Tag: outdoors

3d Term, Week 7 🤩⚓️

1st- 7th of March 2021

It is already the beginning of my 7th week onboard! Time flies! This means I have already done 3 quarters of my term…. And I have only 2 weeks left… more or less depending on the harbours and where we will be: if it is easy or not to have a crew change according to the amount of time we stay in the harbour and the available flights and connections. I usually know a small week ahead of when the crew change will happen. But I still have quite some time to go. Captain H. He will be leaving soon. He is leaving in the next harbour and captain R. Is already onboard with us. Is it like we have two captains now? No. Only on of course but as he is new onboard and we are supposed to be sailing the following trips up and down with timber and it is still ice sailing conditions, Captain H. thought it was wise to have him on board a couple of days earlier to do a proper handover and make sure his vessel would be taken care of. Indeed As I said earlier in previous posts, Ice sailing is quite particular. You have to make sure you do not run full ahead into ice banks or you will damage the propeller. You also need to make sure you do not ballast for example all the way to the top so that the water overflows on deck and remains in the pipes. In this case, you will for sure damage your pipings and tanks because the water will freeze and expand. In freezing situations, you always make sure that you ballast a few minutes less so that there is room for expansion. On deck, you want to make sure that you do not get too much spray because, with our speed and the wind, it will turn directly into ice on deck. And this creates an extra unwanted weight onboard that cannot be removed so fast. This can be quite dangerous if it is not taken care of. If you listen to captains you have experience in this matter, they will always say that it is better to shelter, change course or delay the trip a few days if spray on deck becomes too dangerous. Of course, I totally agree with them!

Sailing with deck cargo: the timber is lashed on deck with strong slings

So yes Captain R. Came onboard slightly earlier for ice conditions and timber cargo experience. I must say, it is not because you are a captain for years that you have all the experience in all different cargo types and sailing in all the areas. Some ships never sail in ice and rarely have timber for example. I think it is wise to make sure that your reliever feels at ease when you have 2 red flags hanging above your ship: ice and timber. But of course, you lust think that too: better safe than sorry.

Captain H. Was going to leave in the next harbour in Brake. I never really like it when a crew goes home. I mean, of course, I am happy for them, but I enjoy their presence and I know for sure that with the dog gone, it would be quieter too. On the other hand, I do enjoy meeting new people… even if I find myself usually a bit nervous. I always think I have to prove that I am worth it, that I am good at what I do and that I take care of things, that I work hard…. And I must admit that it does stress me a bit. I know all captains are different and when I do not know them yet then I have to adjust, ask, test and see how they want it. And it feels to me that although I am home – in my second home- I have to change to please the new captain. Usually, they say « oh do not bother for me, just as you usually do… » but then come up with a full list of things that they want to be done differently. Haha. I mean it is never as bad as I make it sound but I have the feeling I am always nervous with new captains. Like if I didn’t like change; or like if my safe environment suddenly is not safe anymore and I have to recreate a new one all over again.

Early morning alongside in Brake, ready to start discharging deck cargo.

Anyways. This was the last trip for Captain H. And the first for captain R.

After w a few days sailing through the Baltic Sea then the Kiel Channel, w arrived in Brake and started the usual discharging process. hooks and chains off, slings off, tarpaulins off and timber away. The crew made it ready upon arrival in the night so that I could start in the morning with the discharging of the deck cargo. I am the one in charge of the cargo operations so I wake up early in the morning for that while the rest of the crew continues sleeping. Rest is well deserved because taking off all the chains and wood and tarpaulins is not a small job to do in the middle of the night!

In Brake, discharging the timber till late in the night

The mornings in Brake are always very peaceful and quiet. It is not a busy river and the fresh air is just there. On top of that, there is the smell of timber! It is a very nice cargo to have onboard. When you open the hatches, it comes up to your nose and it seems you are back in the Finish countryside on a holiday in a cabin far from the world, just coming home from a long walk outside and preparing yourself to sit with a cup of tea close to the fireplace and make your self cosy…. Oh well, I guess you can imagine the loveliness of the smell….

The last packs of timber before a good sweeping and mopping to dry the hold for our next cargo.

The next voyage finally came in the email and surprise! It was not Hamina! Of course not… We are « promised » a few trips of timber up and down and we finally manage to get into the right systems and tips and tricks and out. The office decides else wise. Oh well. I wonder if we will go back after again or if that was it for the ice sailing of the year. I have the feeling that was it and I should have enjoyed it a bit more…. Haha. Next year… maybe.

This time we were not going very far. Just from one river to the other: Eemshaven. We would get the cargo of another sister ship that got a technical problem. Oh! Actually, that is also interesting! And I do enjoy meeting the other sisterships around! I find it always fun to compare them and either be proud of our ship or take notes on how they do things… Not that I am not very proud of the ships I work on, on the opposite! But most of the time, people tend to forget how far some ships have been coming from and that a whole makeover takes time.

So there we were, after saying goodbye to captain H, we headed to The Netherlands and arrived just before the weekend started…. Which meant a full weekend in the harbour. Perfect to go for a walk and rest. Well, a walk is pretty much the only thing you can do in Eemshaven if you do not have a car… because where we were there was literally nothing except windmills haha!

We came alongside our sister ship and as they were loaded and we were in ballast, it was funny to be the same but at one high above. When their discharge would be complete, it will be the exact opposite. They were coming from another dutch harbour and their cargo was steel coils. These coils had to do to Szczecin in Poland. We would make sure that this would happen off course. A few coils had to come out because they were expected earlier so trucks were arranged to pick them up on Monday so that they would be on time for the client in Poland. The rest would go in our hold.

We were ready for Monday where all the craziness would start.

Ruyter alongside her sister-ship Sprinter in Eemshaven.

Our sister ship was very nicely maintained. There was probably no rust anywhere… and their decks seemed really perfectly painted. Our decks in the aft were still red from the old colour and because they would be descaled and painted from scratch later in the summer, they did not look as perfect. They had even carpets to walk on outside to make sure we would not bring dirt on the ship from outside! Or maybe it was also not to slip on deck…. Fresh paint and water can be very slippery.

Our neighbours were very kind. They invited us for coffee and we did the same of course. Their bridge was not as nice as ours and slightly differently arranged. In our PS wing, we have our little kitchen area; they had a space; their kitchen area was midships. They also had a fixed chair for steering and their office corner was on the Sb wing with two screens. I thought our bridge was cosier. But hey! Unless you are the very first owner and choose the style of your bridge, you get what you get right?

Enjoy a nice weekend and Sunday in the harbour and see you Monday for the next adventures with the steel coils!

Xxx

Sophie 

3d Term, Week 6 🤩⚓️

22nd – 28th of February 2021

Riga!!!! Discharging the nice fertilizer loaded in Sluiskil! After a couple of days sailing in the Baltic, we arrived in Riga. It was an interesting trip for me because when entering the Gulf of Riga, we were regularly checking the ice maps for the ice situation. And it seem it was all clear for us till Riga, which was good. Maybe a bit more ice close to the coast. But then this happened: During my night watch, I found it strange that a ship ahead of me suddenly slowed down and almost stopped. That vessel was of course quite a few miles ahead of me, and there were also other vessels behind me and we had probably all checked the same ice charts that evening but….. As I saw the vessel strongly slowing down and only doing 2-3 knots of speed; I paid a little more attention to the horizon to try and figure out what was happening. Indeed, my route was not too far from hers so I didn’t want to be on a collision course with her but wanted to leave enough space in case she had some troubles and was drifting. But suddenly on the horizon, I could distinguish in the deep night so blurry greyish cover on the horizon. And there was a huge ice patch there and it was not mentioned on the ice charts!

Perfect conditions for discharging in Riga
The quayside in Riga still full of snow
Ruyter alongside in Riga, discharging fertilizer, the fog came up.

We did not have much choice to go through, but luckily Ruyter is an Ice class A vessel so she handles it well. Of course, the inevitable noise of ice scratching the hull surprised quite a few that night. Normal: they had expected a peaceful non-icy night and they suddenly felt as if we were stuck in ice again. Almost. I mean. It was a surprise for us. And also for the other vessels. The one ahead of us and… the ones behind us! The only thing you have to do is slow down the ship and enter slowly to not have any unwanted damages. Because of the ship ahead we knew the patch was not that big; but big enough to last a couple of hours pushing away the patch. It reminded me of when we would go on unchartered areas in Antarctica on board Bark Europa… slowly pushing and making sure everything was fine. Well; that happened and it was fun. It was my little story of the night, haha and I shall remember it well! « The unchartered big patch of ice in the Gulf of Riga ».

So there we were back in ice in the harbour. A nice blue sky the morning, all hatches open, but nice and fresh (read cold haha…) air outside. Good. I do not mind the cold anymore, right? All these cold showers are supposed to toughen me up, and after my experience at -17° in Finland… any temperature around the 0° should be warm too, is that not correct? There was also still snow on the quaysides! Amazing! It is funny how in these last posts, I have the feeling I have been only talking about timber cargo, ice and snow. But to be honest it is probably the only thing we talk about onboard: how cold it is going to be outside for cargo and mooring operations and what we have to do on deck for the lashings! Haha. Oh well.

the view from the porthole in my cabin

I was saying that the day started with a great blue sky so I opened up all hatches for discharging. But later during the day, it started to become foggy. I do not really like it when it is foggy because I never know what to expect. I know that in theory there is no rain with fog, but to my eyes, fog is only damp air; thus wet air and it is not that I get nervous with sensitive cargo, but I do find myself checking outside way more often than with blue sky. Fertilizer dissolves very fast with water, and would not want to have it on my hands that the cargo gets damaged because of me. Luckily it did not happen and we were discharged very smoothly.

Underway to Hamina , following the icebreaker

From Riga, we sailed in ballast to Hamina again to do our second timber voyage to Brake. Unlike Riga, Hamina was still completely covered in ice. There was so much ice that we actually got stuck in the ice! Yes yes! We tried pushing a bit but we were not going anywhere really. And if the pushing method works for smaller and already a bit broken ice; it doesn’t work at all for big thick unbroken patches. We had to call the ice breaker. Captain H. Called them and as they were not too far from us, they came directly to « rescue » us. I mean it is not a rescue in the literal sense; they are there to assist us. And that is what they did! They flew in to help us and passed next to us quite close to break the ice and create a waterway for us. It seems for them that it was normal sailing: no ice no nothing. Can you imagine the power they have? As you cannot move forward they just sail close by to help you out and create a gap so that you can sail through? It was pretty cool to see! We had to be fast to captain H. Directly followed him because otherwise the ice just closes back behind the ice-breaker and we are stuck again. We could almost sail our normal speed again….

Sailing in the ice
The bulb passing the ice when sailing

And we loaded in the same conditions as two weeks ago. Except that this time we did not have a full weekend waiting in the harbour. Oh and also the weather was not as nice with big sun and blue skies. We loaded directly the day after we arrived. This time I was more at ease. More at ease because I knew the cargo, I knew the plan as I had already seen it in action once and simply because I knew what was expected. As simple as that.

Alongside in Hamina, Finland

The sun of course only came out as we were sailing out of the harbour. I would not say it often happens like that but… yeah. The good thing about sailing in winter, compared to autumn for example; is that there are more high-pressure systems so the majority of the time it is blue skies and correct winds. While in autumn it can be horrible weather with very strong winds and depressions passing over the Baltic Sea one after the other. And that is very tiring.

Loading timber in Hamina

This time what was tiring was the lashing of the deck cargo; once again. But not the weather. As it was the second time we were doing it, we managed to get in a good rhythm and found a few tricks to make our lives easier. Working with the watch crane a bit more to lift the heavy parts for example. But it seems that there is no way to end up not making so many steps and back and forth to carry the slings and hooks and chains from one part to another of the ship. Unless having to storages, one fore and one aft; but it is not the case. We just put our « just do it » mentality on and… just did it; calmly but well. It is very important to double-check the lashing on deck because if it is not tight enough, cargo can fall and it becomes a big problem for the stability of the ship.

Departing Hamina in icy water

The lashing took place during the daytime and we easily sailed out in the middle of the afternoon for Brake. We managed to have a beautiful sunset too. I admit I do not get tired of sunsets at sea. I have a lot of pictures of them. When I see one I take a picture. It is always the same but different. Different colours, different clouds; but always as beautiful as the previous one.

Beautiful sunset underway to Brake with Timber deck cargo

It was a fully efficient and hard working day. It was time for me to get some rest before my night watch at midnight.

We were back on track for a few days sailing before Kiel Channel again and Brake. Would this become our routine for the next voyage? Mhm… we shall see next week!

Take care and have a good rest my friends!

Xxx Sophie

3d term, Week 2 🤩⚓️

25th-31st of January 2021

So… we arrived in Goole (UK) Sunday but did not go ashore there. We arrived a little earlier and we were hoping to be able to be alongside for the night but they (the authorities) decided otherwise. So we had to stay at anchor in the deepwater area and wake up early early to heave up anchor and get the pilot onboard that would sail with us on the river up to our berth.

On our way to Goole

When these kinds of changes happen, I am usually not called in the morning to heave up the anchor. I usually stay on my normal anchor watch routine or swap with the engineer or captain so that not all of us are exhausted the next morning.

Indeed, as the deck officer, I am responsible for opening the hatches open on time in the morning. So there I was at 6 am ship’s time with all hatches open, ready for discharging while the others could take a wee nap. First thing as soon as discharging starts is ballasting the vessel. I usually really need to be awake and fit then, because times like this are only about “go go go” moments. I start early and finish late. It is quite rare that I get to go back to sleep for a short nap. I just try to keep my mind focused on the job: hatches and weather and not think too much. Usually, it is not a problem. I know I will be able to rest later at sea for example, but sometimes on the spot, it can be quite tough. This time as soon as discharging was done, we had to wash the cargo hold and move bulkheads again. The pilot would come onboard in the middle of the night and we would have a short 2-hour sail up the river to another berth in Goole.

Moored on the Humber River

There, we were supposed to start a new loading in the darling morning. But, as it often happens in the shipping world: change of plan! We would not start the discharge. Only the day after. So we had an easy day that day because we were all quite wrecked from the nights before of course. That is the nice thing when some change of plans happen! And it is nice to know that changes are not always for the bad either. It gave us time to breathe and have a look at the maintenance jobs to be done onboard.

Sunset? Or sunrise? What would you say?

One year ago we had Port state control onboard (PSC): is an official inspection of the ship that can only be done in a foreign country. Your flag state cannot inspect you (unless an annual inspection for example – but not a surprise one let’s say). This inspection is officially recorded on the Paris-MOU website with all the eventual deficiencies that have been found. The deficiencies are available to any person who looks up your vessel. Of course, the worst-case scenario is that the vessel is “chained” or detained and cannot sail out. That usually happens if there are too many deficiencies or important items to be solved. The goal of course is to have the least possible deficiencies which mean that the vessel is well taken care of and is in good condition. Usually, after 1 year, the vessel comes up on the top of the “to be inspected” list and is “due” to re-inspection. This is how we know that we can expect PSC onboard. If the ship is well maintained and in good order – which means: ” if you did your job well”, then there is nothing to be afraid or worry about. It should go just fine. But you never know. If inspectors have had a bad day, it could be that they will be searching for a small thing you never know. And of course, we are humans so sometimes small things can also be forgotten! All this to say that well, we were expecting a PSC inspection anytime soon so I was glad to have that extra calm time to make sure the paperwork was in order but also the deck and its safety equipment.

Well. They didn’t come, and we also didn’t start loading till the afternoon of the next day! haha

Our next cargo was an interesting one! Railways for trains that we would bring to Hamina in Finland!

Railways: an interesting cargo!

I have never transported such cargo. It is in steel and very heavy for a very little volume. This means that most of the weight (centre of gravity) of the cargo would be at the bottom of the ship. I was now just keeping my fingers crossed that we would not get any heavy weather towards Finland because with such cargo, the ship starts rolling a lot and becomes quite “nervous” and it makes sleeping less nice and you sometimes need to hold on to things a little more. Life at sea!

Loadingvtge railways with two cranes

The rails were 50 meters long so I had to open all the hatches to load.

Two cranes were manipulating the rails together to put them in the hold. It seemed like quite a tricky job to do!

The nice thing I am experiencing about this job is that so far I have found it quite diverse regarding destinations and cargo it seems that I am always learning something new on every trip, so that is quite nice. I hope it will stay like that and that I will not get tired of too many of the same trips in the future.

Train railways! Isn’t that cool? The way they made them fast at the end was also interesting. The last layer was fairly lashed with a strap and partly with timber that was hammered in between the rails.

Another nice thing about railways that I discovered, is that I actually find them very photogenic and artistic! Coming from an architecture background – did you know I am an architect and studied the full courses at the university in Paris? It is a big part with these about lines and shapes. I must say I very much enjoy taking “artistic” pictures! or at least I try to call them “artistic”!

Moored in Goole, ready to load steel!

The harbour of Goole is very interesting we were inside the docks and had to pass through a narrow lock, then very narrow spaces with quite a lot of bends to reach either our berthing place or the locks. I was then on the foredeck guiding the captain in his manoeuvre giving him the distances we had ahead of us. I like doing such things because it “spices” up our everyday routine.

Underway from Goole to Hamina of course we sailed again through the Kiel Channel. And again at night making some slight changes in the watches so that they would correspond to the moments we enter the locks in Brunsbüttel and Holtenau. And also for the pilot change that occurs midway through the channel. Despite what other people think, I enjoy the channel, it is usually peaceful and quiet and there is always something different: the weather – sun, rain or fog-, the time of the day people walk, cycle – or not – on the quays. Sometimes the pilots want to steer so we are happy to let them do, sometimes we have to steer all the way through. I do not mind. Well, I also do not have the choice as it is also my job right? Anyways.

All frozen on the foredeck!

Fun fact about the time we passed the locks in Brunsbüttel: I had my first frozen mooring line experience! It was -9°c when we entered the locks and in 1 hour outside, the lines were frozen as sticks. In the freezing areas in the winter, we take time to store all our lines either in the paint-store forward or in the workshop aft so that we do not have that problem when arriving in the harbour and preparing for mooring. I better get used to it as when we look at the ice charts in the Gulf of Finland, it will be cold there!

Always happy, or trying to be of course! 🙂

I am looking forward to some ice experiences of course it reminds me of when I was sailing in Antarctica. Except that I house the feeling that summer in Antarctica was warmer than winter in the Baltic! We will see!

I will let you know next week what happens! 🙂