Tag: Chief officer

4th Term, Week 1 ⛴⛴

4th – 9th of May 2021

Yes! One week back on board and it feels good! Ok-well. To be honest I was exhausted these first days as I was getting back on track; back on “ship track” I mean…

I do not know for you all, but usually, the nights before I travel, especially before going back on board, I do not sleep much! I think it is because I tend to think about everything I haven’t done, still need to do, what I have forgotten… I am getting back into “ship mode”. I very often have the first flight to Paris available so my sleep is also very light as if I were afraid to miss my alarm. Thank God it never happened… Yet!

The view from the plane on the Volcanos in the center of France!
I usually see the sea from a different perspective!

I like planes and airports. I do not mind them. Strolling along with all the (closed) shops, having a nice coffee, watching people around, imagining where they are traveling to and from, those that are on holiday, or business travel… Well as you can see not much to do other than read a book and wait. That is quite tiring in a way… Just “waiting”.

Then I arrived late on the ship and as we were alongside with no cargo operations for the night we enjoyed a bit of time altogether. Then I had to unpack (slightly!) and wake up early to open hatches the next day… Well, that makes 2 very short nights in a row with a busy first day getting things done and getting back into the routine… Do not get me wrong… I am not complaining.

Happy to join the ship again! 😉

The ship was loaded with limestone from Raynes Jetty (UK). Once discharged, we had to prepare the ship for our next cargo: feed phosphates in bulk and big bags. 2 different cargos. Which meant:

1. Clearing the hold very well and,

2. Moving the two bulkheads.

Discharging Limestone

We had to put them in a good position. So quite some work to be done before we could depart in the evening. In the end, it was a good, long and satisfying day, with another short night before being on watch at 1 am. Captain H. gave me one-hour extra sleep to catch up and get into the ship’s life again which was very nice of him!

Discharging Limestone, soon finished!

So there we were, off to Finland. Kokkola. It is a harbour situated in the bay of Bothnia… Quite North actually over the 62nd-degree latitude! I think I have never sailed that North before. I knew it would still be fresh up there, temperature-wise. I had already taken my winter overall out of the closet as we were close to 0° Celsius. In Stockvik I almost got a cold as the wind was blowing so much, through the collar of my jacket. When the evening came, I was cleaning the hold and “playing” with the water, it suddenly felt cold as the sun went down. In Kokkola, I didn’t want to start my term sick: so there I was with my winter overall. To be honest, as we were sailing, we still had ice patches on the sea! ~ I was not expecting that at all! ~ this comforted me with my choice of winter clothing mid-may. When you think that southern Europe is enjoying sunny warm weather, and in other parts, it is still a good winter temperature…It is quite funny when you think of it that way.

I remember last year when I joined the ship, it was also in May, in Rotterdam (NL) but it was very sunny weather; tee shirt and shorts! I hope it will soon be funny shorts weather onboard too, then I will be happy to set my woolen clothes aside till next year!

Kokkola: a new Finnish harbour to add to my list of visited ports. Oh, wait. I do not have such a list, maybe I should start making one. The problem with those lists is that I tend to forget to track them, it is then irrelevant in the end. I wish I could go ashore to visit but of course: no time. Next time maybe!

Underway sailing…

We arrived in the afternoon and after the ultrasonic test we started loading and carried on during the night. Feed phosphate is a very thin powder. A bit thicker than be flour and thinner than fertilizer. It is quite dense it so doesn’t reach totally till the height of the coming: you better take care to spread it nicely on the top and with not too big mountains of cargo.

Phosphate cargo leaves a very thin powder everywhere on deck

As it is very thin, it is important to make sure you will not have leakages through the bulkheads: the sides should be properly covered with rubber and a tarpaulin with magnets and the entrances blocked with wood. For the small gaps, we use rags, ropes, and eventually tape in this case because it is so thin that it slides through any small hole. It was important during the loading to pay attention to any leakages. If we found one, we should stop loading, clean up and block as well as we can to avoid mixing cargo. Sometimes it happens.

As long as it can get fixed shortly without slowing down the loading then, I’d say it is fine. Otherwise, you have a bigger problem because you need to take the cargo out to fix the leak… And… That could eventually take time, time is money and also these are loading ports, not discharging ports… Cargo is not meant to be discharged so there are no facilities for that. Therefore, you would need to arrange something extra. Which you can understand: nobody wants.

The loading went quite fast: less than 24 hours later we were out sailing again. Interesting fact: this time we had two discharge harbors! Out of the 3300t of cargo, 1000t were fore Greenore (IE) and the rest Goole (UK).

For the stability of the ship, it is important to take that into account. The place where you take your cargo out, the ship should not end up too much on the bow or the stern. Of course, we have ballast tanks: you can play around to meet the trim you want. Another nice fact is that to enter the port of Goole, on the river Humber, there are very shallow waters and lots of sandbanks: you want to ~and even need to!~ have a good trim and be as even keel as possible. That will be important to keep in mind when discharging in Greenore.

Hatches closed for the Night!

Finally underway: hatches closed, ship washed down from all the dusty cargo, we are fresh to go for this nice 7 days sailing and enjoy the rhythm at sea… Starting with a good weekend!

Oh! I forgot to mention! We have at the moment a new cook onboard, A., you know how I am quite a sweet tooth right? Well… I told him it was my birthday coming up – as a joke – to get extra cake… well he made a carrot cake for me! That was so sweet and it was an excellent cake! I did have to tell him though that it wasn’t my birthday -yet- I thought he got the joke because Captain H. was teasing me. He says I say that it is my birthday every week… Which I denied… Just to eat cake every day!

Nice try Sophie! Haha.

See you next week my friends!

Happy sailing, and happy to be back on board!

4th Term, Week 0 ⛴⛴

Before joining the ship again… May 2021

I am back onboard Ruyter! This leave felt so short… Probably because it was indeed shorter! First of all, I had to catch a few up days with my reliever. Second of all, I had to renew a few of my STCW safety courses before joining the ship again. So that took a good week off from my leave too!

Back in Amsterdam!

My leave started by arriving in France end of March and the president announcing another lockdown for the coming 4 weeks – at the minimum! Great! Some of my plans had to be canceled as I wasn’t allowed to travel over 10 km around the house if it wasn’t for a good reason, such as: working, medical appointments, etc. The other thing he announced was to avoid going to work when we could work from home. And there my were weeks in Brest flying away. As there were no real “important” meetings at work I could stay at home. This was the first time I ever did homeworking. I must say I didn’t find that too had at all: I could have a coffee whenever I wanted and could enjoy the surroundings of my home without interruptions. I was more productive as I was certainly more concentrated. On the other hand, I missed being in the office and being able to ask my questions directly or to simply have all documents under my hand, my notes, and my files.

Behind the Botel is a training ship where I renewed my safety courses! Funny to know we put it on fire a few times- for training purposes!

In the end, It wasn’t too hard at all and I was glad I also did not have to travel for over 9 hours to be there. As my leave days were already counted, this saved quite me some quiet time home. The next Navy session will be in July. Hopefully, it with be nice and sunny and we will have lots of time to go sailing.

Amsterdam and her channels…

My STCW courses were in Amsterdam. That took also more time than planned as flights back and forth to France were very reduced: only once a day. Although making PCR test within 24h of the take-off was an adventure in itself, it all went very smoothly. We were in Amsterdam Nord. I love that place because it is so “boho chic” you have a lot of street art and big fleas markets. I hadn’t been there for over 2 years and I must say it had drastically changed! Big new buildings: a lot of housing and bars. Probably very expensive. And no more “student housing” that was made of old redesigned containers. The apartments seemed nice with terraces, big windows, lots of light, and 2 steps from the ferry binging you directly to Amsterdam central station. Another very good thing was a couple of new shops: A very nice bakery and a big enough supermarket to do your groceries.

NDSM, a very hype place to be in Amsterdam!
The sunset from my hotel room!

And… Of course, I can not not mention my previous vessel laying there: the Gulden Leeuw. So of course I had to pop on to say hi. I didn’t know the 2 crew members that were on board. Because of the pandemic and Dutch regulations they couldn’t sail and had to stay alongside for the winter. I am glad they will soon be starting to sail again. That is what these sailing vessels are made for!

It was very nice to meet the two captains again, enjoy a nice coffee and an easy dinner, catch up on good old memories, and talk about the future. I was asked if I could join them again in May-June to start up the season but, of course, I wasn’t available. Maybe in the future when I have more time during my leave.

The Gulden Leeuw moored in Amsterdam, NDSM

Safety courses are always classes we are not looking forward to attending. There are refresher courses, and to be honest, when you train properly onboard and do your drills regularly and seriously, that you also try to keep up to date with regulations and just with the function of systems and equipment then you might think they are a loss of time. I kind of try to set my mind up and think I will practice that and learn something new that I do not have onboard. For example, we do not carry a lifeboat nor a freefall onboard Ruyter, so I do not know these systems that well. We have a rescue boat. So it is nice to be confronted with safety items that are slightly different. It keeps the course interesting and makes it fun… We might as well make the few days together nice, right? The other thing I like a lot in these refreshers is the practice we have in the swimming pool with immersions suits and liferafts, jumping from heights, and practicing being lifted like from a helicopter. Or again the fire fighting: Being « on-scene commander » and making decisions for your crew, or being the first fire team and not having any idea of what type of situation you will meet behind the closed door, once you are ready to enter – with your BA set. You feel the heat of the real fire you need to extinguish as a team composed of a crew you only met one day ago… I find these experiences interesting. You can learn so much from each other. And that is great.

Time at home always goes so fast…too fast. I love being with my family and I often have the feeling that I didn’t have time to do all the things I wanted to do before going back onboard. But I plan it then for the next time I am home. It gives me something to look forward to. Those “plans” include this blog, making it nicer and more attractive, it includes stitching bags in sailcloth and also drawing more, reading more, relaxing more. On the other hand, it is also sorting out more; my closet, my desk, my papers… Get rid of all the things you realize you do not need.

Ready to fly! Always underway….

So there I am. PCR test is done: negative. Flight tickets in hand, direction Stockholm where I will take the train to Sundsvall and join the ship in Stockvik. I am looking forward to being back on board and sailing again. I think that sometimes I have more time to do things when I am on board! It’s probably the feeling of being more productive because I am on a schedule all day long and I do not have to cook or walk the dogs. Just enjoying every moment at home and onboard as I can!

So see you next week my friends!

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.

Ruyter alongside in Riga

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.

Started loading bulk cargo in Riga!
Very nice sunset in Riga

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 🙂

Entering the locks in Holtenau
A busy Kiel channel!
Beautiful lights…

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