Tag: sailing around the world

2nd Term – Week 7. 🚢 ⚓️ ⭐️

This week, I got older. Yes indeed, Monday I had another birthday 🥳 on a ship. Soon I will be able to count more birthdays at sea than at home! No… probably not just yet. What I like about birthdays at sea is that the cook usually always makes a birthday cake 🎂! Well, I also know that the captain usually goes to the cook after a meal to tell him my birthday is coming up and that it would be nice if he made a cake for me… haha! I do not mind!

Ruyter moored in Kotka, Finland

This time it is funny because Captain told him last Saturday ( I overheard him 😉 ) and he made a cake for the following day! But the captain said: “no! Her birthday is on Monday!” So he put it back in the fridge. The funny part is that Sunday he showed it to me in the fridge: “chief chief! Come and see”… but I quickly closed my eyes saying it was a surprise and that I would wait Monday to see it and blow candles … But of course, ship happens, Monday we were in the harbour in Kotka ( Finland 🇫🇮) and it was a very busy day…. I wanted to blow candles together with everybody, and due to cargo operations we were never at the same time in the crew mess, so we waited the following day at dinner time! 🍰

The 19th is my Birthday! And I love cake 🙂

There is always a good reason to have cake onboard, but a birthday is always a special day. This time cookie was telling the captain that he didn’t know how to bake a cake, that he was a cook and not a baker. I am fine with any cake. People who know me…. Well “know”. Even if you don’t, you can just see it on my body, right? ;p #sweettooth

Kotka. Loading fertilizer. The same place and same fertilizer we loaded last year (beginning of November 2019). The last trip of my internship as the sailing was suddenly interrupted in the second locks in the Kiel Channel with a sudden engine explosion 💥…. We were all keeping our fingers crossed that this year our navigation to Delfzijl would be without any trouble 🤞🏻.

Ruyter entering the Kiel Channel locks in Holteneau

The fertilizer we load here in Kotka is UREA. Last year I had a bit of an allergy to it… They say it is not harmful but sometimes I doubt it… the next morning my face was all puffy. Luckily this year only my eyelids were, so I was still recognisable by my colleagues!

Urea Fertilizer

Sailing to Delfzijl 🇳🇱 is interesting. Not the navigation part, but the loading part… The vessel needs to be even keel as she goes through the very narrow sea locks upon arrival. 5,00m draught. Not more. This means that the loading needs to be very precise to be a few centimetres on the stern (we will burn fuel with a 4-day sailing and those tanks are situated on the aft part of the vessel). If we are not even keel, the chances are that we will get stuck somewhere in the locks. We also need to go in with high water, as at low tide there is not enough water (obviously 🧐). That is only a matter of time scheduling with the harbour master and pilot that needs to board the vessel for the inshore channel part.

Passing through the bridge in the inshore channels of Delfzijl

To be even keel when the loading belt drops 700t/h fertilizer in your hold and when the chances of rain are high doesn’t make the task as easy as it seems. Urea cannot afford to be wet: one drop of drizzle, the hatches need to be closed immediately. Fertilizer melts and when it dries out and it hardens which makes it very difficult to get rid of. We will see how it goes next week with the cleaning of the hold! It also makes the rails of the coaming very slippery and it is therefore very important to keep a very close eye on the trim of the vessel while loading so that hatches can be closed at all times. Well, this time there was a thin layer of fertilizer on the coaming and while I was closing hatch 9, I couldn’t move forward anymore! 😰I felt a bit of pressure and thought to myself: “oh no! is this happening now as we only have 20 minutes of loading time left and rain is soon coming? “Really??”. Luckily the captain was also on deck at that moment and heard me struggle with the wheels of the crane. He put a bit of sand and tried pushing but it didn’t work (sometimes a small push helps) but nothing moved. We did not have a big trim but it was still too slippery.

Fertilizer being loaded at a speed of 700tone per hour

In the beginning, I thought: “ Could this be ice on the coaming?”. It was only 2°C outside but felt like -3°C. No, it was the very thin layer of Urea dust. In no time the engineer and captain took two strops and the chain block and the crane ended up moving very smoothly like if nothing had happened. I must say my heart was beating a bit faster as the pictures of damaged cargo – so close to the end- were popping up in my head…. Shush pictures! We win. The crane moves, we close hatches and the rain only comes later.

Kotka harbour

It was nice to be back at sea for a few days again 🌊. I like to get into a routine sometimes: when my Marad jobs are done and I am up to date, it is very satisfying to be able to relax on watch and do some maths ( yes yes, maths exercises… without calculator…) and to read 📚. I finally had time to finish a great book (“All the Light we cannot see”) that one of my favourite Danish bosun offered me 5 years back. Thank you Peter J.!

Underway with finally a bit of calm sailing in the Baltic

We sailed through the Kiel Channel – once again- at night – once again (I know the routine by now and expect a 6 hour night watch instead of the usual 4, but that is the sailor’s life, and I do not mind!) and arrived t the sea locks in Delfzijl at 3 am on Friday. There also was a long night. As the captain was having a way longer time in the bridge, I offered to come earlier so that he could have a short 2-3 hour sleep before the tricky part of the river, the narrow locks and the channel. I think it is nice, also as captain you need your rest! Besides, Saturday afternoon and Sunday were then off as the discharging will only start on Monday morning. I would have time to catch up on some rest and do something else later! 🙂

Chief officer ready to moor in Delfzijl!

A Saturday afternoon filled with 2x 5km walk (back and forth to the city centre) and a small stop in a second-hand store where I found 7 chick books in Dutch… yes! To practice my dutch! And a few ingredients to teach cookie how to bake a carrot cake 🥕- better than the one from Starbucks!- my favourite cake. The agreement is that he would then teach me how to make sambal 🌶 and an Indonesian speciality ( also a cake… sweet tooth remember? 😉 )

His vegetables are really growing in the galley. It is cool to see and it reminds me of our lupine garden in the Bridge in my previous term! 🌱

The cook’s small vegetable garden in the galley…

A calmer week as you can see, but good to charge those batteries for my next 2 weeks left!

See you next week! Xxx Sophie 😘 ♥️

2nd Term ~ Week 6. 🚢 ⚓️ ⭐️

Week 6 was an interesting one! Last week we were sailing out of Kolding 🇩🇰 to Kaliningrad 🇷🇺.

The narrow channel leading to Kaliningrad

I have been only once in Russia. Last year with this vessel. We had 10 days in the dry dock then loading the soja bean meal in the same place as where we are heading now ( Svetlyy). I was a bit nervous about all the documents and paperwork the Russians ask us to prepare. But apparently, as they have had a lot of trouble with shipping companies boycotting their harbour because of that, they have smoothened up procedures a little. They still need a lot of declarations from the vessel and still do face-checks upon arrival… 👮 and ask you very seriously: “Sophie?” Looking at the picture on your seaman’s book with a doubting eye…. “Yes…. That is me…?!”. Probably my picture doesn’t look like me: Pretty Sophie with combed hair and a little make-up vs Sleepy Sophie just after a long night watch and called out of bed by the captain in the middle of her long sleep…

Chief officer ready for mooring operations on the foredeck, arriving in Svetlyy, Kaliningrad (Russia)

This time, no dogs, just the agent and one immigration officer. It went surprisingly fast and smooth.

Beautiful sunset, Ruyter Alongside in Svetlyy (Kaliningrad)

With Russian, you often need to do a draft survey before you start loading. A draft survey is basically taking the fore and aft drafts 🚢 , the middle drafts (portside and starboard side) and the water density💧. You will need to know exactly how much ballast you have in and also the density of the water that is in your ballast tanks ( for the same volume, freshwater is lighter than saltwater). You date the data before loading and after loading which will enable you -after a few calculations- to calculate the exact amount of cargo we carry in the hold. This amount should of course be the same (or as close as possible) to the shore scale; and will be written on the Bill of Lading 📝 signed by the captain. Pre and post-loading surveys are done with an external surveyor (usually belonging to the loading party) and are calculated on both sides. When there is a big difference this is when a discussion starts… Basically, a couple of tons difference is nothing but if you have 20 or 50 then… or there is a wrong figure with a ballast tank that we think is full for example and is not in reality, or it is simply that the cargo is not in the hold… despite what the shore scale says. You can double-check by retaking the drafts, and comparing them to the stability calculation program for example. But “drafts never lie”, as would tell me, Captain H.

Almost finished loading the Soja Bean Meal in Svetlyy ( Kaliningrad)

Kaliningrad started very smoothly: loading speed 150 tons/ hour which is quite slow. In case of good weather, it is great because we can just open up the hatches and follow the loading process while doing maintenance on deck for example or preparing voyage plannings 🛠 etc. There is more time for emptying the ballast tanks and for drinking coffee ;-). We had nice weather and as our next port of call would be Uusikaupunki in Finland and we were expecting strong northerly winds, I was afraid being on deck wouldn’t be so nice. So I decided to anticipate a little the deck maintenance and to be ahead of schedule. 12°C with no wind is always nicer than 0°C in wind. Besides with a slow loading process, it is less stressful and you can easily keep an eye doing small jobs on deck and be fully available by the end when it is more critical.

Soja Bean Meal looks just like cruesli and the taste isn’t so far either!

This time, the shore scale was wrong for over 50tons…. Which made us miss the convoy to exit Kaliningrad the night after completion. We shifted berth late that evening and departed the next morning just before lunchtime, after the visit of our friendly immigration officers 👮‍♂️ . Upon departure, they came in three: one was face-checking and stamping seaman’s books; the other two were… doing nothing, just standing there probably to impress us. But we are not. We laugh discreetly 🤭

The disadvantage of leaving Russia 12 hours later was that we headed into strong northerly winds💨: a good 7 But directly in the nose which didn’t make the voyage so nice ( but could be worse with wind on the beam, or stern which can make us rolling sometimes depending on the swell). This time we had short high waves till we reached the Bothnia Sea.

There were quite some impressive waves 🌊 smashing on the foredeck. Of course, even with my phone close by it is always difficult to catch a good impressive picture: it is known that the biggest wave will always come the moment you put the camera down and it is too late to take another shot, right?

Strong winds against in the Baltic Sea

I always have in mind that Finland 🇫🇮 has mountains. I haven’t been many times here but I am always surprised by the thousands of little islands all around: soft round rocks ( probably used by rough winters…) and lots of trees. I find it beautiful and I am always hoping I will have the chance to go ashore and have a nice long walk to explore further. I do not think small harbours such as Uusikaupunki have a lot to offer. I think by 22:00(LT) everything should be closed. Unlike the other Scandinavian harbours, they work all day long (07:00 till 23:30 LT). It makes again a long day for me, but I do not mind: this is the fun part of my job: the cargo operations! Especially when it goes smoothly and if the weather is great: a big blue sky, a big sunny day, fresh temperatures (8°C during the day, 2°C at night) but not “ cold”. Remember temperature is just a piece of information: you can (and should!) train your body to cold temperatures without having too many layers on 🥶 ! There is no need to always put on the heating…. That is a funny point: our deckhands are Indonesian and our engineer from Bonaire….. well trust me, when walking around the accommodation and different workspaces you also walk through the different Earth climates! Haha

Ruyter alongside in Uusikaupunki, Finland

Discharging went as planned and very smoothly. We then started cleaning the cargo and had to move a bit the bulkheads to clean the cargo that was spilt behind (leakage in the timber installed in the aft hold entrance). Such things happen sometimes but it makes the bulkheads difficult to move and it takes longer to prepare from the cleaning and sweeping ( see my previous post for the sweeping! 😉 ). And then off we went to Kotka. Good winds in our favour this time and Sunday at anchor! We will be expecting in harbour Monday 19th! My BIRTHDAY! 🎉 🎉 🎉 depending on the weather forecast!

Ready to start discharging the Soja Bean Meal in Uusikaupunki

We shall see! Till then…

Porthole view 🌊

See you next week! Xxx Sophie 😘 ♥️

PS: The nice thing with sailing more north and heading into colder days is that the water gets also colder and therefore my showers too! It is over one year now that I take daily cold showers and that my warm showers become more and more seldom! I am almost addicted to it. Followed with a nice black coffee, it is the perfect start of the day! Have you tried?

Cookie’s garden is slowly growing

Cookie’s vegetables a growing slowly! 🌱 🌱

2nd Term ~ Week 4. 🚢 ⚓️ ⭐️

Here we are at the end of week 4. Time flies. It s already 1 month that I am on board, and it honestly feels like a couple of weeks only.

Pilot boot: the Pilot will soon be boarding Ruyter
On the Belgian channel

We ended last week on the Kiel Channel 🇩🇪 heading toward Brugge 🇧🇪 with heavy winds. Speeding up to be on time at the Wandelaar pilot station. And guess what?! We were there on time. And of course, we had to wait for our pilot, which had been postponed also. The winds were still heavy so we did not drop anchor but the Captain decided to make turns in the water till the appointment time with the pilot boat. It was quite foggy but in the end, it all went well, he brought us to the Pierre Vandamme locks, then the last two hours were without pilot till our berthing place in Zeebrugge. Unfortunately, we couldn’t go ashore there which is a pity because the last time I had been there was in 2010 when I was sailing on the French Navy Dundee MUTIN!😍 during the Tall Ship’s Races ⛵️… The architecture there is really pretty and as you all know I am still an architect in my heart, I very much enjoy sightseeing and walking in cities to get the vibe and fill my eyes with beautiful buildings! But we get it. We are used to it by now, not being allowed to go ashore.🦠.

Ruyter alongside in Zeebrugge
Cargo operations in between counting drops

The worst was that we were Monday evening in Zeebrugge and we only started discharging a couple of days later. Do not ask me why. We were ready but they were probably too busy. We had to wait. The funny thing is that Tuesday was a good day to do cargo operations…. The following days were pretty rainy 🌧so more difficult as we need to quickly close the hatches when there is rain. But it is part f the job. And I do not mind it. It often ends up in counting drops and waiting. And doing maintenance when possible.

Even with the rain, I always try to be a happy and smily Sophie 🙂

We have 10 hatches that are decided into top and bottom hatches. Obviously, we have to first put the bottom hatches ( mainly the odd number hatches) then we can position the other ones. This means that in case f drizzle or rain, we try to limit to have either 1 or 3 hatches open at the minimum; depending on where we decide the crane driver should be digging out the cargo. It is not complicated but the first times you are using the hatch crane it happens that you forget it! 😂

A very calm stay in Zeebrugge

In Zeebrugge, a few things were scheduled for us: our annual survey with Bureau Veritas. I think the surveyor worked 2 hours…. We were very ready and didn’t have any items to comment on. It all went smoothly so it was perfect! I like to say that it was because of the female chief officer…. But it would be a bit discriminating for the mal crew working hard on board to keep the ship in great condition and an engine room nice and shiny… right? 😝 We had our annual MOB crane and boat survey, the annual radio survey too. It is safe to say that the bridge was pretty busy that morning! And in the afternoon as the discharging times kept on being postponed, we got provisions on board with a full crate of Carolina Reaper pepper… the hottest small red pepper in the world. Did I ever tell you we eat 2x spicy fire noodles on board as a challenge? Well-led by our not so crazy Captain, between hot food 🌶 and cold showers 🥶…. We just follow him 😂 I do not mind, I pick up those challenges pretty well.

Trying out the very flashy yellow raincoat… Visibility is always important when working in harbour

So… It took pretty long before we completed the discharge of the SBPP. I had the time to be really up to date with my maintenance to-do list. Most of the jobs are either administration jobs ( niiiice paperwork!), checking radio equipment systems, or greasing. So there I am greasing and cleaning on deck the equipment I use the most, but also anything that moves on deck.

And the discharge continues slowly, one hatch at the time!

It is such a big job from every moving part of the crane, the anchor winch, the fire flaps, the ventilation hatches, the watertight doors, the emergency exits, the rubbers, the pipe sounding caps…. It takes hours! That is why in our maintenance program it is split over a couple of weeks to spread it out a little. It works fine like that. The most important is that it is done regularly because with the very dusty bulk Caro we carry, the grease dries out and gets stuck. That isn’t good.
Because of the bad rainy weather, everything got postponed. As soon as we discharged, we had to go to Sas van Gent 🇳🇱 to load fertiliser.

Taking time to do maintenance on deck by greasing any moving parts including parts of the anchor winch

Again another cargo very dependent on weather conditions. The vessel before us wasn’t ready s we had to go out at anchor. I the beginning we thought it would be for the whole weekend, but actually only half a day. Great, but again another strange night with a lot to do: heaving up anchor, pilot onboard, change of pilot, through the locks, mooring…. Sailor’s life, but…. Short nights mean also short sleep 😴🥱. Normally this company doesn’t work on weekends, but to catch up with vessels we continued all Friday night till early Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon till completion. At least we could go and stretch our legs a little in Sas van Gent and have a beer 🍻 in the only café open….. a Saturday afternoon like a ghost city…. Strange 🤨, but I do not complain to have a nice walk in a so quiet environment! 😉 Next harbour, we will be changing captain again. I am not looking forward to that. It is like a piece of the ship that leaves us. I know the next captain, he is nice, but Captain H. is not replaceable. The thought of it makes me sad; sailor’s life. We always say goodbyes and always meet new people. The nice part of it is that we always meet again and that is something very nice to look forward to. always.
Enough talking for this week! ✌🏻

Alongside in Sas van Gent

See you next week! Xxx Sophie 😘 ♥️ @ Brugge, Belgium