Tag: seafaring

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 5. 🚢 ⚓️ ⭐️

This week went extremely fast, once again. Last week we left The Netherlands 🇳🇱 for Denmark 🇩🇰 . Another passage through the Kiel channel and up North towards Kolding. The weather was this time nicer so we arrived fast in our next port of call. The Kiel channel was also smooth this time: entering before midnight and exiting around 8 am which made a good night sleep for the captain…. But less for me actually because I came before the locks when the pilot came on board near Brunsbüttel and till Pilot Change at kilometre 55 of the channel. And we had to wait for ages in the big northern lock for another tiny vessel to come in. So a bit less sleep but again, that is the way it is! 😊 Besides, entering the Little Belt in Denmark I had a great surprise with beautiful tall ships sailing ⛵️ . What a nice view! One of them was Hendrika Barthelds. She belongs to one of my previous captains. Nice to see that some are still sailing and looking good.

Hendrika Barthelds through my binoculars

It was then strange weather: big blue sunny sky then suddenly big rain shower 🌧. I was pretty glad I was inside a bridge… two years ago I could have been standing watch outside or helming in the fresh breeze and rain. Some would call that “wet, cold and miserable” 😩 . I guess when it doesn’t happen that often it just toughens you up 💪🏻 and doesn’t make you as miserable as your brains would let you believe…. Another good thing is the number of big rainbows 🌈 that we were so lucky to admire with these rain-sun intervals. It seemed we were heading straight towards the pot of gold in Kolding 😂 .

Rainbows underway to Kolding

The entrance of Kolding is a very narrow channel with not much depth out of it. Actually not at all. We would for sure run aground directly if we sailed out of it. The buoys are also not so big in Danish waters. They are also not lit; so you pretty much have to pay attention to navigation … 🙄 But Danish fjords are really lovely. As nice as the Mariager fjord we sailed into a couple of weeks ago.

The narrow fjord heading to Kolding
On the quay after checking the drafts in Kolding

No swimming this time, probably because the cold water swimming Captain left in this port to go home and our new captain is much more a running fanatic than a swimmer. Or maybe just not a fan of cold water swimming… 🥶 So we just carried on with discharging the fertilizer: the first day only 1:30… then it was raining the whole day. And the next day we did a bit of overtime to be able to complete asap. Their forecast was for us to remain the whole weekend in Kolding and finish the last couple of hundred tons on Monday morning… Well for sure we do not really like that as our next order is waiting for us in Russia. So we did over time and completed really fast on Friday end afternoon.

Early rise for the chief officer: opening hatches and starting up the day

It is strange. Danish working times are like in some Swedish harbours: start at 07:00 and stop at 15:30 with I do not know how many breaks in between. I really think they could be more efficient… But honestly, it also gives us a break if we have had heavy sailing and little sleep the previous days. And I like long sleeps and a walk ashore too! These will still have to wait a few days, till the next opportunity.

Ruyter moored in Kolding, Denmark

To make the ship ready for departure after completion there are still a few steps to do. Usually, the ship would already be in ballast as the water ballast tanks are filled while the cargo is being discharged. By the end, the crane driver hoists a bobcat in the hold to grab all the little piles of remaining cargo and push them to make a bigger one. Easier for the crane driver and the big unhandy grab he as (although crane drivers are usually good! This time he knocked one of our hatches on the top side which made a scratch. I was sad for the freshly painted hatch, but there was no big deal). A couple of men from the team shore go down to the hold with brooms and they sweep the rest of the cargo towards the big pile. In Brugge the sweepers did an excellent job; probably used to the river ships where it needs to be done perfectly. Here it wasn’t as good…. That is where we come in: the AB’s, myself, the trainee, the engineer if he has time and the captain too sometimes, comes in and we sweep the cargo to have a hold as clean as possible before we wash it. The cleaner the easier the wash will be. Obviously. Then it all depends on the cargo: if it is corn, fertilizer, grain…. They do not react to water in the same way. Fertilizer dissolves in the water so the hold will be very clean after it has been washed. When it is corn, we have to pick up all the little grains we see. But for that, we have different type of brooms 🧹 too: harder brush and thinner brush for the smaller dust. Cargos are not allowed to be mixed and in the next harbours hold surveyors come to inspect it.

The last fertilizer cargo
Brooms, brooms and brooms

Usually, once the bobcat is out, then discharge is completed. Then most of the times we have to be fast as we rarely remain alongside in those cases: hatches closed, speed locks secured, gangway back onboard, hatch crane in parking position and secured and all lines cast off. The order varies depending on the weather and if we have a channel or river underway. It doesn’t take long to secure the equipment, it can also be done accordingly, underway.

The bobcat in the hold

This time, eventually after completion, we sailed out of Kolding Friday evening, on ballast, direction Kaliningrad Russia 🇷🇺 with fair winds in our favour. The hold was perfectly swept and the hold would be washed the next morning underway.

Ruyter moored in Kolding, Denmark

My second time in Russia. One year later when I was still new to all of this. I have such good memories! ✌🏻

See you next week! Xxx Sophie 😘 ♥️

Ps: did I tell you that cookie is growing vegetables in the galley?! 🌱

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