28th of June – 4th of July 2021

And there we are my last week onboard.

In Dordrecht on mooring buoys with a new captain on board. I was waking up early to catch the lines of the floating crane that was coming to discharge our grain cargo into the holds of river ships. We didn’t know yet where we would be going after…. Surprise surprise.
It was quite interesting the floating crane. They just come alongside like another vessel would, and then put two lines to our ship. These lines are connected to cables and winches which enable the floating crane to easily move forward or aft of our vessel to discharge where we want. Easy system. I like it when it is easy.

Captain H. Was still onboard with Duschi his dog he had pickup up for the day. He continues handing over a few items while I was busy discharging then he did some technical jobs on pumps.

Discharging went quite fast which made me happy because we were expecting some rain in the afternoon. Happily, we only needed to close the hatches for a small hour and then I stood on standby on the crane to reduce when it was necessary. The crane was good enough to grab cargo with only one hatch open. This helps because the way our hatches are made is that all the uneven ones are beneath the even ones. This means that we can either have 1 or 3 hatches open but not just two. In case of rain, the fewer hatches open, the less likely we will ruin the cargo and get it wet when there is only 1 hatch open. It takes also way less time to open or close. So quite handy. But I must say not all crane drivers have that experience to control the grab through the open width of the hatch (6m).

During the morning we heard that the plan for us was to sail to Flushing to load wood pulp. I was glad about that: a nice and easy cargo. I was afraid we would have to quickly wash the hold through the night and position bulkheads and sail through the middle of the night to another harbour in Rotterdam and that it would be ongoing. Indeed, when I reach weeks 8 and 9, I because a little more in « need » of sleep right? So I usually keep my fingers crossed for easier voyages, especially towards the end.

Actually, I do not know why I do that because every time, it goes well; ok we have to work sometimes a little longer, but the captains usually manage to give us the rest we need. And we go faster into watches. So for example, if I need to be on navigation watch at midnight which is my usual watch, well I would go to sleep after a long day to rest for my watch and the guys (ABs and engineer) would continue cleaning the hold for two hours and do the departure of the vessel. It is probably the way it is: trying to stick as much as we can to the sea watches. But of course. It doesn’t happen that often and it doesn’t erase the fact that you probably woke up early too. But it works, and at the end of the 2 months, you are happy to go to bed when you can.

We were really lucky because the mooring buoys were reserved for us till the following day. Flushing isn’t that far from Dordrecht so we could wake up in the morning – like a normal day- sail out and be the night before; indeed we would only be loading in Wednesday: perfect prospects. Lots of time to get maintenance and paperwork done, lots of time to make sure the hold is clean and dry.

But…. Wait for it. It seldom happens according to plan… of course. Usually, once we get the voyage order by email, I expect the voyage to be confirmed. Till then, I have learned that I better wait for a little before starting any voyage planning (unless I have time while sailing!) because most of the time the destination changes before the order comes in.

It must be quite an interesting job to be the operation manager for these types of ships! I think id’ like it! But probably a bit stressful too, and constant 24h/7.
Anyways, we got the order by email but later that night a phone call from Captain H. … there was a vessel in Ijmuiden that had trouble getting their foremast down to enter the all-weather terminal to load steel coils…. And there was a possibility we would be the ones getting their cargo.

Ok. Steel coils… mhmm. Clean cargo but. Let’s quickly check the weather… approx 20 knots on the North Sea. Mhm. I hope it will decrease and that we will not get too much swell because we have too much stability with steel coils and then we can be rolling around. And trust me it is not that comfortable!
The next morning when we started sailing with the pilot on board, we still didn’t know if we would end up going to Flushing or Ijmuiden. Surprise surprise… north or south?

Till we did not have a confirmation for Ijmuiden, I prepared the voyage plan according to the emails we had. And I was trying to keep my fingers crossed…. But. I am a Sophie. I think you know that by now. The moment I pressed the save button… change of plans, Ijmuiden it was! Ok! Let’s start over! Not a problem. It’s a couple of hours till the entrance of the lock I will be on time. always.

We arrived closer to Ijmuiden and there we heard that we would have to go at anchor for a few hours. They did not know yet if we would enter later today or not, we were not yet in the planning.
We waited a full day at anchor because we would not start loading till the 2nd of July. And it was better to wait outside for another vessel – the Priscilla- to enter and moor so that we could go alongside her. The idea was that we would avoid unnecessary manoeuvres that way as she would load after us in the all-weather terminal.

It was my first time at the all-weather terminal from tata steel! I had previously loaded twice steel coils so I kinda knew a bit about it. But not crazy crazy. But the two times I had that cargo I remember very well to be honest because they were quite particular occasions.

The first one was my very first cargo onboard Ruyter as a trainee. From Santander to a harbour in Poland, with captain R. And because I was on board as a trainee and had to write reports about a cargo operation fully describes, I started directly with the first trip. Captain R. At that time advised me to directly start with the reports because they always take longer than necessary and the school also take longer to correct them. This way it gives more chances for correction when needed, while we are still on board. Smart.

The second time was when we came alongside another vessel of the fleet to take their cargo because they had a technical breakdown onboard. That was quite cool actually because it was a sister ship and we could see the mirroring process: we came in ballast and ended up fully loaded. It is always fun to be alongside sister ships. In that situation because insurance stepped in, we did not have to « deal » with anything – almost. 2 supercargo persons were there to discharge and load both ships and the whole inspection and planning was done by them. Although there was of course no damage to the cargo then; the situation was a bit different because some cargo had to go by truck instead and we had to mirror as much as possible the layout without adding extra manoeuvres. The whole plan and supervising were done and we had to supervise the supervisors. And of course, it went so smoothly like a piece of cake.

This time, I was not a trainee and we did not have supercargo persons to make a plan for us. The new captain we had onboard did not have much experience with steel coils either and seemed -in my opinion, of course, it would probably seem different from his point of view- to be relying on me for all the decisions.
We needed to discharge in two different harbours so the idea was to make sure that the remaining part of the steel coils was placed well enough for the ship to have a good trim and not damage the shape of the hull.

We had a list of the cargo that was going to Stettin and of the cargo going to Finland later. The list would only give the tonnage of the coils but not the sizes. This was important for me to know so that I could estimate the number of coils per row and how much space it would or could take in the cargo hold. I made an estimated plan and was trying to get the information from shore but I only got it early in the morning the next day when I went to talk to the stevedore. Luckily, my estimation was not bad at all and we ended up very close to the trim I had expected and planned. I was very proud of myself because I had not received any help and was on deck the whole day making sure it went according to plan. It did. It felt like a good achievement.

A good achievement because the night before I got quite upset with the captain for not supporting me and with the maroff for “pushing” me out as if I knew nothing:
The captain asked the agent if he had the dimensions of the coils and he said he didn’t have them and said we did not need them. I explained why we wanted to check the sizes to make sure our plan would work. The maroff started telling me that I just needed to tell the stevedores where to start and that they would do the rest. That I just had to tell them my plan. He acted as if he knew it all there because he had already been in the all-weather terminal and the captain did not try to say anything supporting me or why he also wanted the rough dimensions of the coils.

Anyways, I of course ended up frustrated telling the maroff that the plan was made and that I did not wait for him to make it, but that if he knew it better that he could wake up early in the morning to load. He usually disappears when I tell him that. I must say I was actually proud of myself for not snapping back as hard as I would have done in the past. Although I did leave the dinner table saying I was done with discussing the matter because the plan was made and they did not have the dimensions, I did not need someone to tell me how to do things. I made my point, and I kept my head up. Well done. People should not interfere or step on my feet if they do not know what I am talking about.
That is why I was probably double proud the next day when my plan was almost perfect -at least to my eyes-. I can load. I have learnt how to and I am probably believing that I am not afraid of it and that I can do it on my own. I had a good teacher: captain H.

Oh well. Then there we were, off in the night to Stettin, through the Kiel channel half a day later. We arrived in the early 2 days later and the discharge started while I was still sleeping because of the night watch.

When my taxi arrived to drive me to Berlin airport, my reliever was not there yet but the cargo for Stettin was almost discharged already. Sometimes it happens that you do not have time to do a handover. This is why we write down the status of the ship and make sure there is continuity in the things to do onboard. My reliever and I are on a 1 on 1 routine so we know the ship well enough to be able to step in quite fast. I usually always try to have most things ready for her so that she can go straight to work or to sleep when she arrives.

I flew home happy to leave the ship not because I didn’t like it, but just because I was a bit tired. This term seemed to start slowly with a lot of anchoring and waiting and ended very speedily with last-minute changes and a lot of long night watches.
I was also longing to see my family and I knew I had some exciting holidays waiting for me ahead!

Happy leave!

Xxx Sopietje

21st – 27th of June 2021

I am writing this week and I honestly cannot remember what has happened in a few days only! How crazy is that! Am I getting too old to keep up with my memory? Or was the week that busy that Monday seems like an eternity ago? Hopefully option be. For sure.

We were in Hamburg, shifting from the waiting berth to ADM quay to load Soya bean meal. This time it was really raining so much I was wondering where the sunny weather from the past days disappeared so suddenly! Because of the heavy rain we did not load for the first 3-4 hours. We had a rain letter, but honestly rain letters are only worth when there is a bit of drizzle or light rain. The famous question with rain is « how big is a drop? » to start closing hatches…. This time Captain H. Said we would not load and ruin the entire cargo with such heavy rain – even with a rain letter – so we had to wait patiently.

The problem with ADM quay is that it is a berth subject to tide. With low tide, there is not enough water for the vessel to be loading so if we didn’t complete in time, we would have to shit back to the waiting berth for 6 hours and then come back to finish. Ship’s life. You know it by now. To be honest , I did not mind to much, it only meant that we could go back to sleep for a few hours and then I would be busy again with the captain to finish loading and sailing away. Which we did.

It was actually fun because that night, he came to me and said: «  hey Sopietje! Shall we do something fun tonight? » mhmhmh what did he mean by « fun »??

« Shall we just let the guys sleep and we sail away just with the two of us? » ooohhh that he meant! Haha well yes that is fun, and actually what we used to do on the sailing vessels. It is not that it requires so much knowledge to take in lines right? I looked at him and told him yes…. At one condition: that he would not leave me on purpose on the quay side to get rid of me…. That would not be so fun , right? Haha….

The ADM quay is a short loading quay in Hamburg. We have to enter that small area backwards as it is quite narrow and there are always bigger vessels loading ahead. Quite often when we arrive there are river ships still loading so we have to wait till there are gone before we can moor. I personally do not find that quite handy as they are not restricted in loading times because of their drafts they should get out of our way before we arrive and we should not be waiting for them to move when we are planned at a certain time. The loading crane cannot reach the entire length of the hold so we usually have to ship when we are there and position the maximum forward loading position in the middle of our hatch three, where we usually start loading. And then finish totally forward after the aft if full.

This time because of the tide, we had to plan slightly differently, and shift twice more to be able to sail out and back in in a « normal » trim. Arriving at 22:00 we had still probably 3hours of loading left, maybe 900t. It would be a short night again for Captain. I do not know where he finds that super power to stay fit and awake from…. Probably from the magical captain hat….

So 20 minutes before shifting I woke him up and again on completion. I closed the hatches while he started the engine and took off our stern lines. Then went forward on the quay and once he was in our spring I took of our head line, climbed back onboard and heaved it up with the winch. Then jumped back on the quay to take the spring off – with me fingers crossed…. Remember? He could still leave me on the quay there alone… haha but I am tough I’d find a way to come back on time in the locks no worries!- hehe. Spring off, I jumped back onboard and heaved it up by hand. I made ready the foredeck while he was sailing out. In two to three hours we would be by the locks in Brunsbüttel and then he would wake the AB’s and the other officer to get the pilot onboard, sail through the locks and the first part of the channel. If all went as planned I would probably wake up and take over half way through the Kiel Channel…. Which is what happened (spoiler alert!).

I went to bed that morning tired but happy of what I had accomplished with the loading of the ship and sailing out with just Captain H. And myself. I like a bit of action and to do things myself. I forget sometimes how on the tall ships we would do a bit more « ourselves »…. Or maybe as women. I do not know if it makes such a difference on cargo vessels. But of course we are way fewer here in the merchant vessels than on the sailing vessels so… – no offense of course- men tend to come and « take over » faster some jobs that we could easily do too. I am not talking about heavy jobs; but mooring operations, throwing a heaving line or other. I must say that I can be easily frustrated by such things. People who know me will probably directly recognize my face in such situation. I am a doer, and if I do not do anymore, I know I become more lazy and I do not like that feeling.

Anyways, up in the bridge, I stayed 15 minutes with the captain to make sure he had all he needed and prepared him a cup of coffee and went to bed. I didn’t here anything till my alarm rang. Perfect. Just what was needed: a deep sleep.

The next morning I surprisingly had a nice chat with the captain who simply, out of the blue said he was proud of me. I didn’t really understand why in the beginning, but then he explained: I had loaded the ship just like he wanted and by myself, I had prepared the bridge, the paperwork, all small things but it was ready for him. I guess he was just telling me in his own way that it was appreciated. And. It. Felt. Good.

It had been a long time that I hadn’t felt like this I guess. I like being in charge and compared to my previous jobs, I feel like I have way less responsibilities here as chief officer than on the tall ships. Probably because the job is very different too. Anyways.

It was a beautiful day in the locks when I woke up. We were just half way so I had the second part of the Kiel Channel. For once it wasn’t in the middle of the night and I could enjoy the green view and the people enjoying a finally sunny day. We had a big 12 hour sail from kiel to Aarhus.

I have been there a few times with sailing events in the past. They hosted the world sailing championships, did you know? But this tie I wouldn’t have time to go in town either.

Actually, when I woke up again for my watch, the discharging had already well started.

Apparently I had missed our sistership the HEYN in the morning. The two captains are very good friends and in the beginning of the year I had the chance to meet them in Brake ( Germany). They came for a cup of coffee but I was still sleeping and when I woke up they had sailed out already. I miss meeting othersailors I know in harbours. That is the thing with sailors, you never know when you will meet again and it is somehow quite magical to meet in a totally different harbour every time.

After discharging we had to prepare the ship for Fredericia, a 6 hours sail south. We were really happy that the discharging did not take so long that we had to finish in the middle of the night but also that we didn’t have to position bulkheads like we thought we would have to like often with grain cargo. We were indeed really lucky arriving at 22:00 in Fredericia and that the weather was calm and clear that the tank top in the hold dried very fast: we were ready in no time.

I must say that summer times are way better indeed for hold washing: by the time you have finished cleaning and squeegeeing, there are only a couple of paddles left that you can mop but it is mainly dry?. In the winter, no ways you would get the hold dry in two hours. I think you xwould have to count more of a 2 days with the air dryer on!

Anyways: Frederica: a short real night – remember I always start with the early early mornings for the cargo operations and opening of the hatches…- but a nice wake up.

We were loading barley to Dordrecht in The Netherlands!

And guess what the barley was for?! Making beer!!

I tasted that cargo. The barley was a bit hard and dry. I expected it a bit more chewy. I wonder if we can make our own home beer from barley too? I have no idea. Should I just take a bucket, fill with a bit of water and close it and leave it for a few month? Mhm probably not. I guess making beer is not that easy. I have no idea!

Agin, the loading went well: always as high as possible till the coaming with grain cargo. It is important. And off we were again through the Kiel Channel and to The Netherlands.

Easy sailing. Nice sailing.

In Dordrecht captain H will go home and we will get a new captain onboard for 3 weeks till dry dock. I am not so sure I like it when new captains come onboard. Routines are a bit broken and it all seems a bit quiet and off. I never really like when the « main » captain leaves. I guess if there were a regular relieve captain it wouldn’t be so difficult always. I sometimes have the feeling that I do not like changes. I like the comfort of my known areas and routines. But on the other hand I do find myself flexible and open to changes.

I have thought of it: probably it is because although I am staying only 2 month onboard, my watches are not the easiest watches and after 6-7 weeks I tend to be lacking sleep because the nights of 7+ hours are very seldom, and lets be honest. Regular 8hours sleep in a row are absolutely not the same as two times 3-4 hours sleep right? So basically when I am tired my patience is limited and I do not like to modify systems that work for captains that come only for a few weeks and who want to make it all « their way » by changing the ship’s routine; just because the « captain » title allows it for them. The end result is that I am often making things twice or that there are some grey areas resulting in standing by for a captain who doesn’t really know the ship well and who expects the crew to do it all. Well, just as a reminder. On such a small vessel, if the captain doesn’t play his part the the two officers are running a bit behind to take over shifts and duties that other captains would do. If you come on such vessel, do not play the big titles and go back to why you started sailing and go back on deck to get the vibes again on why you started sailing. Your job is to be everywhere; not only in the bridge….

But of course, I have strong opinions.

And I am only a Sophie. I should learn to be more respectful probably. And more patient too.

We arrived that weekend Sunday morning early at the mooring buoys.

Captain H. Went ashore to pick up some orders and came back with Duschi his dog! She was really happy to spend the day with him. And it honestly feels like she was also happy to see all of us too.

It was a busy but nice week.

Take care and see you next week!

Sophie xxx