6th term, week 6 ⚓️✌🏻

7th till 13th of March 2022

Here we arrived in Brake in the morning. This is perfect because it gives us time to prepare for discharging: we need to take all the timber lashing for the deck cargo and the tarpaulins off. This takes quite some time – but luckily less than when we make them tight! haha!

*Ruyter underway on the Weser river to Brake with timber cargo on deck*

We took the afternoon to roll all the lashings and the tarpaulins that were no more in use. We would then store them the next day in the lashing store as we had time to do it during the discharging. Only a part of our cargo would go to Brake and the other part to Bremen. Obviously, the deck cargo and the top part of the cargo that was in the hold were for the first harbour and the rest for the second harbour. Just saying. It can be logical for some but not for others. When we load, first the second harbour comes in first then the second. We also need to make sure that we can keep a nice trim once we are partially discharged. Often that can be slightly corrected with a part of the ballast already in….

*Ruyter alongside in Brake, lashings still need to be taken off*

Anyways. Tuesday Morning I woke up early to be on deck as they started discharging in the morning. I did not have to open hatches yet as there was still cargo on top of it. Also, We would first have to take the bottom tarpaulins off before being able to reach the speed locks. After an hour or a little more, I woke the deck crew up to help me with the tarpaulins. We needed to fold them nicely and neatly and store them again. It is not difficult to do but it is faster with a few people of course. And if there is a bit of wind then the sail just blows away very easily. Also, we do not want the crane to wait on us for discharging, so we have to always be a little bit ahead of time and clean up, to be ready to open as soon as possible for the discharge to go as smoothly as possible. Remember? It is always all about money and time and time and money… I work for the ship, so I have to make sure that I do everything in my power to not have the ship lose money…. Let’s say I am here to make the ship win money by transporting cargo in name of the company right?

*The discharge of the deck cargo has started early in the morning*

*the crane is taking two timber packages at the time*

Well, then this is what I also try to do then! Haha. So here we are myself and the ABs and the trainee, folding the tarpaulins on deck and waiting in the beautiful sun. It was not so cold and there was no pressure, just good moments and a lot of laughing. I like days like that. I like to be working outside. I like laughter and a good atmosphere. We were happy. Probably still enjoying as much as we could before the hard work would come when putting back the chains and the slings. In the lashing store haha.

*The Weser river is marvelous with the sun rising. Amazing colours!*

It was a 2 hours sail to Bremen and we wanted to make sure that we would sail before the end of the afternoon to not have so much night work for nothing.

*Here the crane is discharging three packages at the time; we are already in the hold*

The morning gang from Brake was quite a fast crew. They discharged most of the packages before they left for their crew change. If not all of them. We were ready with our hatches closed when the other crew arrived. The problem was that all our slings were still ashore and we needed them to give them back to us with their crane.

Also. They probably did not really like each other between morning and afternoon crew because they had left all the timber ashore directly on the floor with our slings around them still; and not in an organised manner at all! It was a pure mess and the forklifts could not access some of the packs of timber without moving others around it was difficult because they were directly on the ground without space for them to insert the fork and lift them…

Besides that, 8 people were watching two forklifts work…. And those were not the best: as we were all waiting on the hatches looking at them, they were moving around packages that were already without slings while we were waiting and waiting….

Our engine was even on already!

After one hour, Trust me, I told the captain I would go out and scream at them a little hoping would accelerate the pace. Luckily it did. I do not always like screaming, but sometimes you do need to. Otherwise, nothing happens. And unfortunately, as a woman, I need to scream a little harder otherwise the men ashore just look at me and laugh. So there I was…. from the top of the hatches telling the shore team to speed up; telling them it was one hour already that we were waiting and that our engine was on and that we were waiting on them and that nothing was happening. They were all a bit confused. In reality, it did not happen exactly like that… a couple of them started staring at me and laughing -probably thinking I was crazy- so I threw in a few rude words that touched their ego…. And then it started moving a bit faster too.

I was laughing because of captain H.: he was telling me by VHF to tell them that even his grandmother of 98 was faster than them!

Oh well, that was a good laugh. 20 minutes later we were finally casting off our lines and sailing in direction of Bremen further on the river.

The next morning we discharged the rest of the timber and that lasted the full day.

*The last tier on the tanktop needs to be discharged then we will start under hatch 1*

While the ABs were collecting all the slings as they came and directly putting them in the lashing store, we would after that have to put the chains in and the « timber job » would be closed till…..next time.

The nice thing is that we managed to repaint the lashing store on that voyage and make it nice again. All the slings were stored in the lashing store and non in the bow thruster room. I must say I was very happy about it. We made smaller packages of slings: by 10, they were way lighter and easier to handle of course than by packs of 25….. and we could also squeeze them more easily in small corners which was perfect. I was quite proud of the result. The lashing store is slowly getting organised, finally! And we even have an extra shelf there as an extension of the deck store in the aft; this way we can keep only the things we use regularly at hand reach and once in a while get things out from the forecastle or the lashing store.

The next trip was loading would pulp in Brake again….

In the late evening we sailed back to Brake and the next morning we loaded wood pulp. I was just hoping we would not get the same afternoon shore crew back…. You know…. Those on which I said rude things to get them to work faster …. And surprise yes! It was the same team! Like « oepsies ». Well, the good thing is that there was not the whole team again; just the crane driver. And you know what? I was not ashamed… we were a bit in our right to scream at them to go faster because they were wasting our time and that was not correct….

Anyways. Loading wood pulp took a little longer than planned as their crane broke down for a couple of hours…. We were sailing back to the icy area: Kotka! I sometimes find it funny to see how cargo goes from one place to another: close to Kotka there is a wood pulp factory; why on earth do we bring wood pulp back there? Of course, there are different qualities and different trees to make cellulose. Usually, the one we load in Belgium or The Netherlands comes from Brazil and is made of Eucalyptus.

We have been lucky with beautiful sunsets and sunrises this week! — *Ruyter underway again, in the sun!*

In the evening we completed loading and sailed up to the Kiel Channel again… And yes, Kiel Channel on a Sunday; of course. Lucky not at night, but it is usually either one or the other! Haha.

And there was our week gone!

The highlight was my manoeuvring! Yes, you heard it! In Bremen, I manoeuvred the vessel to put her alongside! I was so happy and proud it made my day! You will hear more from me about that every time I manoeuvre! I just love that!

Anyways…. I wish you a great Sunday and see you on the other side of the Kiel Canal tomorrow!

XXXX Sophie

6th term, week 5 ⚓️✌🏻

28th of February till 6th of March 2022

5th week onboard here I am! Almost 2/3d done! Can you imagine? I cannot…

We are in Hamina (Finland) and we will be loading timber from Brake and Bremen in Germany. But we were only planning to start on Tuesday which gave us enough time to prepare for the lashings and sort the lashing store completely.

*MV Ruyter moored preside alongside in Hamina, Finland, it is snowy every where and there is ice in the water*

Last summer in the shipyard, all the rubbers from our hatch covers were changed. And quite a few leftovers were just dumped in the lashing store. Also, I knew that we had a few deck items here and there in the lashing store that were not organised. And you know how I am…. I like that all the same equipment is together with the same equipment. I do not like to find rubbers in one place and two other different places onboard the vessel. How can you keep an inventory or track of what you have or do not have onboard? Besides, when things are just dumped over others with for only excuse « that there was no time because it was shipyard ». Well….. I do not like that. It is more that time was not made for it, to my opinion. But of course, I was not there right? Wo what could I say? nothing.

Chief officer Sophie happy in her overall in the engine room making a peace sign with her hand

Captain H. standing by the engine as we just restarted it after the maintenance work

The previous Saturday afternoon, I had a look at what there was and where to give myself time to think of how I wanted to have things organised down there, and logically. I could think a bit better about how to use the spaces that were not as accessible once the slings were back in place. With the help of the trainee and the second officer we managed to sort and throw quite a lot of old items that we were never going to use again; because broken or too old. We managed to recoil and lash tight all the long rubbers from the hatches and to sort them and count them. Finally, I could have a proper inventory of what we had in stock regarding spare speed locks, wedges and corner rubbers!

We could store away all the extra tarpaulins we had for the timber cargo. Which would give us more space for the slings – hopefully.

Our deck store is way too full of items we do not use that often either. We made space so that items would still be accessible also once the slings were back in for those spares too. Hopefully, the turn of the deck store would come soon….. I have big plans for that storage area! An extra small shelf for light items we use regularly ( gangway net, corner tarpaulins for bulk cargo….) and the rest we seldom use, stored in the forecastle! Hopefully, this will also soon become a neat space! Fingers crossed!

Anyways. It was a good Monday. Very productive.

*A big vessel is leaving the harbour with tug boats, he has a lotto timber tiers on deck!*

Tuesday we started loading. I was ready for 5 am (there is one hour difference in Finland! So it is very early when we are here) to open all the hatches and have it all ready. The great thing with timber is that it is not weather-sensitive so I do not have to be afraid of not closing hatched on time. I can keep them open without worrying. They only started way after 5 am which was quite annoying for me. I like to be ready and on time for them to start working so, it is always a bit frustrating when they take their time. I mean, I know it does not change anything…. I just made myself a cup of coffee and it was all good you know. But a time is a time. Right?

The loading of timber has started in the forward part of the hold

Bigger picture of the loading process in Hamina: the sky is quite grey and the atmosphere icy

Anyways (again). It took us 1,5 days to load. Which was a little more than 3 shifts before we could start doing the lashing on deck. The good thing is that it was still during the day so it was better and easier for us.

With timber, you have to be very careful that the hold has to be as full as possible with the least holes possible between the packages. The more cubic meters that are in the hold the better for the stability and for the deck cargo that can come afterwards on deck. Unlike last year, all the packages had different sizes. Or at least it is what it seemed to me. It was such a Tetris game for the crane driver to set everything in a good spot. I am happy I was not in his shoes.

*View of the cargo hold fully loaded with timber, it is time to close the hatches and prepare for the deck cargo.*

Once the hold is full then we have to close the hatches, speed locks and wedges. We also need to take the drafts and know what amount had been loaded to know the stowage factor of the timber and to be able to decide and calculate how much cargo we can finally take on deck. Timber is always a tricky cargo and to give extra points to consider, we are also in Ice so we absolutely need to remain within the ice drafts marks.

chief officer Sophie is controlling the positioning of the deck cargo

The crane is slowly loading all the timber on deck with the slings

The ice drafts are there to indicate where the hull is most resistant to pressure and compression from the ice in the water. It is like the lordliness we must stay within. Especially in Finland; because if we happen to get stuck in ice and we are out of the ice marks, the icebreaker will not come and help us, or we get a pretty big fine…

The sun is out again, and chief officer Sophie is checking the drafts on the quay

Luckily this does not happen to us.

Once they had finished loading on deck, we set all the tarpaulins and fixed them over the cargo to protect it from water and ice. Then we positioned timber on top of the tarpaulins to prevent the wind from blowing in them, positioned all 84 lashings and heavy chains and started lashing down…. And it took for aaaages! You always think it will be faster but by the time you get back into figuring out how they work again and then slowly moving your way aft of the ship. Then suddenly it is 22:00 and the pilot is boarding and it is chop chop chop – gangway onboard – hatch crane is position – mooring lines stored inside – last two lashings on the aft (otherwise we cannot use the hatch crane…) and there we are off to bed as the watches start….

*Crew is positioning the tarpolines on the deck cargo to prevent it to get too wet*

Trust me, after a few hours of lashing timber on deck with our equipment, you sleep like a baby! Better relax and stretch your muscles too, drink lots of water and massage your shoulders a bit! It is a full workout! Not only walking back and forth on the ship but climbing and jumping on and off the different heights of timber packages or down on the deck to fix something. I am really glad that at least it was not cold, windy, icy or snowy! We were lucky!

And of course, with timber cargo, you sleep so well! It is the total opposite movement from very heavy and dense cargo like steel coils for example. The ship just rocks like a baby. We were underway for the next three days in a calm baltic, before arriving at the locks for the Kiel Channel. And then it was only a short 12hours sail on the Elbe river to the Weser river leading to Brake. And of course! Guess what? We passed Kiel Channel on a Sunday!

*Chief officer Sophie underway showing the deck cargo on deck with a large smile*

*Ruyter sailing along the cost of Sweden and enjoying a beautiful sunset over the sea*

We had to wait a few hours before passing actually. It was quite congested. They even said that we would only pass early morning instead of early evening as initially planned so we dropped anchor. And changed the schedule around so that the captain could be awake and fresh for both locks.

Luckily they called us two hours later telling us they had a pilot available for us so we could enter the locks and proceed from Holtenau on the Kieler Fjord to Brunsbüttel on the Elbe river. And that was another change of plan but to our advantage, as we would then arrive easily on Monday morning in Brake and have the full easy day to take all the lashings off and prepare for discharging on Tuesday morning only.

*This is how the lashing of the deck cargo looks line with the slings and chains*

Perfect! That made us all happy!

I hope your week was good and productive like mine. Let me know in the comments!

Big hugs and see you next week for the following adventures!

Sophie 🙂

6th term, week 4 ⚓️✌🏻

21st till 27th of February 2022

4 weeks onboard!! Already! It goes so fast! I have the feeling I came back on board not so long ago…. And there it is already halfway through my term!

As a reminder, we are sailing to Sweden with wood pulp in our hold. Not a full cargo; but very easy cargo. It was funny during the loading I thought to myself that the cargo seems in really bad shape. But you know the thing is that it has already been handled quite a few times as this wood pulp comes from South America somewhere. Can you imagine that we bring wood pulp back and forth between some countries? It is quite strange when you think of it to buy something from the other side of Europe or of the world will there is plenty next door!

*Motor vessel Ruyter sailing on the North Sea in strong winds*

Anyways. We are out of the Kiel Channel now. And as it happens most of the time- or at least it seems to me…- I had the longest watch in the channel…. Ok not fair for the others. Of course, Captain H. always stays up for entering the locks and mooring operations. So he is also early and late but usually managed to have 7-8 hours of sleep in between. This time, I woke up for my watch and we were still outside Brunsbüttel waiting for the pilot and a free space in the locks. There was so much wind that everything was congested.

A couple of hours later the pilot even told me that they had stopped entries in the locks because of too high waters…. We were facing some gusts over 40 knots on the channel. We had to wait q few times on the channel for other categories of vessels crossing us. Once even for 1hour! Usually, it is 20-30 minutes…. It was not the easiest on the channel but luckily the wind was pushing us on the dolphins in the waiting areas.

Once out of the Kiel Channel, there was still some wind but no more waves so it was actually quite a nice sailing up to Sweden!

*Finally the weather became better and the sun was out. View of the ship from the foredeck towards the accommodation*

The further northeast we were sailing, the colder the water was and I could really feel the difference in my morning shower! As you know I only take a cold shower and well it was almost freezing cold just before arriving in Norrsundet! I even challenged myself to stay for 3 minutes underneath and there was no problem at all. I loved it it was very … refreshing! From Kiel to Norrsundet it was still 3 days sailing so it gets more and more North. And there would still be some ice closer to the coast further on the Swedish coast.

I had never been to Norrsundet. It was a very small harbour on the east coast of Sweden (I checked it out even! 1003 inhabitants!), just at the entrance of the Bothnia Bay North of Gävle. There was not so much Ice before arriving, but in the entrance channel and the harbour, a little. Just enough that the ship had to break the ice to access the quay. The small ice breaker tugs should have passed to break the channel and crush the ice before our arrival, but they hadn’t even though it was requested!

The linesman was also the foreman of the harbour and she was very upset; captain H. Too! It took one hour to finally berth.

The next morning we were ready to discharge the wood pulp. I woke up quite early to be ready to check the weather and open all hatches up. But once on the bridge, although it was dry and clear when I checked the weather forecast, it showed rain just around the time the discharge should begin. So I kept everything closed except mine hatch – just to say I was there and ready- and made myself a cup of coffee.

It was very quiet all around the ship and in the harbour. It was a very small harbour with only two quays. One where we were and another one, longer where you could see that various cargoes could be discharged.

*Discharging the wood pulp in icy Sweden*

Finally, shortly before 7 am, the stevedores came to the ship. The crane was not even there yet. I went to say hello and explained why the hatches were still closed. And we waited a bit then suddenly it was pouring rain for 20 minutes. Like it came out of nowhere. And there I looked at the stevedores and we nodded: this was what we were expecting and it came. After that, I opened all hatches and we could finally discharge the entire rest of the day. Woodpulp is a weather-sensitive cargo and it should not get wet at all. As we did not have a full cargo; the discharge rate was 200t per hour so we could expect to finish within the day which was great news. Our next harbour was Hamina in Finland and it was a little less than 2 days of sailing. The next cargo was timber so the hold only needed to be swept well but not washed. So that could easily be done underway.

The arrival in Hamina was easy in the morning. It was nice to sail in ice for a couple of hours again. It is like a real change of scenery. And even if it was not as cold as last year at the same time when it was -14 degrees Celsius outside and now only 0 degrees…. Well, the ice was still there and everywhere in the harbour and the icebreaker and tugs still needed to break the water for us.

Back alongside in Hamina Port, The vessel is moored and surrounded by ice.
The ice is becoming very compact around the ship even on the stern

We arrived on Saturday morning which gave us a lot of time to take all the timber lashings out of the lashing store. Trust me it is a lot of slings that we carry down there! They are all organised in bundles of 25 so that it is easier to handle around when on deck. But we have more than 2500! If not 3000…! Then it is also all the chains, slings for the deck lashing and tarpaulins to take out.

Happy chief officer Sophie, enjoy the cold and the ice!

Getting ready for the timber cargo by taking out all the slings from the lashing store with help of the fore mast crane

Suddenly the lashing store seemed very empty! It was good because I could do some sorting there and some throwing away.

A ship is a little like a house. You tend to keep everything « just in case »… and even if it is old, broken or… well you know. This was going to be a perfect opportunity for me to check what we had onboard and sort a bit…. And mostly throw what was not needed anymore.

*The ship is ready for loading early morning the next day*

We were also welcoming a second officer onboard that weekend. Normally we do not have a second officer and we had to free our spare cabin that was used for various spares onboard and make it ready for him. I would have to do another full familiarisation for him on deck as I did for the engineer that joined us a few weeks ago. That is how it goes I guess….

Luckily they would only start loading on the following Tuesday so we had a fun Sunday in the harbour to…; sleep in, and swim in the Ice cold water! Yeahhhhh!!! Of course, you would not think for one second that captain H. And I would let this opportunity pass by right? This time my challenge was to stay for more than 3 minutes at least in the freezing ice water. And I was aiming for 5 minutes. And you know what? It felt way easier than last time. My core was warmer. And I felt more relaxed. Except for my extremities ( toes and fingers) while I was going back to the vessel…. It was really exciting!

*Ice swimming in Hamina with Captain H.*

In the afternoon we went for a walk on the ice to the city of Hamina. It is a nice 1,5-hour walk on the ice directly to the city. We went for a beer (I took a cider) and we had lots of fun.

*This sounds like a good day to go for a walk: chief officer Sophie with in back ground motor vessel Ruyter*

And off we go for a walk on the ice with Duschi the dog and Captain H.

Proof we were on the ice: Sophie is leaning against a frozen starboard buoy

I enjoy Sundays in the harbour like that whether is no cargo operation. It is really one of the nice things to visit around and walk longer than the length of the ship. Besides, I do enjoy the ice and Finland. It makes it special.

*Selfie on the ice with vessels frozen in ice alongside*

And I do not know when we will be there next so…. One day at a time and I try to enjoy it as much as I can.

I hope your Sunday was also nice.

See you next week with the sorting of the lashing store and the loading of timber!

Xxx

Sopietje

S O P H I E. T H E. S A I L O R.

Just another view of the world through Sophie’s eyes while working and traveling at sea

Tag: woman officer

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S O P H I E. T H E. S A I L O R.

Just another view of the world through Sophie’s eyes while working and traveling at sea

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