Norway is really awesome

I hope that was meant as a joke??
But in case it was not, maybe you should try to do some fact checking.

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No, because everything in America is the best. Vessels are top notch. We’re talking the golden era museum pieces from 70s, 80s- those especially are the safest, most advanced vessels known to mankind. Used to work for a boat company, it was in their motto “most advanced, state of the art watercraft”, infested with critters including rats and held together by popsicle sticks, zip ties and duct tape. I’ve never seen anything that advanced since, nor the people who drove them.

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We don’t push the safety margins. We just have better vessels.

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I can remember seeing that slogan somewhere, but don’t seams to remember name of the company? :sunglasses:

I was once master of a 1982 built Halter 180 footer in the Arabian Gulf. It had entered service as “Petromar Norseman” and was advertised by its American owners as “North Sea Ready” which it was not, but it was ideal for what it was built for, moving jack-ups in a benign environment. It had 3900 bhp available and a bollard pull of 40 tons.

_Fergus Mack3

I have also been master of a UT 704 MkIII the Star Polaris which was built in Norway in 1983, only one year later than the Petromar Norseman. It was powered by two nine cylinder Wartsila engines developing a collective 9000 bhp, giving it a bollard pull of 125 tons. It had two workdrums and was once able to recover a complete anchor wire from a Pentangone semi on one drum.

So my point is that there really used to be a difference between what was necessary in the North Sea, and what was necessary in more benign areas of the world. And if we are honest placing a ship very close to a fixed object out there is never really safe, no matter what sort of control system you’ve got.

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When this technology gets proven and accepted worldwide it will reduce the need for rigs and thus boats to service them:


I’m afraid that will make Norway and Norwegian even less popular in certain circles.

I remember the Forties Moon very well , The picture was taken as it came into Great Yarmouth and I would guess it was around 79- 80. I was the Company man based in a spool fabricators in Gt Yarmouth and we used to load her up with pipes every week to go out to the Hewett platform in the North Sea off the coast of Gt Yarmouth where they were doing a major revamp of the platform. We were getting some feedback that the rigging for the lifts from the Forties Moon upto the platform were causing problems - difference being a marine lift rigging and installation lift rigging. I took a trip out to the platform on the Forties Moon to see how we could improve it. Its almost 30 years ago now but I remember the Captain out on the aft bridge struggling to hold it stern to the platform out in shitty weather with just forward and reverse levers to play with.
Ironically I see the BB Lifter on a regular basis and although I knew it was an old supply boat I never guessed it was the old Forties Moon , I thought that maybe it was one of the old Smit Lloyd vessels from around that era.
Thanks for the memory as they say.

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And the Germans have better cars and Americans seem to buy them all, even Norwegian vessels…when the exchange rate makes sense. Now, if NOV would actually provide a service and better solutions to the equipment they sale, then I would be impressed.

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You mean to tell me that with all these people on call 24/7 365 you are not receiving good enough service??:
https://www.nov.com/ContactUs/EmergencyContacts.aspx

You just call and a pretty, smiling and friendly technician like the one on the picture fix your problem instantly via internet: https://www.nov.com/Segments/Rig_Systems/Aftermarket/Technical_Support.aspx

Yeah, sounds all nice and everything unless you are the one with the equipment. E-hawk does help in terms of troubleshooting, but that in itself does not fix design flaws, although when someone is killed or there is a high potential near miss, they will release a PIB without addressing the inherent design flaw in the most serious cases, just to let you know of the hazard. Good luck with getting any feedback from NOV Norway during the summer months; it doesn’t matter to me what a web page may say because reality does not live in this place.

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Second wing of Norwegian Maritime Competence Centre (NMK2) at Campus Aalesund will be officially opened for business this coming week, with 6 of the seven floors occupied. It is packed with the latest and best of technology and the new simulator up and running.

In that conjunction there were a lengthy presentation in the local paper (unfortunately behind a pay wall) where last paragraph read like this:

I thought that was a good reminder of the fallibility of even the best of technology

Website for NMK: http://www.nmcc.com/en/

PS> gCaptain had an article about the opening of NMK2 a few days ago:

I believe John has visited the original NMK some years ago.

Norway is the most sporty nation in the world according to the latest data available:
http://www.greatestsportingnation.com/content/norway-lead-capita-cup-ahead-slovenia-new-zealand-now-third
Of course USA win the most medals of all, but with a population 63x bigger than Norway.

Why is there so often a backhanded bitch slap at the end of your posts?

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Is it a bitch slap to state the fact that USA has a population 63X that of Norway. isn’t that just a fact??
Besides; why is it that you guys are so touchy and take everything as an offence to American sensibility??

Stop bitch slapping the reindeer.

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A lot of Americans are seemingly rather insecure beings. You want to portray a tough guy image if you feel self-conscious… that said, your jabs are a few too many and it gets old. Touchy is correct, however, most of everything you write appears anti American, in one way or another. I’m Nordic but I won’t stand for that shit either.

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It’s what comes after the “but”. It starts out sounding like a compliment but there’s usually a “but” before it’s over.
Here it is coming from the other direction:
Norway has a great maritime tradition and I hear it’s a wonderful country with great people … “but” it’s too bad there aren’t enough people who want to live there so you’ll never win as many medals as us.
Who gives a shit.
It’s obvious, belittling and pointless.

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It’s interesting that for all the talk of US superiority the USA is way down the scale among the 34 OECD countries when it comes to education and health of its citizens as well as the ability to raise ones status in life .The USA is near the top in income inequality though.
US citizens are also becoming shorter than average when compared to their European counterparts, especially the Norwegians, probably due to health care and diet. It is a shame the Norwegians athletic ability has not developed at the same rate as their height. :slight_smile:

That was what the quoted article was about. Norway wins the most medals PER CAPITA, but USA win most medals over all.

BTW: The other countries mentioned, Slovenia and New Zealand, has even smaller populations than Norway.

Don’t you know, “size doesn’t matter”???

BTW; At 182 cm (6’) in height I used to be above average height in Norway in my youth. Now the young generation is taller than me, on average. (Am I shrinking?)

It is not only in Norway people are growing taller. In Singapore I used to look over the head of just about anybody in a crowed street. Not any more.