. It was not a long sail there so it was going to be a good week. I was soon going home as I had just finished my 8th week onboard to probably after Riga!

We will see when that will be but For sure you will know soon enough in the next coming days!

And off I go for a nice walk in the city! Free days = Fun days!

For now, I hope you enjoy a great Sunday too!

Xxx Sophie

3d Term, Week 1 🤩⚓️

17th-24th of January 2021

There I am again! Just back on board for the next 2 months! I have been waiting for this moment to come for a few days now… Indeed. I have to still get used to the fact that with cargo ships, days in the harbour are not always as planned! The weather was a bit strong and the vessel got delayed. The crew change was supposed to happen in Kotka (Finland), but with the delay, it was easier for (and probably better?) to wait for the next harbour: Delfzijl (the Netherlands).

So this is what happened, I took a Covid PCR test a few days before my flight. I needed a negative one of course to board the ship but also to have access to my flight. It was very easy to get an appointment for the test. But these things are not made for seafarers… I mean with a fixed date and a booked flight, it is easy to pick a time 72hrs before the flight. But when you do not know 72 hrs before when your flight will be, it makes it all a bit more… well let’s say, « crazy ».

In the end, it went well and I boarded without any problem for Paris Charles-de-Gaulle and then to Schiphol. It was quite cold already and in Paris, there was a lot of snow and we got a delay of 2 hours. Another delay for me to arrive onboard… I still needed to fetch the rental car and drive up to Delfzijl to the ship (3,5 hours drive) and of course, go to the immigration office before joining the ship. I managed all of it but… I arrived exhausted from a full day. Nice way to start « fresh » right? : Early departure-late arrival-handover day… Without forgetting that it was snowing like crazy all the way north to the ship: slow diving on the highway while only one lane was being used and so much snow was already on the other lane!

My relief was going to dive the car back home; also in the middle of the night and the snow.

When I arrived, they had finished discharging the fertilizer they had brought from Kotka. The hold still needed to be washed and bulkheads prepared for our next cargo which was going to be wheat (grain). I was a bit worried if I had to take over directly in the hold washing or not because as soon as I arrived on board and that the handover was done, we were departing which meant I was supposed to be on watch at midnight again! Getting back into ship’s life can be quite confusing sometimes.

The view from the bridge when I was gettkng my handover: snow with a cargo hold to wash…

Luckily, the captain had arranged the schedule already and I could go directly to bed to catch up on a few small 6hours of sleep before my watch.

Sometimes it happens in the harbour that there is so little time but that is the way it is and those moments feel like “go go go” moments when you do not stop. You know you will eventually catch up on your sleep during the voyage.

#sailorslife.

I still love my job do not worry. Haha. Also, funny fact, when I was working on tall ships, our handovers were always way longer. A few legit reasons for that: we had way more people and crew on board. I was the main chief officer so I was the longest onboard a lot of the things to be explained for a good follow up. There were systems to take care of I also often needed to familiarize or re-familiarize the on signer with the ship and its safety equipment and that is quite complex and takes some time to assimilate. A « quick run-through » would take me a good two hours.

Now I am not so long off the ship, and I can familiarize myself back into the systems and safety on my own.

Anyways. There we were underway to Germany. – East Germany. A very nice area to go for walks, but unfortunately due to Covid.. – we are not allowed ashore. Of course in the middle of the night, we were in the Kiel Channel

So everyone’s sleep was totally messed up. That is usually what happens when we sail through the Kiel Channel.

So that was just a hectic start but a none and the less good start. I was really happy to see the crew again and just to be back on board.

So, the first cargo: wheat. With bulkheads. Wheat is grain, and there are specific regulations for transporting grain on board. Grain tends to shift when we heel so we should always make sure that the hold is as full as possible. This means it has to be all the way to the top of the coaming. Well, we managed that of course. We do not want to transport air right?

It was nice to be back with Captain Harry because we always end doing up crazy things. Well, I do not find them that crazy but it is more like we do “daring things” never like the others. We taste our cargo for example. This one was a bit dry and hard.

That day, there was also a bit of wind so all the light dust was flying around. Not a big deal, but the ship becomes quite dusty inside too and all the small corners on deck too. Especially where there is grease, it tends to stick directly to those areas! Of course…

We did already have a bit of snow and I was getting all excited about it haha! I tried for the first time the winter overalls for the crew. I honestly had packed so much warm clothing thinking I would be quite cold working outside in the wind and on the hatch crane without really moving much to warm up my body. But the winter overall is way too warm if I put the woollen clothes under! I would almost better be just in teeshirt underneath! That being said, we are now still in positive temperatures and I am not so sure yet what will happen when if we sail to Russia or through the Gulf of Finland or the Bothnia Sea. So for the moment, I keep it as it is and it is great! With the wheat, we will be sailing to New Holland (UK), on the Humber River. Then we will load our next cargo also close by.

Till then I am enjoying nice sailing and sunsets indeed with night coming earlier, it is dark at 1700 and I am still on watch! It doesn’t happen often to have the sunset in my watch, so I enjoy it as long as I can.

Leaving the harbour full of dust!

And of course, enjoying the nice Sunday at sea!

Did you also notice that I always join on a Sunday? So my weeks and time onboard are very easy to count and to keep track of! Great!

This is fun to be back on board! Feels great! See you next week!

S O P H I E. T H E. S A I L O R.

Just another view of the world through Sophie’s eyes while working and traveling at sea

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S O P H I E. T H E. S A I L O R.

Just another view of the world through Sophie’s eyes while working and traveling at sea

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