Tag: travelling by sea

5th term, week 3 🌊❤️

11th – 17th of October 2021

So I woke up this morning to a nice sailing in the Baltic. I enjoy it a lot when it is smooth sailing and of course, it is never promised when it is the autumn season and all the strong winds are being blown just on top of Europe and do not seem to want to leave. Okay, the skies are not as blue as I would like them to be but I cannot have it all right? Clouds are good enough too.

We are on our way to Uusikaupunki with soja bean meal. And finally, after a slow loading in Kaliningrad, we have 2-3 days sailing and hopefully, I will be able to catch up on some rest before getting out of routine again.

Soya Bean Meal!

I enjoy the watch on the bridge and sailing up North because the sunlight is different up there. Just… lower and warmer if it makes any sense. Finally, at sea, I managed to have a beautiful sunset and those colours! My God, for sure no filters were needed! And this is where the colour of the sea because nice and blue and the clouds take their various aspects of different shades of grey and the light just seems it is passing straight through the clouds. It is marvellous and I am always very pleased to view this spectacle.

I must also say that although we are mid-October, the cold has not begun yet. I remember my internship when after the shipyard in Kaliningrad we also loaded soja bean meal in Svettly, our night watches were freezing cold and I had to keep moving to see my body warm. I had heard in September already people talking about what is called in French an « été Indien »; an Indian summer. I have absolutely no idea if the expression translates itself into English as well. But it is that the warmer temperatures come back in October for a couple of weeks and even till the end of October. I must admit that at our latitudes and being at this time of the year; temperatures around 15 degrees celsius are quite enjoyable.

We arrived in a quiet Uusikaupunki on a large and clean quayside. I think I had never been to that part of Uusikaupunki yet. Only at the Yara factory. This time we were way closer to town. The day we discharged, I must say we were quite lucky weather-wise. There were still quite some clouds but we only had a couple of showers so we managed to discharge pretty fast in two days. Luckily I did not have to play the « open-close » game too long and as the trucks were coming and going I could easily move around with the hatch crane choosing the areas to be discharged without pressure from the weather or the big crane from shore. 

Ruyter alongside in Uusikaupunki, Finland

And….. Well because of the winds increasing outside and because of the regular rain showers they had our next cargo loading operations slightly delayed. Also, they wanted to load a huge vessel before us which would take days…. But at the same time, the wind was increasing outside and two days later as we were still alongside, gusts of wind were about 35-40 knots. We were just on standby to know if they would let us pass before the big vessel, or after; or if they would decide to temporary bring that other vessel at anchor – pilotage and weather permitting- so that we could load in between….

Zoom in on the grab ready for discharging in Uusikaupunki
Discharging the soya bean meal in Uusikaupunki

These are the port « calculations ». As they were indeed « late » (we had given our notice of readiness); they have to calculate and find what would cost them less…

This gave us time to thoroughly clean the hold as we normally do after each cargo, and make ready for the next cargo to come. At the Yara terminal, we know they always come for a hold inspection and an ultrasonic test, so it had to be ready for that.

The crane in Uusikaupunki, and Ruyter in ballast behind. Waiting for the berth in the next loading berth
Hold cleaning time!

The nice thing about having a few days in the harbour without cargo operations is that you can take time to do some maintenance jobs together with other crew members. If we were at anchor, we would have to do some anchor watches and some rotation of course to always have the bridge manned which also means that there is always someone sleeping and we then try to avoid noisy jobs onboard. In the harbour, as we are all on day watch; we can be more efficient in our maintenance or bigger projects. And we can make more noise! It is really a win-win situation. (although I like my night watches at anchor because I have then more time to work on my website and these stories right? Haha!)

The crew working together on the maintenance of the hatch crane!
Cleaning up and fixing new hydraulic connections in the workshop

This time, we worked on some painting jobs – in between drops- and some hydraulic couplings that needed to be renewed in the hatch crane. A nice (not so nice) job because it is impossible to keep a clean working area with oil splashing and dripping everywhere. But nice because different from the normal jobs; and it is also part of a bigger project: every time changing a few and in the end, it is like having a brand new hatch crane! Besides, it is always nice to change an old rusty piece for a nice new one too. It is quite satisfying to clean up metal, dearest, change gaskets and put the whole puzzle together again and add the usual layers of primer and paint!. Yes quite satisfying indeed to know that hopefully, this will last for another couple of years ahead. It was funny because I guess we all have those moments – not laziness- but more when you know ahead it will be a long dirty job and you are not looking forward to it; well I think that day captain B. Had that moment. Haha. We started opening some couplings and were ready with our buckets to catch the dripping oil and after two full buckets and as it was not slowing down he started losing faith and motivation. I was glad at that moment that I said: opportunities like this do not show up so often that we have time to have this « surgical operation » on the crane with no loading operations…. And it was not cold cold weather either that we could stay outside to work. But we started on the Starboard side and the wind was blowing so strong that the oil was being blown out directly from the pipes to the deck. And well… It was a bit… too much. But I told him instead of quitting for the day that we could go on the protéide: less wind and especially because the job still needed to be done in the end. Now, in a couple of weeks or months; the job remained so it was better to just go for it and have it done.

Tool selfie!

I am glad I said that. I must have sounded convincing because we closed it all up and moved to Portside…. Even though I also really didn’t want to be in the wind with my hands full of hydraulic oil, sometimes, what needs to be done, needs to be done.

And we did it.

A beautiful rainbow although the weather was getting worse!
View from my porthole when in Uusikaupunki

Finally, We got a call from the agent that we would be shifting berth to the Yara terminal on Saturday late afternoon. I just had the time to enjoy a great walk ashore: my first time in the small town of Uusikaupunki. It was good to step off the vessel for a longer stroll than to just check the fore and aft drafts. Even if the city was only 20 minutes away; walking clears your mind and I am always in seek of new architectural sights. I always enjoy checking out how the cities are made and how the houses are built in different places of the world. I know for sure it is because of my architecture studies. Or maybe just because I am curious. For sure; I should start a page on the blog with the places I have visited… I would fore sure because a bit of a Travel blog haha. The little town was cute but not much was happening for a Saturday afternoon. It seems that there, everything is closed all ready for the weekend; and I only met on my way a few people also walking like me for an afternoon walk. Hopefully next time I will have the chance to go there again on a normal day: I saw a second-hand shop and would have liked to have a look inside for sure! Maybe find some cool Finnish woollen garments as a souvenir! Anyways, for sure, Uusikaupunki was not a very touristy place, nevertheless, cute enough to fulfil my curiosity.

We shifted berth to Yara in the late afternoon and we could enjoy a very nice Golden hour moment from the fore deck with the trainee and one of the ABs. Really beautiful. And it is not the first time that such sunsets happen there! We successfully passed the hold inspection and the ultrasound test of course. We were ready to load.

In less than 18 hours we would be underway again, bringing the fertilizer to Klaipeda, Lithuania.

Hopefully, we would also be there on time for my birthday on the 19th. And then we could go ashore for a drink or two to celebrate it. I know it usually never happens like that on birthdays…. But I could always keep my hope up … right? We would probably still be at sea anyways. And Klaipeda is a 24-hour working harbour so, chances are very few. But you never know what our next sail will be and maybe we had to wait in the harbour for 1 or 2 days! And then… all the possibilities are open right?

Besides I always like to find a good excuse to celebrate. The crew is nice and happy, we are going on well, the trainee seems also fun so far and he listens to what I say or ask him to do. And when there are eventually small tensions from living together on a ship, it is always nice to release the pressure with a good beer ashore. It usually lightens up the atmosphere. Not the alcohol drinking part; but just the time off in the harbour together.

The Golden Hour during mooring operations in Uusikaupunki

Soon we would have a change of maroff ( engineer) so it is nice to spend some quality time with those that are still on before they go home. Anyways. We are not there yet. First, we had to finish the loading operations and sail south again.

This was a satisfying week

Enjoy your Sunday and see you next week!

Xxx Sophie

5th term, week 2 🌊❤️

4th – 10th of October

We left Uusikaupunki for Szczecin in Poland with a cargo hold full of NPK fertilizer.

As you can remember we really had lovely weather in Finland but as soon as we started sailing south, the wind increased and of course was coming from the south. Have you not noticed that the wind usually comes from where you have to go? Maybe it is me but….

When sailing on Europa or Gulden Leeuw, you have to use the wind if you want to sail so it is probably one of the only things that take all your focus: wind direction and strength to anticipate sail area and manoeuvres and try to reach your destination only using the wind only. Since I sail on cargo ships, I tend to check the weather forecast less. We do not download a grib file every 4 hours, but keep an eye on the general picture to know what to expect when sailing out of the harbour of course. But We still go with winds against, and with wind 6 or 8 Bft. It doesn’t mean it is always nice, but as long as it is safe (which it is for our type of vessels!) then we go!

Most of the time we will reduce the engine reps and accept to be slower than what we would like ( I mean….it is not like if we are a super fast vessel either….). Sometimes we also have to adjust slightly our course too. We want to avoid having big waves hitting the bow because they only make damage and stop the ship every time she wants to move forward!

This time sailing south, was not such heavy heavy weather, but was a good 35 knots of wind for a good day and increasing to 40 knots now and then. There were waves and wind and rain. Everything to please me.

To be honest, when arriving in Szczecin, I thought the rain would still be there but no! The front had passed and it was clear!

To sail to Szczecin, you first have a 4-hour river voyage under pilotage: we must have a pilot on board. Most of the time they are happy with steering themselves so we can just enjoy the ride – and be there for serving coffee haha – oh yes and of course be responsible on the bridge, in case the autopilot fails for example or reducing speed etc… The pilot is not familiarized with the ship itself so we do always need to be on the bridge with him ( or her – I think I have never been with a woman pilot onboard yet…. But I know they are out there!!)

From my porthole, I could see the pilot boat!

In the morning when opening the hatches at 5 am, I was pretty glad it was clear with stars and dry. I knew we were probably going to discharge with two cranes so I opened forward and aft only a few hatches just to make sure I « controlled » where they would grab the cargo from. Sometimes crane drivers just pick from where ever because they do not listen to you and it is quite annoying because you have to be able to adjust with filling the ballast tanks too.

While you discharge you take « weight » out of the ship and it needs to be replaced by another “weight” for the ship to keep her stability while entirely discharged. Otherwise, you would risk capsizing and if not, simply putting the whole vessel in danger.

Alongside in Stettin, discharging fertilizer

Most of the Yara loading ports cover their fertilizer with plastic. I had already discharged steel coils in another quay in Szczecin, but never fertilizer yet. The cranes usually just grab the plastic out of the ship and put it on the quay somewhere aside. This time, for the first time I saw the workers taking the same plastic and fixing it from the side of our railing toward the quay. This way if cargo came to fall off from the grab ( which usually happens a bit) then it would not fall in the water but the plastic. I was quite surprised to see that and thought it was very good. Very often as sailors we can get pretty frustrated because, on board, we have to label and sort all our garbage and washing water and not pump overboard; everything should be retained and in the meantime you sea the harbours just spraying off the quays with a big hose or rinsing the grabs in the harbour water like if it were normal. I am often surprised how rules are not the same for ports and ships….

Anyways. Plastics out, hatches open, no rain expected and there I thought we would be out within the end of the day. But nope. I was wrong. The fertilizer was directly put into bags and forklifts were bringing them into some parts of the harbour. It was like a mini-industry on the quay. But because of that, it was going slow. We are used to trucks being loaded and that they come and go and most of the time by the end of the day we can already have the bobcat in and start sweeping.

Not this time.

We were still there this whole next day. But hey. What can we do right? No danger? No rain? Everything going smoothly? Perfect. On the second day, I was a bit nervous because after opening all the hatches there was so much fog for a couple of hours. I could barely see the foremast. Fertilizer is a sensitive cargo and it should not get wet; any droplets, droplets, drops or signs of water, I should be closing the hatches. But it was only the visibility that was gone. The air was dry, I stayed outside to make sure I would be in time to close. But no rain. As soon as the sun came out, it was beautiful again.

Last few grabs of fertilizer to be taken out, with the bobcat in the hold, then sweeping time!

I must say that I enjoy a lot the sunsets and early mornings. When everything is still quiet and all are sleeping, slowly the world starts up and the sun comes out, it is quiet and then because busy. It gives me time to enjoy the moment: a cup of coffee and just be there outside for the cargo. Just the cargo and only the cargo. It is my « only » important duty in the harbour: the cargo operations. Things can go wrong very fast if you do not pay attention.

Always a happy crew even when working hard on cleaning the tanktop in the hold! Getting ready for the next cargo!
An this is how the cargo hold looks when it is nice, clean and dry!

The fertilizer was finally discharged by the end of the next morning and we could take time to clean the hold again for our next cargo. The very cool thing was that with hatches open, the hold dries very fast. It was still a nice 18 degrees outside so perfect weather. In the wintertime it is way more difficult to dry the hold: you really need time between the two cargoes to put on the air dryer when necessary; otherwise, it is impossible to be ready for the next harbour.

And our next harbour was…. Svetlyy! Close to Kaliningrad in Russia!

It was just a big day sailing there so the next day we arrived at the channel entrance and it was perfect timing to get the pilot on board and be in the inbound convey. That is how it works there: convey in, convey out, during the day or the night. Sometimes you are lucky, sometimes you are not and you have to wait for the next convey. It is a bit annoying because Ethen they put you on a waiting berth, then you need a pilot for that ( of course) and there is the Russian administration, with the face check so if you are sleeping because you were on night watch then it is just inconvenient…

Loading Soya bean meal in Kaliningrad

But again. What can you do? It is the Russian administration take it or leave it. We took it – or were asked to take it – I believe no one is happy to go to Russia: no roaming, gangway watch, crazy immigration and customs paperwork, language barrier…

It was perfect weather: dry, sunny, no wind!
And the sunsets there are really amazing!
As you can see they get better and better through the evening…

Last year around the same time we were also there to load the same cargo for the same destination port: Uusikaupunki (again). Although there was a lot of shifting berth this time, I must say it went quite smoothly: arriving on the waiting berth, waiting 10 hours, shifting to the loading berth, waiting 5 hours, starting loading (great weather all hatches open – perfect conditions – we could do some good maintenance because of that!), loading very slowly for 24hours, shifting to the waiting berth and finally waiting 5 hours for immigration to come…. The pilot was already all morning onboard. But we made it for the outbound convey so…. Just in time! 😉 That was an easy Sunday half in harbour, half at sea, but all ready to go.

In kaliningrad, we have to wait for the pilot, so here was the view from my porthole, at the waiting berth

I like weeks like this. It keeps you busy in a good way. I like being productive without being in a hurry. The only thing is that I would like to have a bit longer trips because these are all short trips that knock you out because you do not get into a rhythm and your sleeping schedule is ruined…. So if anyone out there could do something about it, please?

Just kidding. It is fine… for the moment.

Now I am looking forward to a nice Uusikaupunki discharging… hopefully with good weather again. It really helps!

And off we sail to the next harbour!

Fingers crossed! See you next week!! 

Xxx Sophie

5th term, week 1 🌊❤️

25th of September – 3d of October 2021

There I am back on board again!

It seems to me it has been so so long… because indeed I flew home the last term around the 5th of July and it seems that I had é extra weeks of leave!

Of course, it is all good because I had to catch up on some rest time… I will not complain! ;-). I flew to Klaipeda in Lithuania. This was quite an interesting crew change because the ship was delayed in the harbour because of very strong weather in the Baltic – let’s just be honest here: I was not looking forward at all to the rolling and all! I stayed 1 night and one day in Klaipeda, where lucky enough for me I got the chance to go for a walk between the rain drops and do some small sightseeing in the old town.

Enjoying a couple of days in rainy Klaipeda waiting for the ship to sail in!

I found it cute! The annoying part was that I was just waiting the whole day, ready to join the ship; and from the moment I saw them approaching the berth and the moment I got the call from the agent to be picked up and go through immigration, seems like aaaaggggges. And if you know me well enough, I hate waiting and losing my time. Probably because I like to have it all planned ahead and to know what is or should be happening, when how and why…. Maybe it was also because I had no idea what the situation would also be onboard: would we be loading directly upon arrival? Or only the next morning? This is important information. Indeed as chief officer, my night watch starts at midnight and finishes at 4 am. But imagine having a long day of travel, a bad night in a hotel, a day of waiting; not knowing if you will be called any minute and checking your phone oh too often to track the ship’s AIS….. well, trust me, you are not fit at midnight!. And this is what happened: I arrived onboard at 21:30, got a quick handover and directly went to bed for a couple of hours rest before showing up at midnight, trying my best to be happy Chappy and smiley…. I was the « fresh crew » arriving on board so you are not supposed to complain about being tired…😂 

Also, another thing that was making me quite nervous was the new ( for me) captain that was onboard! I do not know if you see what I mean, but it is like having a new boss now and then. You never really know if they will like the way you work, if they will be strict, not strict, relaxed, picky, strange or whatever. But mainly, just like if your working style will fit with theirs. I noticed I really get nervous about these things. It is probably because I come from the sailing world – not because of the sailing but more because these are two completely different worlds…- and that I, therefore, feel like I have to prove myself over and over which is quite exhausting. Although it is now 2 years that I am onboard Ruyter – and of course, I am still learning who isn’t right?- but some tasks and now way understood and I think I am pretty well on the job. But I still have the feeling that I need to « catch up » the times I spent on board tall ships, compared to those that are my age and have only sailed these coasters since out of school and are now of course captains ( of course 😉 ). It sometimes feels like I am behind on where I should normally be, or supposed to be regarding my age.

My first night watch back onboard
Not too bad yet even though quite tired from the long day I had!

You get me right? But To be honest, maritime studies are not the only thing I have in my background, and I am quite proud of the jobs and studies I have had previously sailing cargo ships. Anyways… this should probably be a topic in my « thinking further » section….

So I arrived on board, a bit chaotic for me in the sense of dropping my belongings in my cabin, meeting my reliever, meeting the « new for me » captain, assessing the situation and the ship’s status, and starting my night watch. You know what? In the end, it went all fine! Of course, it did. And the bonus was that because of the weather, the harbour was « closed » so we stayed in for the weekend…. And were very lucky to go to town in Klaipeda and have some fun on Saturday evening.

I was lucky, I had the chance to visit the old town during the day and visit the clubs during the night! It almost felt like a short holiday!

Maintenance times on the hatch crane with trainee S.

From Klaipeda, we sailed to Kalajoki, in the Gulf of Bothnia with over 3000t of Triticale. Kalajoki. Funny name. But like all Finnish names! I had never been there. The harbour was small but very clean and organized. When I woke up that early morning to open the hatches, I had a nice chat with the surveyor. He was saying that it was the first time they were discharging this cargo in this harbour. How cool! Can you imagine? We were the very first to discharge this grain from Lithuania to that particular harbour!. Maybe in a few years, some ships will have a back-and-forth contract with the two harbours…. Who knows! And we were the very first ones to do it… nice!

You are maybe wondering now what Triticale is right? Well, it is a hybrid of wheat and rye that was first bred in the late 19th century in Scotland and Germany. Fun! I find it sometimes amazing: we think that it is only recently that laboratories modify and « invent » new grains, and new fruits, try mixtures to avoid bitterness or add juiciness to fruits for example or create new varieties of grains. But no. Triticale is mainly used for feeding animals: dairy cows, beef cows… it is high in protein. Well, good to know. Maybe I should try making it so great with it!

Finally sailing out of Klaipeda and off to Finland!

Sometimes I am allergic to some of the cargo. I never really know in advance what will happen, but as we were loading there was a bit of wind so I had dust everywhere in my hair, my face, and my clothes. Great start for a first night onboard. The next morning I woke up with all puffy eyes and As I was talking to the stevedore – who was wearing super cool protective goggles – I said he was lucky or maybe used to the cargo and that he didn’t have to wake up to my face every day. He was friendly and we laughed about it. And you know what happened? Well, Life is sometimes really nice because, on Monday morning, he came back to the ship to drop off a pair of goggles for me! I was really surprised! Some people can be very generous and kind without asking or whatsoever. I believe that when you are kind to people, people are kind to you too (although we all know that doesn’t fully happen all the time right?!) but out of the blue receiving a small – but important if I want to track the puffiness of my eyes while onboard!- gift.

Thank you to this man; and maybe if we return to Klaipeda for the same cargo, I will show him I used them and am grateful! 🙂

Finished loading in Klaipeda, with dirty hatches from the cargo because of the wind

So we left Klaipeda for Kalajoki in Finland and as we waited for better weather the voyage was a perfect ride. Being back on board with the crew you know is always a nice thing because you get back into a routine: they know you, you know them; no funny surprise meals on your plate and always good chats to get up to date while you were home and they stayed on board.

Enjoying some quiet me time on the foredeck while at sea!

With captains, I always have a few days’ « delay » because I do not always know what they expect from me. Yes, I know. Obvious: to do my job. But depending on where they come from, they expect more or less from the chief officer paperwork wise or sometimes they load the ship slightly differently than the main captain I learned from and whom I am used to. I must say, he is quite relaxed on that matter – so far what I can see. Probably because of my past terms onboard, I am always very nervous with new captains because I have the feeling I always need to prove to them that I have my place on board and that I know what is happening even if I come from the sailing world. It often makes me feel that I know less which I do not think is true. But you know, the Dutch language, wanting to be very good at my job, wanting to be better if not the best, being tired from travelling, getting back into ship mode, recovering from the wheat allergy…. In the end, it all sums up and yes. Confidence is sometimes lacking. I am a person that communicates a lot: I talk about what I am going to do on deck, what I plan for the loading, and how I want to do it because I think it is important that the other officers or captain know my plan and that we can rectify according to who is on the watch or not for example. I do not like to have room for error, but more room for flexibility. I mean you guessed it after a few paragraphs on this topic in one same post…. I like to be good at my job; but who doesn’t?

Last grabs to be discharged in Kalajoki

Anyways. After Discharging in Kalajoki, we cleaned the hold and moved the two bulkheads back in position and sailed directly to Uusikaupunki, also in Finland. If you remember well, we have already been there a couple of times! We were ready to load fertilizer (NPK from Yara). The loading prospects were 10-12 hours, but of course, it always takes more time because there, you have to do an ultrasound test and a good inspection of the cargo hold. They come usually with two or three inspectors and go around the hatches to check if there are any leakages around the rubbers. Obviously, we do not want ( and do not have!) but I guess some vessels are less well maintained than others.

Ruyter ready for loading in Uusikaupunki

Having said that, rubbers also age and need to be changed and all of our rubbers were changed when in shipyard this summer; so luckily no problems on that side for us, the test was also perfect with no wedges and speed locks closed! 😉

The sunsets in Uusikaupunki have always been the best so far!

When not rainy, in the yard terminal there is an easy loading port. You can read on the hatch crane how far we have loaded already and the guy in the crane is also on a VHF channel so very easy to reach for shifting loading position. It seems normal but often I find myself waving like a crazy woman from the coamings trying to get the crane driver’s attention! The good thing is that I have learned to whittle loud with two fingers on one hand. Fun fact: when I actually do whistle, all the workers and shore team stop what they are doing and look at me. Sometimes I can just see in their eyes and a small smile on the corners of their lips that they are thinking « yeah woman! ». haha

This is what a smile of a woman power looks like! 😉

I enjoyed a very nice sunset. Perfect conditions. We left loaded heading to Szczecin…

See you next week for new adventures! 🙂

xxx Sophie