Sunsets, yet again

Here are some of the best sunsets i've captured so far this trip. Makes me remember why I love it at sea.

Daily Operations

Once the vessel has left for sea, we most often gather all persons onboard to inform them of emergency routines, where they may find lifsaving appliances, and how to react in an emergency situation. This is both a way for new persons onboard to learn this important matters, and also a great oportunety for us to double check that the information we have is correct. Mostly people are ok by us doing this, it is after all a requirement for all vessels, but some are always unhappy because it happens during their free watch.

This trip we have mostly made slow headway along already laid lines. Burrying pipelines, or cables to protect them from forces from outside. mostly theese forses are considered to be trawlers or anchors, but when the product is burried a metre into the seabed, it' most often safe. This is tidious work, and we are always hoping for something to happen that will break up the routine work. The highlights of this trip have been two helicopter landings, whereof the last landing were my first as HLO(Helicopter Landing Officer)

First task when the helicopter has landed is to put in place chocks under its landing gear, to prevent the helicopter to move. Then my job is to get to a position outside the rotors and maintain communication with the pilots, until the helicopter is ready for takeoff.

This may seem easy, but there are a lot of preparations to be made before the helicopter may land. On ships side the whole landing crew consists of 10 persons including firemen, heliguards, MOB boat crew, campboss and the bridge.

Luckily we do not have facilities for refueling

Back on track

I must admit that the reason why I have not made any entries to my blog the last couple of weeks is not my extremely tight schedule, or my incredible busy program. Frankly it's my lack of anything to do, that leaves me with nothing to tell, that is the reason why there have been no updates. I need to get myself some hobbies while I'm off shift, part from drinking coffee, and wearing out the couch.

I'm back on board, and we're for once straight off to sea, upon nearly completion of the crew change. Since we were in such a hurry the last man to arrive came by helicopter two days after the planned change, so there is no room for delays.

Currently we are digging a trench for a power-cable, at a rate of nearly 400m per hour, it might not seem very fast, but if one take into consideration that the trench is nearly 1 meter deep, and half a meter wide and 350 meters below the surface, it'll guess it's not that bad after all

IDPOA

In these modern days there is of course a forum designated for DP Operators. This might be one of the best sites for anyone wishing to learn more about DP, ask questions or share knowledge. Anyone interested in the future of Dynamic Positioning should join here. I've been a member for some time, and have found it very interesting and worth while.

As I have learned from my period working with DP, there is always someone more skilled, that have more experience, that is willing to share their knowledge. I would also think that a forum specific for such a specialized subject is better any day than more generalized forums.

Coffee

Taking my coffee addiction to a new level, buying a expensive machine able to make coffee, not quite, but not far from as good as in a professional coffee shop. But being able to have the pleasure of a freshly made espresso in the morning makes the purchase worth its money. Today I've had two already. - And day ain't over yet

By the way, I see my stock of pods rapidly reduce, so may the new ones I ordered yesterday arrive quickly..... In anticipation waiting.....

At home

Ahhhhh. Wooonderbaaar
I'm at home, sitting in our couch, with freshly brewed coffee, having world class view of one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in Norway.

Picture were taken late march, the only difference from now is less snow

Life could be worse...

Not to bad!!!

Thanks to my iron(!) self control, I've come through my 4 weeks encounter with the temptations of of our chef, by only gaining 1 kilo! I'm very pleased with myself, so my overall plan of making my weight less than 90 kilos before bikini season is still on. Loosing weight at home, is much easier than at sea.

So next goal is loosing another 4 kilos before next crew change.

Todays weight 96,2 kg

Entering Rotterdam

Early this morning we entered Rotterdam harbor, one of the busies harbors in Europe. During first light we entered the breakwater, and traveled for two and an half hours inland, before going alongside. On the way passing the dikes that are supposed to protect the harbor from flooding during storm tides. These dikes are counted among modern engineering marvels, and were somewhat bigger than I anticipated, only seeing them on a Discovery documentary previously.

The importance of food

Some who knows me, claims that I have an unhealthy relationship to food. I would rather claim my interest in food are somewhat above average, I'm always into tasting of new dishes, and I newer pass the opportunity to have a meal. The way the on board cooks prepare the food, therefor makes it quite challenging for me to achieve one of my spring goals.


My overall plan for this spring are to loose at least 10 kilos, and I made good progress last time at home, loosing nearly 5. I have now been here for 4 weeks being subject to temptations made by our excellent cooks, and fear I might have gain most that were lost. The truth will be revealed tomorrow morning when I enter the scales at home.

Treching at last

Now the trencher is installed, and today we launched it over the side for a proper test in the area we are supposed to work. So far all have gone well, and we are anticipating that we shortly may recover the trencher to deck and start transit to Rotterdam. The size of the thing still amazes me. One may clearly see the size compared to the guy standing by the railing.

Still it have small, or no impact of the list of the vessel. When we launch it, the vessel will only list about 1° to port. One of the guys at the bridge said this morning that he normally felt on the vessel when the trencher got launched. But here he felt nothing.

Firedrill

Once a month we are train for a fire. Each time we try to make different scenarios, and today we combined the training of dressing up smoke-divers, with the use of ships firefighting equipment on helicopter deck. It's vital that the smoke-divers dress up correctly, because in a fire bad clothing will quickly cause burns, or smoke to enter their face-masks. We therefor once in a while take our time to do this properly, paying attention to all details, to make sure that the smoke-divers in a real situation will dress up properly, to best make sure can do their job safely.
After making sure all fire-men were dressed properly we started the fire-pumps to test the water monitors on helicopter-deck. All in all maybe a simple drill, but if a real fire should occur, it's details like proper dressing of the firemen that will eventually determine their effectiveness.

Getting there

After waiting to see our trenching equipment, it's finally here. The closest it has been, but still not on board. Currently the umbilical are being prepared, then we will conduct a load test of the winch and A-frame, and then we can take on board the trencher. As it may seem, the thing is huge.

It's weight is 22000 kg in air, but even if this is big the vessel is still constructed to accommodate even bigger tools. Initially the vessel was constructed to carry the 200 tonnes RT-1 trencher that is 22 m long by 13 meters wide. We might have this monster on board at a later stage. Who knows.

Last two days have been both challenging, and interesting. After a two days audit, there are only found 10 items consider important enough to mention in the report. Even though the goal should be zero, we are still very satisfied because this auditor were especially thorough, and looked into our deepest manuals, and procedures. Adding to that it have been very educative for my part. I feel myself that I've learned a lot, especially regarding the vessels operation manuals and procedures.

CMID

"The purpose of the Common Marine Inspection Document (the ‘CMID’) is to reduce the number of audits carried out on individual marine vessels, together with the adoption of a common auditing standard for the offshore marine industry." - (IMCA M 149 - Introduction)

Well irony perhaps that we went through the CMID February this year, still we are now doing another since the first was an issue 7, and the one we are doing now are an issue 6. So even when the industry themselves decides upon a standard for inspection, they still is not able to decide upon which version they are using.

How could one describe being in the audited part of such an inspection? Try an 10 hours continuous oral exam, where failing just does not mean a bad grade, but may lead to the vessel not getting the intended chart. The ones that order the CMID to be conducted, does so in order to verify if the vessel is suitable to work for them. Of course if the surveyor does not find the vessel satisfactory, the vessel will not be chartered. So today all the ships certificates have been examined, our procedures and the way we do thing have been checked. One could think that we than after a whole day of examination now could lay back and relax but, alas the inspector will be back tomorrow, to continue the second half.

Luckily we have nearly all our paperwork and routines in order, so there are so far no big issues. May that continue tomorrow.

Mobilizing

One of the most challenging periods, and work intensive periods when working on a construction vessel are during mobilization of equipment for new projects. At the moment we have a couple of dozen guys running about the vessel with blow torches and angle grinders. All doing their part for preparing the vessel for the job, but still there is us aboard the vessel trying to restrict the guys from weld here, or cut there. They obviously don't know that there may be a lubrication oil tank directly under where their welding torches are burning away at the approximate temperature of Eyjafjallajökull. Not exactly safe, but it's our job to stop them, and let them weld elsewhere. So constantly on alert, but still learning a lot about the vessel.

Secondly all kind of different people are dropping by to visit, today the range spanned from a DNV inspector to a priest. All having different important business on board, and we have to check them all inn, and out, and keep track of them were ever they are on the ship. Then there are a number of people staying aboard the vessel for the mobilization, maybe sailing with us, and maybe not. Then there are people arriving to join the vessel that we have not been told us, and still we are required to keep track of all personnel on the vessel. So it's challenging, but at the same time it makes the days go by very fast.

The last item to be brought on board was a 55 tonnes winch, earlier today we received this bulky A-frame for launch and recovery of the trencher.

Compared to the guys on deck the frame is quite substantial.

Well it's all challenging and interesting getting new people and equipment aboard, I can not help myself but longing to be back at sea, doing normal watch routines, steady crew aboard, and routine operations.

Lifeboat drill

One of the most important parts of being aboard a vessel, is training for emergencies. Today we had our monthly lifeboat drill, were we embarked the lifeboat, and launched it. Once the boat was floating we released the winch wires, and tested the lifeboats engine, and maneuver capabilities. To be quite honest, it maneuvers like a hay sack, and it takes a lot of patience to get it into position. Today it luckily was quite low winds, so I managed, after some attempts to maneuver it to its intended position so we could reattach the lifting wires.

One needs to be really alert when operating these crafts. There are several serious accidents while training with these boats each year. Some claim that lifeboat exercises kills more sailors in a year, than the number of sailors being saved. But still we need to carry out these drills. We always try to be careful, but accidents happens.

The interior of the lifeboat is far from constructed for comfort. I can imagine putting 103 guys into this craft, strap them all to the seat belts, launch into rough seas, and then maybe stay in the lifeboat for hours - maybe days, will not be a pleasant experience. I guess that if you manage to stay on good terms with all in such a situation, you may be able to stay on good terms with all.

Volcanic delay

You've been aboard the vessel for more than four months, you're nearly two weeks overdue for your crew change because of some visa trouble, than you are finally on your way to the airport, and you are stopped, and have to go back to the vessel because of a rare event far away.

One of the guys, which have been more than homesick for two months already, said to me "I've must have done something wrong, and this is my punishment for it".

I can do nothing more than feeling sorry for those guys, and hope the wind will soon shift so the plains may start flying again.

Provisions

How much food does it take to feed 60 men for 14 days?
Yesterday we received 14 pallets hoisted directly into the provision store by our cranes on the helicopter deck. The delivered goods ranged from toilet paper, fresh fruit and steaks. So then it is all hands on deck from chief officer to mess man, to get the provisions properly counted and stored.

Than we are all ready to go for another 14 days, our provision store full of whatever is necessary for the trip. One needs to make a little more considerations when one is not able to drop by the store every day.

Back in my cabin

It's always pleasant coming back to my cabin after my 12 hour shift. While on the bridge I'm constantly alert to any sound out of place, any new vibration or any shift in noise from propellers or engine. So being back in my cabin I may lay down my guard, and normally I'm not far from falling asleep once I'm in my cabin. The accommodation of the Cygnus is closer to cruise standards than any vessel I've ever sailed with. I remember as a newbie I spent 8 weeks on a 50 feet vessel, in a four man cabin, sharing with three others. The combined space of that vessels accommodation were smaller than my living room of my present cabin. So my living standards has certainly improved.

Here is a picture of my living room, with ample room for one, a nice leather sofa that accommodate my full length, and a 46" TV, DVD player and radio for entertainment.
This picture shows my bed, my office desk, and my in suite toilet and shower. The vessel were originally planned to have the bed in a separate room, but someone choose to have more room for the exhaust instead.
Well one can't have it all.

In this picture you may also see the shirt of my uniform, that we have decided to wear when the vessel is in port, or when there are many new crew aboard. The ship may have a crew of 92, which of whom 70 may be personnel that only will stay with the vessel for a short time. It is quite important for everyone to easily be able to identify who's the ships senior crew.

Still working

What a day! Been on duty for 12 hours, and the only ship related thing I've done is to turn the vessel twice, actually I didn't do the move myself, I was merely standing by watching my colleague do the actual moves. Part from that nothing happened. Were stationary 200m of a platform, monitoring our systems, watching someone else do their job. No reason to complain though, our chairs are comfortable, we have ample amounts of coffee, and we can go to the mess-room for a hot meal every six hours. So life could be worse. Then suddenly out of nowhere this fellow dropped by

obviously wondering what this big blue thing were doing in the middle of nowhere. Seems like he also were curious about what the divers were doing, because after checking out the ship, he popped over to the dive site for a while, before he vanished.

Well that's all it takes to make our day a little more interesting. Hopefully the local marine life will continue to visit us every now and then....

Working

So this is what this particular job is all about. We are stationary, the vessel on DP 100m off the platform. We launch small RIB's containing divers, and all their kit, they go to the dive site, jump in and do their work. So for the DP operators point of view, it's not that challenging. Since standing off at this range, barely may be called exiting. But it's still a job. It may be that our greatest challenge is to maintain the amount of awareness, necessary if anything should go wrong. It will take some time to get the pulse to normal, when one is sitting comfortable it our leather chairs, having coffee and todays danish.

Before I joined my last vessel, I was told it were like a racing car in her performance. After doing some maneuvers with the Cygnus today I'm a bit uncertain I still can do that comparison. If my last vessel should be compared to a race car, which car can I then compare the Cygnus by? I therefore find it most convenient to down rate the performance of my last vessel, and compare it to a nice family saloon. While the Cygnus will be compared to the high performance car, still with a lot of storage space.

The sun sets

Earlier I might have mentioned that my favorite time of day is sunrise, my current watch schedule, leaves me all bunked up on that time of the morning. There is a point in me being properly rested for my own duties. So that leaves me with my second most favorite time of day, - when the sun sets. The color display of the early evening skies, can only be matched by the sunrise, only that in the morning this means a new beginning, while the sunset indicates the end.

Today has again been filled with changed plans, new plans, discarded new plans, then yet another plan, before we ended up doing the same job we've been doing the last couple of days. At least this afternoon went rushing away, and I've had an excellent opportunity to try out the ships thrusters, now manually controlled.

WOW (not World of War craft)

Waiting on Weather

After hurrying from Aberdeen to the field, we arrived just in time for the weather becoming to bad for working, so now we have waited for nearly 30 hours for the seas to calm to workable condition. So here we are, in the middle of nowhere, the DP doing all the work, and we're here to monitor it's performance. Still this is a good time to do some of the maintenance we're scheduled to do, but we also had time for that when alongside. The only apparent difference, from being alongside, is that we're consuming more fuel, and the rocking of the vessel.

But still the view is far better then when alongside a key, in some industry area of Britain. No offense to the British, but some of their harbor areas could do with some tidying up. I will not claim that Norwegian harbors are all spotless, but you are more likely to find it slightly less industrialized.

Now after the ending of my 12 hours shift, I'm really looking forward to bunk up. We are supposed to start our project work tomorrow. I'm better off make a difference between the job I'm doing, and the job connected to the project. Since I'll be doing the same job regardless of the project work being performed or not. Hopefully the weather have come down, so we may commence work when I start my shift.

Change of plans

As the experienced offshore worker may have noticed, plans are liable to change on a short notice. So we have for a couple of days been preparing for a specific type of job, this changed today, when we suddenly were told we are to do something entirely different. New people are on their way to join the vessel, and new plans are to be made.

I never cease to be amazed by the speed things change in this business, who knows, tomorrow we still might be off for a totally different job. No reason to complain though. I get to meet many new people, and I get a lot of experience in different operations. Additionally the days passes a lot quicker when plans changes like this.

Well soon this day is over, who knows what tomorrow will bring?

Day 1

Starting awfully early this morning, I am now back aboard the Cygnus, starting my 4 week shift. We're currently alongside in Aberdeen fitting the equipment necessary to accommodate this neat little thing. Still curious about it's weight including A-Frame, hopefully it will be provided tomorrow. 

The vessel is bristling with life, people running all over the place, carrying welding torches, and angle grinders. A welcome change since last time, when there were less activity. Things are coming together and we will shortly be leaving the docks heading out to sea, ready for whatever work is in store for us. 

Another change since last time, is the arrival of our new uniform shirts, we are now strolling about the vessel, carrying the proper insignia for our positions. Making it easy for visitors to spot who is who. When we carry the amount of visitors and newcomers, as we do now, it's a greatly improvement of safety that the ships crew is easily identified.

It needs some time to turn my mind from the normal laid back state I'm in when I'm home, to the alert state needed aboard. Some may think that the job consist of the random pushing of buttons. For the random bystander it may look like it, but do not forget to take into account all considerations taken before each button push.    

The food is still excellent, which gives me some trouble since I have decided that I will loose another 10 kilos before commencement of the bikini season. But hey, if it was an easy job anyone could do it. I've already started nicely, and have already lost close to 4 kilos, last 4 weeks, of course at home, when I had to cook myself. I will now shortly be heading for the gym, punishing myself for the dessert I should have passed. I'll never learn.

Life is full of temptations, which either are fattening, or sinful.  

Well, who's idea is it to start off at 6

Well, who's idea is it to start off at 6 in the morning. Plane is leaving 0730. I do believe there is a later flight

Here I go again

So then, ready for another 4 weeks at sea. 

Leaving my loved ones behind, feeling a bit sorry for myself, since I'm not to be home during April. At the same time, with anticipation looking forward to coming back to my second family aboard the Cygnus. I've really missed eggs and bacon for breakfast, and all the excellent food our chef's makes. I've also missed the luxury of the laundry service provided aboard, not to forget the housekeeping service. I've tried to explain to the people at home how life is aboard, and the closest comparison is living in a hotel.

At the same time, who am I to complain about staying 4 weeks away from home, when my Filipino coworkers stay aboard for 4 months, and when they go home for leave, they only get 2 months off.

Nah, life could be a lot worse. To be quite honest I've been very fortunate. I've had jobs a lot more stressing and work-intensive, for a lot less pay, but still there is the leaving home bit.

Well, nothing to do about that now, the plane leaves tomorrow morning, and I'm off to Scotland.

So long to all friend and family, I'll be back when May is due. May you miss me, less than I miss you, and may you all look forward to me coming back.

 

     

 

Hello all

Really curious about this blogg thing, really not sure if this is really me. But hey, let's give it a try. My main intentions are to, in some way ease some of my thoughts, share ideas, share pictures taken from my office (The Bridge of my vessel), or generally state my opinion about stuff.

I am currently working as 1.st Officer aboard the Deep Cygnus, which is a multipurpose ROV, Trencher Vessel, operating in the North Sea. This is a job I really enjoy. There is no way I can possible describe the feeling of operating such a vessel, controlling its powers, by means of only small adjustments of its levers. The vessel is 122 m long, and my office is situated on the topmost deck, with a panoramic 360 degrees view of the seven seas. 

My favorite time of day is at sunrise, after a long dark night's duty, seeing the sun rising above the horizon is always spectacular. My current watch duty leaves me sleeping at this hours, since it's the chief Officer that does the night-shift, but hey, sunset is not bad either.

This'll be all for now. I am currently packing my bag for another 4 weeks at sea, leaving family and friends behind. But that may be the price I have to pay for having one of the most exiting jobs in the world... 

I am really looking forward to be seeing them again in 4 weeks.