The other night I was informed that an enroute supply boat has a mariner with possible appendicitis. ETA 2100 hrs. We are well equipped to evaluate and prepare patients for transport have a Doctor, Paramedic/RN, access to a doctor via video and well equipped hospital. Everyone is alerted and the personnel transfer at night is risk assessed. The beach is notified of “POSSIBLE” medevac flight. The vessel arrives on location and takes him 2 hours and 45 minutes to get into position on the drift off side in fair weather for the personnel transfer.
This got me thinking, what kind of mariners are we breeding? Are we becoming that dependent on DP systems that you can’t manually drive a vessel anymore? Are we making position moves in port to dock a vessel? Are we so brainwashed on proper DP checks that you can’t see outside the box. On my end I really can’t put any pressure on the captain to move it in a little faster for fear of the captain making a mistake due to the pressure of time. I just thought it was ridiculous and needed a good rant.
Navigators really need to be comfortable in manual or DP. When systems fail knowing you have the skills to do it manually will make the difference.
Just FYI the guy was fine and no medevac was required. He was given some Maalox and a warm meal. Stay away from spicy foods.
[QUOTE=Traitor Yankee;153467]Probably didn’t want to get fired for not doing it on DP, we the mariner aren’t breeding anything. The client is.[/QUOTE]
I don’t believe that. I understand that compliance is important, but people have got to think for themselves sometimes and be able to make an informed decision. Even if you did set up on DP, does it take you 2 hours and 45 minutes to set up and move into position on a normal day. I bet if it was a special tool the operation was waiting on to get the operation moving ahead, it would have been quicker. What is more important?
When I was running a non-dp crewboat, arriving at a rig or platform at the same time as a dp supply boat, we could frequently duck in, offload and back load and be on our way in the time it took the dp boat to complete a drift test and begin inching in.
Now that I’m on a dp boat it depends on what we are doing … if it’s one quick lift and not especially heavy, I just live boat the transfer. Fuel, water, a deck load or a short crane? Oh yeah … we’ll be there on dp all day.
DP came about for a reason and I am thankful for it in many respects. What I don’t like is when Captains that are too insecure and don’t let the younger boat handlers get any stick time when they are dying to learn.
Yes I understand that you don’t let a greeny fresh out of the academy or wherever back the boat into C Port 1 when a wind or current is strong. Let them take it out in the field. Company policy states this specifically. However, stop fucking around playing computer games and watching movies and take the boat a ways off the 500 and let them drive. Who cares if you break a model that was built up over a couple days.
I told a cadet once to pretend he was in Fourchon and there was a traffic jam. I didn’t bark orders at him. I let him get a feel for the boat himself. If he asked for advice I’d give it to him.
stop at the hole in the wall and let them live boat next to a platform stay a safe distance off just let them use it as reference to hold the boat. get the feel of the boat see what it wants to do and then you make it do what you want it to do. We us to live boat for days before DP and too rough to tie up offload casing, fuel, water, barite it didn’t matter. Learn your vessel and know how to drive it you never know when electronics will crap out.
Boat handling skills departed when DP came on the scene, except for tug boaters and anchor boaters, they still have the skill to grab an anchor from a moving rig or make up to a moving ship or barge. I worked tugs and anchor boats for a long time, saw many bridge officers transfer off because of a lack of skills, also driving by camera on the big anchor boats.
So all those big, fancy OSV’s use DP to back themselves into a slip with minimal clearance on all sides and traffic whizzing by in every direction? Yes, I’m sure with all the DP that there is in Fourchon there could be no possible need for boat handling skills.
[QUOTE=PaddyWest2012;153573]So all those big, fancy OSV’s use DP to back themselves into a slip with minimal clearance on all sides and traffic whizzing by in every direction? Yes, I’m sure with all the DP that there is in Fourchon there could be no possible need for boat handling skills.[/QUOTE]
i have never seen anyone use DP to land a boat in a slip or alongside a wharf in Fourchon. I certainly would not be comfortable with that. We practice holding the boat in position outside of the 500 Meter zone. We use the track line as a reference and try to stay in position as long as possible. This saved my ass once when we had to go to manual control and had a fuel hose connected to the rig. DP is a tool, have a back up tool.
Exactly. The presence of DP may have made boat-handling less common in some areas but that’s the extent of it. Mariners who work on DP boats are still required to be excellent boat-handlers.
Not really, most of the DPO's I know couldn't get my tug out of the yard without doing damage. Maybe captains with experience outside of academy/DP can handle a boat but not many I know. There are exceptions of folks I can think of but the lack of actual skill required has diluted the job pool, normally bad boat handlers give up sailing after a while.
[QUOTE=z-drive;153593]Not really, most of the DPO’s I know couldn’t get my tug out of the yard without doing damage. Maybe captains with experience outside of academy/DP can handle a boat but not many I know. There are exceptions of folks I can think of but the lack of actual skill required has diluted the job pool, normally bad boat handlers give up sailing after a while.[/QUOTE]
Those slips in Fourchon are not for the faint of heart. How do we account for them being able to get in and out of there with relative ease if not for good boat-handling?
Because those slips aren’t a big deal, and anyone, I mean anyone with half a brain and a couple thousand horses in the tunnel thrusters can get in and out of them.
I know many guys even in the 100 ton level who can get the boat on and off the dock but can not hold it under a crane to save their life. I’ve seen guys go in complete panic mode when the dp gave out. I agree boat handling is diminished dramatically. I know a guy that worked at Callais when they had non dp stuff and said the ones who couldn’t handle the boat got promoted to dp boats. Sad really.
[QUOTE=Traitor Yankee;153598]Because those slips aren’t a big deal, and anyone, I mean anyone with half a brain and a couple thousand horses in the tunnel thrusters can get in and out of them.[/QUOTE]
What about those of us with only quarter or eighth brains!? You’re a RACIST.
I am not a ship handler or boat driver but I have been around some fine ones. I find what Lee said to be sad and I hope neither I nor anyone I know ever has to be evacuated or rescued by someone with the skills he witnessed. That being said I have seen some real crappy boat handling recently, much more than I recall from the past. Beyond a shadow of a doubt the best I have ever seen in boat handling skills were the anchor boat guys. Damn amazing what I have witnessed. I often wondered how much metal they bent before they got that good. If I ever have to be picked up out of the water or medivac’ed out I hope there is one of those cowboys doing the driving. Seen some excellent tug boat guys too but there is nothing I have seen like this one anchor boat guy backing and HOLDING within 10 feet of a rig in 14-16 foot seas for over an hour, NO DP involved just this cool cat playing with a few sticks. He was either damn good or had a angel on his shoulder.
There isnt a flag state ticket anywhere in the world that has a requirement for vessel handling, thats where the problems have come from.
In the GoM all you guys can drive a boat, try Asia, they have never set foot on a boat till they join a DP vessel, now a generation later of DP its the blind leading the blind
I have students that cant understand that the effect of wind on the bow is different than on the beam, but they all have license’s…
Putting around Fourchon doesn’t take a whole lot of boat handling skills, keeping a boat several feet off of rigs bolster while the rig is moving and the boat is moving sideways to keep up while grabbing a PCC wire takes skill.
I was on the Stone Buccaneer for 10 years and man do I miss the hell out of it. I Was just a putz out of school that tried seabulk and hated the shit out of it because of the union bullshit. How I got the job was obviously a friend of a friend etc…What I learned on that boat will stay with me for years and years to come. It was always fun as hell tying up to drill ships and the Heerema heavy lift semi subs. My all time fav was servicing the super tankers at the loop/ SW lightering area while underway. Jesus were my palms sweaty…Even getting underway from some of these vessels was no cake walk. We got to do a ton of anchoring in the river and out at the anchorages. My captain that I learned from was also a mass maritime grad that worked tugs in alaska and puerto rico so it was an easy transition for him. I was lucky enough that even when I started as AB on her, I would come up to the wheel house and get thrown a bone and would be allowed to either dock it or make the approach to fourchon/Mississipi River. I figured this is why Im here so I may as well learn something. I was even fortunate enough to learn hard lessons for free just by observing. My captain would ask before we tossed lines in fourchon of what the wind and tide were doing and to my surprise some of the guys didn’t know. It pains me when I see guys now just toss lines and hell if they even know the wind direction. I got pretty damn good at my job but your damn right I made mistakes and I was blessed that I learned from them. If you can make a mistake and learn from it then that experience is worth its weight in gold! Some of these young guys that I observe I can’t help but get worried about and its not just my fellow academy guys either… A lot of guys just cant take their eyes off the iphone and its a damn shame. When I drive around fourchon I drive scared and I get the feeling that most of these young guns think they are invincible and that things won’t happen. Unfortunately, none of us are perfect and you WILL make a mistake just when you think you have it all figured out and are gonna demand a pay raise. In my humblest of opinions- Dockmanship doesn’t have to be the dick measuring contest everyone makes it out to be. Everyone figures out how to bring a vessel alongside a dock (usually), but to gain the experience (seamans eye) and know when things look really effed up and predict how things can turn sour is the ticket! We all have to start somewhere…
[QUOTE=psquiggs;153575]i have never seen anyone use DP to land a boat in a slip or alongside a wharf in Fourchon. I certainly would not be comfortable with that. We practice holding the boat in position outside of the 500 Meter zone. We use the track line as a reference and try to stay in position as long as possible. This saved my ass once when we had to go to manual control and had a fuel hose connected to the rig. DP is a tool, have a back up tool.[/QUOTE]
It happens often people landing a boat in a slip or alongside the dock in Fourchon. which is unfortunate.
