Tag: sailing stories

4th Term, Week 3 ⛴⛴

17th-23th of May 2021

Ok, so remember how I said” how cool to have a few discharge harbors cargo?” well it happened that it took us 3 small days to arrive at the entrance of the Humber River we were quite happy because all along we had good currents and we could even arrive at anchor earlier. That was a good thing for us because actually, the harbor was not ready for us so we could start “counting our time” at anchorage. On paper it was a good plan. In the reality, it did not happen that way.

The day before we arrived we got an email from the agent saying that they had done new surveys on the river and that the depth chart had slightly changed. It is indeed common that on such a river with moving sand banks that there are changes in depth; it happens. The only thing is that it wasn’t really in our favor! Haha It was already two weeks that we were receiving the updates of the chartered depth from the agent and of course, leaving Kokkola, we planned the whole stowage of the cargo holds in such way that it would be good for Goole after discharging in Greenore. It was a great puzzle for the captain – but he likes challenges so that was fine-. So it resulted in the ship being too deep to enter as planned.

It is interesting to see the fact that as a cargo ship, you want to take « as much cargo as possible »; because, it is often the income of the ship; let’s say the freight is payed on the tonnage we carry most of the times. So according to the information we had from our final destination (which was the tricky one with the Humber river and the maximum drafts the ship could have to enter), we made a stowage plan. For that you take in account the fuel you have onboard and the consumption you will make of it, and also going from fresh water to sea water ( in which you will be floating « higher » – meaning slightly less draft- because of the density of the water!). So when you have a perfect plan to start your notice of readiness as soon as you drop anchor so that the demiurge can also start as soon as possible….

Welcome to British weather….. haha; a helicopter is checking the platform here
Very cloudy and windy atmosphere at the anchorage

Well it is quite irritating to have a whole perfect plan falling out because of a river survey. We had to wait for a bigger tide to proceed towards Goole. In that case, I am not 100% sure but, it means that the time cannot start counting because the ship cannot enter. So we have to patiently wait at anchor. Of course, you know captain H. Now…. Lots of phone calls to see if we can arrange to discharge two trucks in a port closer to sea and then proceed; but nope. Not possible. Pity; but no choice.

It seemed like a full week at anchor just laying there.

Oh and. Of course, to top it up, we were at the deep sea anchorage. Let’s say that the network connection wasn’t the best and as we were further off the coast, the view wasn’t exceptional either. Too much current to do a swim call and the weather was not great for deck jobs. The AB’s were needle gunnuning and painting hatch cover number 6 between showers and I managed to do a bit of greasing on deck until « extreme wind gale force 9 to 10 » was announced on the radio….. We wanted to change anchorage position to go more inland to be more sheltered….. you know the funny thing is that we needed a pilot to go to that anchorage. But in bad weather the pilot cannot board so we are allowed to proceed without pilotage… Strange don’t you think? Good weather pilotage compulsory; heavy heather, pilotage not compulsory. Well; we waited for more wind and for the pilot boarding position to change and asked again to change anchorage position. Luckily our request was approved.

A few hours sailing upstream gives us time to do some maintenance on the foremast!

There was our manoeuvre of the week!! Yeah! « What did you do this week? -Oh I heaved up anchor and dropped it again 1 hour later » haha. I am glad we did it because there was a loooot of wind. Network coverage was slightly better, but at least we were more sheltered.

At the end of the week, we could finally proceed towards Goole with enough water under the keel. A pilot was organized in the middle of the night. Great. Friday 11 PM. Again, just a phone call to the agent asking to push it to the next tide as there was no hurry to arrive. The discharging would only start on Monday so no need to wake up everyone so early on a « weekend » – ha! As if we had weekends….- but true. At anchor only one person is up: the officer of the watch so that the ABs can proceed with maintenance jobs during the day. It is more efficient.

The ship always looks strange with the mast down!
We should always try to make fun whenever we can right? 🙂

So off we were in the early afternoon to Goole. 4-5 hours on the river before entering the tiny locks and tiny harbour of Goole. We had two Pilots onboard: a « real one » and a trainee. They were nice. The older one had sailed quite a long time as captain and wanted to spend more time with his family so became a pilot. He was originally from Portugal. And wanted to study theology when he had the chance to become a chaplain for seafarers. Or for prisoners. Because of the loneliness. I thought it was very nice and interesting talking with him.I like it when people want to give their time to accompany other people and make sur ether have someone that can listen well.

Underway, L. and I had some fun lowering the foremast to make a few checks: hoisting cable, search light, and navigation lights. It was fun. At one point we had to reach a light that was too high so I ended up climbing on the mast and just sitting on it. Crazy. Any opportunity is there to make a job fun right?

The dark clouds and the bright lights made it a beautiful view of the river!

The pilots told captain H. That they had never seen such a happy crew. I just think we are normal. This is how we do it here. But oh gosh, I then thought that the other ships are probably all sad and boring people if they think that we are happy! The good thing is that happiness is driven by happiness right? So when you see someone smiling and laughing it is natural to want and smile too. Don’t you think? The opposite is also true. This is why it is very important to my eyes to try to not bring the atmosphere down. Being negative can be so easy, trust me! I know a whole bunch about that! But being happy is way more fun so. The choice is easily made; even though it does require efforts and maintenance too like our fore mast! ;).

The entrance of Goole was a tight manoeuvre that captain H. Nailed perfectly. I found a new purpose to the ship’s phone: making time lapses. Of course I made one entering! A short quay but perfectly fitted for us. Ready to -finally-discharge Monday morning!

Ready for locks and mooring operations!
Yes, indeed, that is the tiny lock we are sailing into!
Finally moored!

It was nice to enjoy a good long sleep on Sunday with apple tart and a nice long walk on Sunday afternoon. I couldn’t resist taking pictures of all the flowers on our way and to light the day by swinging like a child on a random tree found in the field. Spring is a beautiful season – when it is not raining!. It was long that I hadn’t really seen trees and grass and the view from the bridge on the river Humber was just stunning with the sunset! A perfect way to end the week. Hopefully next week will be dry and we will have a nice next destination.

Happy chief officer! well done guys!

Take care!

Xxx Sopietje

A well deserved long walk where I found this swing…. never too young for some fun!

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!