[image] Tanker Sola and Norwegian navy frigate Helga Ingstad collide off Norway Wasn’t there a pilot on board? He/she would normally have been maneuvering the tanker. The mate would just be observing. The Pilot is an adviser, NEVER IN COMMAND.

I’ve never seen shiphandling as some esoteric skill achievable by the rare few cognoscenti. I don’t see some sharp divide skills / no skills, in fact it seems like learning shiphandling skills have diminishing gains. The basics should come relatively easy for most mariners with half a brain that…

Ship handeling. To some people it’s a big deal. Probably because they are not comfortable with it. To others it’s a big deal because they think it’s special therefore they are special. Sort of like guys with fancy fast cars. They all think they are really good drivers. And will point out how bad a…

Back in the 70-'s or early 80-'s the QE II (IIRC) came into New York during a Tug Strike. There was a news crew up on the Bridge filming while they were docking. The Reporter was very excited about how this Captain could dock with NO Tugs. The funny thing is if you listened closely, you could hear …

Here’s a story. Passenger catamaran under 100 tons, twin Hamilton jets. Got my brother a job as a deck hand. He needed a couple bucks. Never worked on a boat before or since. The captains used to approach one of the docks at right angles then crank around and put out the lines. But the bow had a l…

The pilot makes the mistake and the captain pays for it,

Here’s an easy one for the masters in command. You are instructed to proceed to berth 19. Your vessel is 300 feet in length, single propeller right handed, an ordinary… bow thruster. The channel in front of berth 19 is 650 feet in width, to give an idea of the scale. Starting from the green arrow, s…

Good one. Ship handling is ship handling. With a good mentor, most everyone is capable with some practice. You get better over time as with most everything. Of course, we all have witnessed some that just didn’t have it. The differentiator comes down to decision making, not hand-eye coordination, an…

Here is an easy one for the pilots out there. “What is the average air speed velocity of a laden swallow?”

I can only give you an advice; it depends how far off the WC are from your conning position, hoping that the swallow is not too laden.

Golden rule: “Hope for the best, but plan for the worst”. I worked several time with to identical Tidewater AHTS in Gulf of Thailand doing rig moves on Drill Tenders, Construction barges, Semi-subs and Jackups. Both Masters were Brits and had years of experience on Offshore vessels. One could do a…

Master / Pilot Relationship

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Master / Pilot Relationship

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