Blackfeather
Well-Known Member
The following are 2 emails from a forumite who has been called out to Mombassa to help with tuition on a survey vessel. I pass these on unedited except to take out the names to keep their anonimity. The first is just a scene setter but the second is scary.
If anyone is interested I can post more as they come in.
Good Morning from Africa
Todays Forecast: HOT followed by VERY HOT followed by INFERNO
swell Height : 1.2 metres and falling (yipee)
Yesterday we saw whales not sure what variety they were but the female whale was in front by around 20 ft and not talking to her partner trailing behind so i suspect they were HUMPED back whales (tada) it was quite impressive watching them effortlessly meandering along and the highlight of the day.
We still havent started surveying yet, as the fins that control the lines were left in Dar salam in a container (oops) and the spare for the broken cable was in mombasa (oops) so the tug boat turned up yesterday from mombasa with the spare cable on its back a local tug boat whose gantry didnt work and was only running on one engine......... and couldnt match the speed of the berance...... 4kts so couldnt unload the cable as the berance cant stop cause if it does all 6 cables which are now 8kilometres long will sink and tangle (oops) .
The fins werent fitted when the cables were deployed....... by hand (as the winch was broken) and nobody noticed (oops) the tug boat clipped one of the cables when it attempted to unload the spare cable and (possibly) has damaged another cable (we only have one spare)
we cant recover the cables as the winch is still broken so for the last 16 days we have wandered aimlessly up and down ..... up and down because if we stop ........... remeber what happens? Yes the cables sink and get tangled !
The swell has fortunately subsided although we are still rolling its dropped enough for the rib to be launched and rumour has it that Dale will be turning up with the 3rd rib tomorow. Now Dale had a plum job because......
On day when back before i got here the first time they launched a rib it swung out of control and smashed its self up on the ship (oops) so they bought a replacement stuck it in a container and shipped it to Mombasa, it took so long getting to mombasa we had left by the time it got there (oops) so they shipped it to Dar salam but we had left by the time it got there (oops) so we left our man in Dar salam waiting the arrival of the rib but because the paperwork was for mombasa it got stuck at the border of Tanzania (oops) so he has been sat in a hotel with a pool and company credit card and getting paid $550 per day with his feet up !
Tomorow when (if) he gets here i have to get the rib working and then he goes back on patrol and i dont have to go out on the boat anymore unless someones ill (awesome) so tomorow cant come quick enough !
So to offset all of the (oops) above its been agreed that Shell will put up the cost of petrol by 10p a litre (sorry about that)
Welcome to : This is Africa
Weather update..... Its HOT its always bloody HOT
Swell update..........ITs rolling this boat always bloody ROLLS
Well yesterday started out uneventful and then tried to kill me (twice) My patrol started at 14:00 hours as we are still waiting on the 3rd rib to arrive the decision was made to reduce the patrols and use only the one boat with one armed guard on board the swell was fairly large yesterday and had increased into the afternoon so when it came to pacing the ship to transfer me and the new guard it took twice as long as usual which was a sign of things to come.
We don’t always refuel the boat as it means we have to lift it part way out the water on the crane and the coxswain getting off decided there was enough fuel in the rib to continue the patrol when i got on, so i headed off into the sunny distance about 2 miles to the survey boat go into wind and swell at displacement speed with a few larger rollers breaking over the bow, the guard usually takes off his kevlar helmet and inflatable body armour and starts sunbathing at this point , but not today ! Today he decided that safety kit was a good idea !
Once we were alongside the survey vessel at a distance of around half a mile from its port side known as "red1" red 2 being two and a half miles astern and red3 being 5 miles astern (you cant see the ship) we settled into the routine of corkscrewing down the rollers and fighting a broach to the bottom at this point Mr Guard would let out a small scream and cross himself (i thought they were muslims here) all was going reasonably well we were soaking wet from spray and green water coming onboard which was quite a relief from the sun, for the record none of us swim off the boat as sharks have checked out the ribs on a number of occasions.
Any how 1 hour into a 2 hour watch the engine went cough cough errrrr DEAD , " *******s says I" I have no idea what the guard was screaming about but I once saw a rabbit in the headlights of my car before I squashed it and it was a similar expression, getting to the bow of the boat fast I grabbed the sea anchor out of the bow locker cursed the mess of knotted lines and payed out the sea anchor to stop us getting rolled, mission successful so far.
Problem now is we are upwind of the survey vessel and drifting into 30 million quids worth of survey streamers which are just below the surface with yellow floats about 12 foot in length and doing 4 knots towards me.... oeerrrrr said guard as he constructively tried to help me .....NOT . I got the lifting strops off and gingerly lifted the engine cover to try bleeding the fuel system this was virtually impossible and Mr Guard was clinging to his AK47 and refusing to help, (lots of trouble if he loses it) .
I called up the guardship that we launch from. She’s 3 decks high and 54m in length and weighs around 2800 tons... “err guardship rib 3 have engine failure and require your assistance NOW”, but she’s on the other side of the streamers and has to go 5 miles around the back of them and then 5 miles up the other side to come get me, so me and my best buddy Mr Guard sit down and have a chat about how and what we are going to do when the guard boat arrives.
So whilst I’m rigging the tow line and moving deck equipment out the way Mr Guard helps by hanging on to his AK47 and sitting tight on the seat whilst holding on to a hand rail, very helpful ! Isn’t it funny how size is all relative to proximity, I have looked at the survey boat from a distance and I have paced her numerous times on crew transfers up and down rope ladders etc and now she was off in the distance she looked even smaller.
The guard vessel however being only a fifth of the length of the survey boat looked much larger, like ***KIN HUGE when its bearing down on you and you cannot manoeuvre out its way, they made several close quarter passes in an attempt to throw a heaving line to me but with no success, and when they got to close we went UNDER the stern and the whole ass end of the rib disappeared beneath the sea .... ooerrr said Mr Guard as he scrabbled over me (I kid you not) .
Fortunately the tubes didn’t rupture and we were spat out as the guard vessel went ahead on both engines, it did mean however that we got a tow line secured, once under tow it was another 30 mins or so until we were lifted out but hey IM ALIVE to tell the tale.......... Mr Guard on the other hand well........
If anyone is interested I can post more as they come in.
Good Morning from Africa
Todays Forecast: HOT followed by VERY HOT followed by INFERNO
swell Height : 1.2 metres and falling (yipee)
Yesterday we saw whales not sure what variety they were but the female whale was in front by around 20 ft and not talking to her partner trailing behind so i suspect they were HUMPED back whales (tada) it was quite impressive watching them effortlessly meandering along and the highlight of the day.
We still havent started surveying yet, as the fins that control the lines were left in Dar salam in a container (oops) and the spare for the broken cable was in mombasa (oops) so the tug boat turned up yesterday from mombasa with the spare cable on its back a local tug boat whose gantry didnt work and was only running on one engine......... and couldnt match the speed of the berance...... 4kts so couldnt unload the cable as the berance cant stop cause if it does all 6 cables which are now 8kilometres long will sink and tangle (oops) .
The fins werent fitted when the cables were deployed....... by hand (as the winch was broken) and nobody noticed (oops) the tug boat clipped one of the cables when it attempted to unload the spare cable and (possibly) has damaged another cable (we only have one spare)
we cant recover the cables as the winch is still broken so for the last 16 days we have wandered aimlessly up and down ..... up and down because if we stop ........... remeber what happens? Yes the cables sink and get tangled !
The swell has fortunately subsided although we are still rolling its dropped enough for the rib to be launched and rumour has it that Dale will be turning up with the 3rd rib tomorow. Now Dale had a plum job because......
On day when back before i got here the first time they launched a rib it swung out of control and smashed its self up on the ship (oops) so they bought a replacement stuck it in a container and shipped it to Mombasa, it took so long getting to mombasa we had left by the time it got there (oops) so they shipped it to Dar salam but we had left by the time it got there (oops) so we left our man in Dar salam waiting the arrival of the rib but because the paperwork was for mombasa it got stuck at the border of Tanzania (oops) so he has been sat in a hotel with a pool and company credit card and getting paid $550 per day with his feet up !
Tomorow when (if) he gets here i have to get the rib working and then he goes back on patrol and i dont have to go out on the boat anymore unless someones ill (awesome) so tomorow cant come quick enough !
So to offset all of the (oops) above its been agreed that Shell will put up the cost of petrol by 10p a litre (sorry about that)
Welcome to : This is Africa
Weather update..... Its HOT its always bloody HOT
Swell update..........ITs rolling this boat always bloody ROLLS
Well yesterday started out uneventful and then tried to kill me (twice) My patrol started at 14:00 hours as we are still waiting on the 3rd rib to arrive the decision was made to reduce the patrols and use only the one boat with one armed guard on board the swell was fairly large yesterday and had increased into the afternoon so when it came to pacing the ship to transfer me and the new guard it took twice as long as usual which was a sign of things to come.
We don’t always refuel the boat as it means we have to lift it part way out the water on the crane and the coxswain getting off decided there was enough fuel in the rib to continue the patrol when i got on, so i headed off into the sunny distance about 2 miles to the survey boat go into wind and swell at displacement speed with a few larger rollers breaking over the bow, the guard usually takes off his kevlar helmet and inflatable body armour and starts sunbathing at this point , but not today ! Today he decided that safety kit was a good idea !
Once we were alongside the survey vessel at a distance of around half a mile from its port side known as "red1" red 2 being two and a half miles astern and red3 being 5 miles astern (you cant see the ship) we settled into the routine of corkscrewing down the rollers and fighting a broach to the bottom at this point Mr Guard would let out a small scream and cross himself (i thought they were muslims here) all was going reasonably well we were soaking wet from spray and green water coming onboard which was quite a relief from the sun, for the record none of us swim off the boat as sharks have checked out the ribs on a number of occasions.
Any how 1 hour into a 2 hour watch the engine went cough cough errrrr DEAD , " *******s says I" I have no idea what the guard was screaming about but I once saw a rabbit in the headlights of my car before I squashed it and it was a similar expression, getting to the bow of the boat fast I grabbed the sea anchor out of the bow locker cursed the mess of knotted lines and payed out the sea anchor to stop us getting rolled, mission successful so far.
Problem now is we are upwind of the survey vessel and drifting into 30 million quids worth of survey streamers which are just below the surface with yellow floats about 12 foot in length and doing 4 knots towards me.... oeerrrrr said guard as he constructively tried to help me .....NOT . I got the lifting strops off and gingerly lifted the engine cover to try bleeding the fuel system this was virtually impossible and Mr Guard was clinging to his AK47 and refusing to help, (lots of trouble if he loses it) .
I called up the guardship that we launch from. She’s 3 decks high and 54m in length and weighs around 2800 tons... “err guardship rib 3 have engine failure and require your assistance NOW”, but she’s on the other side of the streamers and has to go 5 miles around the back of them and then 5 miles up the other side to come get me, so me and my best buddy Mr Guard sit down and have a chat about how and what we are going to do when the guard boat arrives.
So whilst I’m rigging the tow line and moving deck equipment out the way Mr Guard helps by hanging on to his AK47 and sitting tight on the seat whilst holding on to a hand rail, very helpful ! Isn’t it funny how size is all relative to proximity, I have looked at the survey boat from a distance and I have paced her numerous times on crew transfers up and down rope ladders etc and now she was off in the distance she looked even smaller.
The guard vessel however being only a fifth of the length of the survey boat looked much larger, like ***KIN HUGE when its bearing down on you and you cannot manoeuvre out its way, they made several close quarter passes in an attempt to throw a heaving line to me but with no success, and when they got to close we went UNDER the stern and the whole ass end of the rib disappeared beneath the sea .... ooerrr said Mr Guard as he scrabbled over me (I kid you not) .
Fortunately the tubes didn’t rupture and we were spat out as the guard vessel went ahead on both engines, it did mean however that we got a tow line secured, once under tow it was another 30 mins or so until we were lifted out but hey IM ALIVE to tell the tale.......... Mr Guard on the other hand well........
