Your loss is my gain

Professional Mariner Forum
1

During the last gulf “bust” after the turn of the century I got disgusted and got in a big truck for awhile to wait it out.

Around '06/'07 my phone started ringing off the hook. The job offers and day rates were too good to resist.

I parked my big truck and went back offshore to get my recency back then moved on to “trip pilot”.

Trip Pilot wages were through the roof. There were not enough hot bodies with a license to go around.

I got all I could while the getting was good but inevitably the economy took a dump and we went into another “bust” around '09/'10.

Things got so bad I had to go back to work as a deckhand just to keep food on the table. I’m not proud.

Now I am noticing a troubling trend for some.

I just got brought into a company as a regular towboat pilot to be groomed for a pilot or relief captain job.

I wish I could say it was my excellent boat handling skills and blah, blah that got me hired but the cold hard truth is all the older fellas that got 20 plus years on me are having a hell of a time renewing.

The HR man is looking to hire on 5+ wheelmen this year not because business is good but because he is loosing wheelmen left and right to the “medical crackdown” by the puddle pirates.

We just lost one to body fat.

We lost another to sleep apniea.

The guy that is posting me has PAD so bad he hobles around the wheelhouse in severe pain. He is lucky. He doesn’t have to renew until 2014. He may have a stroke before then but he has until then before “Doc” ain’t gonna sign off on them legs.

The pilot on here looks like Dom Deluise. He is up for renewal and sweating bullets because he is so fat he can’t get in the top bunk.

Companies started “steersman” programs back when there were not enough wheelmen to go around. They managed to flood the industry and bring day rates back down but accidents and incidents have gone way up (from what I have heard through sea stories).

My captain knows he is gonna have to retire upon his next renewal and he is looking for a reliable successor. He is more than happy to pass on his knowledge if you are willing to listen.
He wants to know that he is leaving his boat in good hands when he hangs it up and his relationship with the owner is one that he also wants to make sure the company is not put in financial jeopardy by incompetent wheelmen talking a good game but causing claims.

I wish I could say the same for more old timers like him. A lot of the old timers don’t want to train you or pass on tricks of the trade because the have insecurity issues.
Not right.

If you do your job to the best of your ability and cyoa, you have nothing to worry about when it comes to training the next generation of wheelmen.
Some of these fellas think they are training themselves out of a job so they will trash you to the office when you really don’t deserve it.

I am one of the lucky few that has managed to get on a vessel with an old timer that is facing facts.

Morale of the story…

I am gonna be makin what i was and then some very soon. Guys with health problems are dropping like flies and I am on my 3rd issue. I am finally starting to get some respect and I get more job offers by word of mouth now than replying to job postings.

Now I just have to learn another lesson from the “ol timers”.

Take care of your health like you take care of your boat!

2

I happened to sail with someone that knew he was too big to pass the body fat minimums and in his early 60’s. With his renewaL just under a year away he opted for a gastric bypass operation. “Desperate times call for desperate measures.”

3

Well…with my “Tarzan physique” on the wane and being a type 2 diabetic, I could only get 6 month clinic cards with the SIU. When I renewed my credentials last year, There was nothing out of the norm of the regular union physical except an eye exam from an ophthalmologist and blood work from 6 months before. I was then required by the CG to send A1Cs and a statement from my doctor saying I had no complications annually. After complying last month with this, the CG rescinded this annual requirement but still have to notify them of any complications.

4

I’ve got sleep apnea and aside from having to prove that I am doing what the doctors tell me to do wrt it’s treatment, the renewal went okay. Just waiting for them to issue it.

5

Its a damned good thing that I am very strong and handsome! LOL!!

6

This day and age with the physicals, I dont know why anyone would disclose anything to a Dr doing a Coast Guard physical. Its hard to hide weight, but why tell the Dr anything other than you feel great and have no problems what so ever.

7

[QUOTE=brjones;45620]This day and age with the physicals, I dont know why anyone would disclose anything to a Dr doing a Coast Guard physical. Its hard to hide weight, but why tell the Dr anything other than you feel great and have no problems what so ever.[/QUOTE]

Superman with no memory, that’s how it was said to me once, a long time ago. Great words of wisdom when doing a medical exam.

8

Yeah, just ask you…:slight_smile:

9

[QUOTE=seadog6608;45615]Its a damned good thing that I am very strong and handsome! LOL!![/QUOTE]

Yeah, just ask you! :slight_smile:

10

The mirror don’t lie, Stately!. Mately

11

[QUOTE=brjones;45620]This day and age with the physicals, I dont know why anyone would disclose anything to a Dr doing a Coast Guard physical. Its hard to hide weight, but why tell the Dr anything other than you feel great and have no problems what so ever.[/QUOTE]

I agree and I do the same but from what I hear and read soon big brother is going to be passin our medical records around like an old newspaper. With one click of the mouse the Doc that you are asking to sign of on your CG physical is gonna know more about you than you know about you. Not sure when this comes into effect.

Anybody?

12

Isn’t it ironic that nearly every new law has a title that implies the exact opposite of what it actually permits. The recent spate of “medical privacy” laws seem to make it easier for insurance and drug companies as well as the government to access more information much easier. The only way to keep anything private is to go outside the US, pay cash, and keep your mouth shut.

13

I have mixed feelings about the new requirements. Some seem to be far over-reaching. On the other hand, the first 15 years I sailed was non-union. Annual physicals wern’t required. I recall 5 near-misses where 3 captains and 2 mates suffered maladies from strokes to temoprary blindness. It’s a wonder no one was killed or maimed on deck.

The biggest problem I’ve had is after my doc retired, the new P/A that took over screwed up my physical paperwork.