eSea 19 - Hello Goodbye

eSeaM A R I T I M E / O I L & G A S / W I N D / C R A N E · N O . 1 9 / 2 0 1 4

EM AGA ZINE FROM M A ERSK TR A INING 19

Hello GoodbyeWhat’s that...? >Moustache Or Madness? >Runway to Slipway >Lady in Black > RIGMAROLE* you don’t need >Rolling Back the Years >Floating Like Butterflies Stinging Like Bees >SCOTS land on MARS >Umbrella Fella >Sund of Silence >Friendly Fred & Frugal Friend >

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Runway to SlipwayCompared to aviation the use of simulation in the offshore industry as a means of improving skills and safety is in its relative infancy. But in a short period it has come a long, long way. >

Lady in BlackMPD, they call it the new black, but this black has been around for a while. The topicality of Managed Pressure Drilling within the industry is partially because it is the right tool to help with certain complex jobs. >

Cover photo

Globe-trotters Laura, Katherine and Karoline joined Maersk Training in Svendborg to experience a commercial world before heading back to study. But the trio, who expected to commute just a few kilometres to work from home, have now been dispersed to Brazil, Texas and Scotland. For six months they will help the smooth running of new training centres and we’ll be hearing how they adapt to different cultures and challenges in the next couple of eSea’s. Karoline (on right) was first to set off for the airport, travelling to Aberdeen with thoughts of catching some of the Scottish skiing season during her freetime.

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RIGMAROLE you don’t needImagine having to instruct a group of people who are faced with about 20 different operational situations, many of them experienced, some totally unacquainted with the working environment they are now in. >

Rolling Back the Years It was a long time ago. When they first met, they talked of Mohammad Ali polishing off George Foreman in ‘the Rumble in the Jungle; they were Maersk Drilling’s first rig team bound for Maersk Explorer. >

What’s that...?It’s silent, invisible and viciously unforgiving. Sniff it and by the time you can say “hydrogen sulfide” you might be dead. Thankfully today the offshore industry has the tools to detect it in its smallest concentration. >

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Floating Like ButterfliesStinging Like BeesThere are few things in Brazil which are more a part of the country’s make-up, its cultural DNA, or its lifestyle values, than... no it’s not soccer ... than capoeira. >

Umbrella FellaWe’re infatuated with it. It governs our actions, influences our moods, determines our lifestyles; it’s all around us, it never leaves us, it’s not religion, food or sex even. It’s on tv, most of us carry it in our pockets as an app, it’s the weather. >

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Much of this time of year is about reunion,

meeting the past face on, usually with a drink

in hand. Reunions play a role in this eSea

along with one very dignified farewell.

November 1 marked the day when the past

went back to the future; the first roustabouts

from Maersk’s first drilling rig came together

to mark the 40th anniversary of the day

Maersk Drilling started and chose the virtual

reality of the MOSAIC simulation centre to

trigger their memories.

Grey haired, some were scared from a time

when the drill floor was an intensely physical

environment, they reminisced and sat back

in the push button world of today’s drillers.

Here one of them pays tribute to the current

generation, but he should know, the day

marked his own 40th anniversary... and he’s

still working.

Somebody who isn’t turning up to work every

morning is Poul. We meet him, encountering

his past in this issue’s Poopdeck, a delightful

tale brought back to life by another reunion.

And then there is the goodbye. Bob Hope’s

reputed last words were to his wife’s

question, ‘Where would you like to be buried?’

Comedian to the very end, Bob replied,

‘surprise me.’

The old Æro ferry passed on in October, or

rather under. We were with the thousands of

mourners who paid the old girl a most moving

tribute as she slipped beneath the waves. By

becoming Denmark’s first planned scuttling,

she starts a new career for divers and

scientists. In ways it was sad, but a lot more

dignified than being towed to an Indian beach

to be disfigured into nothing by acetylene

torches. Here we pay our own respects.

And there is more, of course there is, we hope

you enjoy it.

editorialRichard [email protected]

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Heavier than air it has, in its

weaker version, the foul

smell of rotten eggs. It processes

the menacing qualities of being

corrosive, flammable, explosive

and when in comparatively minor

amounts, extremely poisonous.

H2S, in its formula ID, is a

constant threat in three major

industries, the offshore, farming

and fishing.

Recently in Denmark two

fishermen died, their catch rotting

without ice gave off the gas,

they went into the hold and that

was that. Hardly a year goes by

without a farmer being killed by

it. Last year in Northern Ireland a

rising rugby star went into a silo

to rescue his overcome brother

who had gone in to pull out his

overcome father who had gone

What’s that...?

It’s silent, invisible and viciously unforgiving. Sniff it and by the time you can say “hydrogen sulfide” you might be dead. Thankfully today the offshore industry has the tools to detect it in its smallest concentration and to set off an alarm protecting those nearby before it can kill.

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Hamburgefintsiv

in after their dog. They all died

within seconds of exposure. These

were the result of man ignoring

nature.

OFFSHORE TAKES LEADWhen nature acts on its own,

but provoked by man, the

consequences can be even more

horrific – in China in December

2003, a land drilling well hit

H2S. At least 233 people and a

thousand animals died and more

than 9,000 people were treated.

Constant care and diligence to

their customers has meant that

there have been no fatalities

offshore in the 30 years that the

company H2S Safety Services has

been part of the industry. They

are a global company supplying

breathing and detection

apparatus to the world and their

main warehouse in Esbjerg was

impressively empty the day we

visited. ‘We have just shipped

our biggest ever order to Brazil,

15 containers,’ says Niels Koed

Hansen, General Manager Sales at

H2S Safety Services.

TERMINALLY TOXICNot so empty were the workshops

where row upon row of detectors

were going through a regular

check-up and routine calibration

– they detect from 5ppm, parts

per million. A hundred 100ppm

permanently wipes out your

sense of smell, 1000 wipes

you out – to try and gain some

perspective, that’s the same as

putting one teaspoon of poison

into six litres of water and every

drop in the bucket becoming

terminally toxic.

There’s only one thing worse than

being killed by H2S gas according

to instructor Claus Thorberg

Hansen, and that is surviving it.

He recently had a Canadian on a

course who had been subjected to

250ppm – he’d been in medication

What’s that...? 5

In China in December 2003, a land drilling well hit H2S. At least 233 people and a thousand animals died and more than 9,000 people were treated

Hamburgefintsiv 6

for over two years and parts of

him, like his lungs and sense of

smell, will never be quite the

same again. This was all because

he walked past a very minor

occurrence. He caught a whiff,

others with him didn’t, but the

whiff caught him. By comparison

to other survivors he got of fairly

lightly.

Claus had just come from training

another group of rig workers,

putting them through the

disorientating darkened container

filled with what look like

oversized animal cages. They had

to feel and fumble their way to

safety. A large part of the survival

process is in not panicking, in

order to put on safety equipment

correctly so it doesn’t allow any

gases to sneak past.

OLD WELLS, NEW DANGERSThe main role of the company is in

supplying the equipment and then

making sure that everyone on

board knows what to do. Because

of this there is a certain amount

of training on the rigs as well as a

constant need for a company rep

to be there in regions where the

gas is even a remote possibility.

In the drilling world there are

areas where you are more likely

to come across the gas, it’s called

anywhere. Of course there are

regions where it hasn’t been

present but since it is created

by the bacterial breakdown of

organic matter, it is virtually part

of the same oil and natural gas

evolution process.

H2S can even occur in instances

where it wasn’t originally present.

Some of the original wells in the

North Sea are being revisited

because better drilling techniques

now make oil and gas deposits,

which were once too expensive

or difficult to reach, retrievable.

In the short time since they

were declared non-operational,

bacteria has created pockets of

H2S. ●

What’s that...? 6

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It started from a joke conversation in a pub in Adelaide. The target was to grow whiskers for whiskers, with any money raised going to animals. Now 15 years on, it is charity that’s raised something approaching $200 million and has targeted diseases like prostate cancer.

We’re now in Movember, but

for some people the fashion

or cultural demands of facial hair

is a problem. It’s nothing to do

with lack of masculinity; rather it’s

to do with lack of seal.

According to Poul Lund Hansen

it is not so much what escapes

but what sneaks past the less

than perfect seal due to the facial

hair. Poul, a former operations

manager, spent much of his

working career at H2S Safety

Services and he pointed out the

perils of the current fashion for

the three-day growth as well

as those who don’t shave for

religious or cultural reasons. ‘It’s

a problem because it takes so little

of a gas like H2S to get past the

defenses.’

It’s a subject which organizations

like the US Occupational Safety and

Health Administration have spent

a considerable amount of time on.

They have, on occasions, informed

companies that they are an unsafe

workplace simply because some

wearing a half respirator had a

beard. The solution using full face

respirators is both costly and often

impracticable.

Beyond fashion and religion, facial

hair opens up a world of extremes

and peculiarities. Sappers in

the French Foreign Legion, for

instance, must wear full beards.

The Danish Army encouraged

their growth in Afghanistan

because it broke down cultural

barriers, although the Royal Life

Guards outside Amalienborg

Palace are required to shave.

There are some surprises Mexico,

a country almost synonymous

with the moustache, bans facial

hair for soldiers. Australians

are allowed a moustache, but

no wider than their top lip and

from the beginning of January,

the same applies to anyone in the

US Army. But it’s not just a wake

up in the morning decision; they

have to apply under regulation

670-1 in order to grow a beard or

moustache. ●

Moustache Or Madness?

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Hamburgefintsiv 8

Runway to Slipway

There is one airport which was built to be difficult – coming into Vagar in the Faroes is a supreme test of a pilot’s ability. This is because when the runway was constructed in 1942 it was purposely hidden in a valley to conceal airplanes from passing German warships.

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The runway is short and 15 metres narrower than standard and add

to that the fact that the surrounding mountains are high; it is not a

place you want to fly into first time with the manual on your lap. So pilots

spend hours practicing in the safe comfort of a flight simulator before

they get up there with the gannets and seagulls on a wet windy night.

Runway to Slipway 9

Compared to aviation the use of

simulation in the offshore industry

as a means of improving skills and

safety is in its relative infancy. But

in a short period it has come a long,

long way.

MOSAIC, the Maersk Offshore

Simulation and Innovation Centre

only pressed its first button five

years ago, yet the advancement

in simulation technology has

rapidly caught up with the real

world. Hans Peter Beck is a co-

pilot with Atlantic Airways, the

Faroe’s national airline, and has

spent much of his career on flight

simulators preparing for the

routine as well as the unexpected.

What was neither routine or

expected was the opportunity to

sit in a couple of the hot seats at

MOSAIC. The environment was

not dissimilar, the methodology

the same, but the execution drew

new boundaries. What seems like

a simple task, lifting a container

from a supply vessel and putting it

on a rig, had Hans Peter expressing

a new respect for crane drivers.

The crane demands eye-hand

coordination on a 3D level, which

is complicated by the addition of

wind and the swell. Even in a plane

the ground doesn’t move up and

down on its own accord - ‘but you

do have turbulence’ says Hans

Peter - and on a plane you feel the

movement you are responsible

for – with a crane the movement is

on a hook on the end of a very long

steel wire.

It is fair to say that Hans Peter

was amused and bemused in

equal amounts as instructor Andy

Monie introduced him to a whole

new world of knuckles, booms

and catching the swing. With the

odd dent and bump he completed

lifts on two types of crane, each of

them a different experience. It is

also fair to say that the simulated

deck hands felt a little safer when

he parked the cranes and headed

Bridge A, home to around seventy

different types of vessel.

Already he’d noted a prime

lesson, one the same as in a flight

simulator. ‘It is the classic rookie

mistake, to continually take actions

- you have to learn to do a little and

then watch to see what happens,

not to keep changing your mind.’

Hans Peter flies the Airbus, series

320, and they are themselves as

different to conventional flight

decks as a modern bridge is to

an old wheelhouse. They are

steered by a joystick, not like the

conventional yoke that Boeing still

favours. So it wasn’t a shock to

see that you can control a vessel

from the knob and levels on a Rolls

Royce chair.

FLYING BACKWARDSThis time it was instructor Klaus

Hovesen’s chance to be impressed.

Hans Peter maneuvered the 55

metre long vessel around drilling

rigs and into harbour with a

natural skill. ‘It was a lot more

similar to flying, but a bit confusing

since to start with the control seat

was facing backwards, you don’t

do that on a plane.’

It was a routine operation and

Hans Peter reflected on what he

saw as the major difference. ‘I

did most of my training to get a

license on simulators and twice

a year I have to go back on them

– the difference is that with these

maritime simulators the main

aim is to train, whilst with flight

simulators there is training, but

you also have to perform well

enough to keep your license, your

job.’

So a career change? Hans Peter’s

quest to become a pilot has been

a major consumer of time, money

and life. His other profession is as

a social worker and that funded his

flying lessons. So his quest to fly

remains number one. ●

Hamburgefintsiv 10

MPD, they call it the new black, but this black has been around for a while. The topicality of Managed Pressure Drilling within the industry is partially because it is the right tool to help with certain complex jobs. This time it is a well that's planned for the North SeaMPD is not a revolutionary

way of drilling, it is an ad-on to

conventional drilling, but for many

experienced crews it presents

a diversion from their normal

routines. It is a closed system

dependent on two extra pieces of

Lady in Black

Click for Anna’s

introduction to MPD’

Hamburgefintsiv 11

routines. It is a closed system

dependent on two extra pieces of

gear, the RCD – rotating control

device and the choke manifold.

These are supplied by a number of

company’s including Weatherford,

who are the main operators in the

North Sea.

The job of getting a roomful of

drillers to understand and accept

it on this occasion had fallen on

the shoulders of Weatherford’s

Anna Leslie. You might imagine

that facing some hardened

drillers, those shoulders might

need the sort of padding American

Footballers use, not so, within

minutes there was a quiet respect

for the lady in black: she knew her

stuff.

What Managed Pressure Drilling

is might bewilder a non-oil person.

It is sort of like the difference

between drinking a McDonald’s

milk shake through a straw with a

lid on the cup and doing it without.

With the lid, the closed system,

you can see and feel the change of

pressure as you suck.

In a waxed cup that is what it

is about: putting a cap on the

wellhead and an extra chock

manifold so that you can measure

the changes in pressure in gallons

rather than barrels. What this

does is give you greater control

through early warning.

SOLUTION IN B&WTo put it the official way the

International Association of

Drilling Contractors (IADC)

define it as “an adaptive drilling

process used to more precisely

control the annular pressure

profile throughout the wellbore."

The objectives of MPD are “to

ascertain the downhole pressure

environment limits and to

manage the annular hydraulic

pressure profile accordingly."

To an outsider much of what

was going on in the classroom

was beyond comprehension. At

the white board was the lady

in black, Anna Leslie, Project

Engineer, Secure Drilling Services

of Weatherford. Weatherford

are the leading suppliers for

MPD to the North Sea and have

been cooperating with Maersk

Training to see how effective it is

to include the system in relevant

simulation based courses. It

as impressive how Anna dealt

with even the most complex and

specific questions from some old

hands. But what drew here into

this world in the first place?

‘I became a geologist and if you

are one you normally want to be

hands on. I live in London and I

didn’t fancy and office based job

so I saw an ad for the oil industry

and was attracted.’

‘If you are on a rig, there are times

when you need them to listen to

you and if you don’t know what

you are talking about they go . . .

mmmm . . . and you’ve lost them.

You’ve got to have the answers,’

says Anna. Looking at the faces

of the crew, the lady in black had

them. ●

To an outsider much or most of what was going on the in the classroom was beyond comprehension

Anna takes the crew on a tour of their rig when equipped with MPD

Hamburgefintsiv 12

We’ve all sat on an aircraft and to varying degrees of attentiveness taken in the on board safety message. Perhaps 200 people all getting the same information and instruction, corridor lighting, exits and chutes.

So imagine having to instruct

a group of people who are

faced with about 20 different

operational situations, many of

them experienced, some totally

unacquainted with the working

environment they are now in.

What they share is an inter-

dependency on each other for

safety.

That’s what frequently happens

when drilling rigs are brought in

for their five yearly ‘health check’

to the yards of Semco Maritime

dotted around the world.

‘The biggest project we’ve

undertaken involved 2,000

people, of whom 10 to 20 per cent

were new to the kind of working

safety culture we aim for,’ says

Nikolaj Vejlgaard, VP Rig Projects

Operations. ‘We have had up to

20 different contractors working

RIGMAROLE* you don’t need

E

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13RIGMAROLE* you don’t need

on a single project and they

obviously bring in different safety

regimes. We need to get them up

to our level. The process has been

going on for years and in truth, it

never stops.’

The types of repairs and upgrades

are extremely broad on a rig. You

are dealing with a factory come

hotel in microcosm, so they need

as diverse skills as welders to

carpet fitters. For some, it can

be a whole new world. The rigs

are getting bigger and bigger –

the Semco yard is not the place

to discover you have vertigo.

An electrician, used to working

indoors, suddenly finds himself at

a junction box with just a metal

grating between him and the

ground 60 metres below. It’s safe

for the electrician, but a little

destabilizing – drop a screw in

an office and you look for it in the

carpet, drop a screw here and it

becomes a potential missile for

some unsuspecting person below.

SELF EXAMINATION‘When we built up this business

we had a tendency to follow

the safety level of the customer

– some of our customers had

different levels, not that anything

was bad, but it was different

rules and different ways of doing

things. That’s why we went

through our own HSE programme

to sharpen our procedures and

discussed every item in detail

to see how we wanted to do it,’

explains Nikolaj.

Semco have four main divisions;

the rig one has two main kinds

of operation where they upgrade

and refit. Rigs cost the oil-seeking

client hundreds of thousands

of dollar a day, so any delay in

doing the refits costs more than

most other businesses can even

imagine.

The facility in Esbjerg is the

largest in the company but there

are similar operations offering

a highly concentrated volume of

service in order to get a quick turn

around in Vietnam, the UK and

Norway.

Another way of insuring that

the rigs are not idle long is to

put the yard in a box. They pack

everything they might need into

a fleet of containers and then ship

them to the nearest appropriate

location where they establish

a temporary yard. It’s called

Shipyard-in-a-box and it cuts

down on towing time. With areas

of operation getting ever more

remote, moving the mountain to

Mohammad becomes more and

more logical.

So too, says Nikolaj, is the practice

of doing much of the renovation

work actually in the field. It is

logical, but it comes back to one

fundamental goal, whether it is in

the Esbjerg yard or somewhere in

the southern Atlantic, it is to do

the job safely. ●

*rig-ma-role – an elaborate or

complicated procedure. Webster’s

Dictionary

The facility in Esbjerg is unique in the Nordic countries and like a similar one in Vietnam it offers a highly concentrated volume of service in order to get rigs back out and working.

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Hamburgefintsiv 14

It was a long time ago. When they first met, they talked of Mohammad Ali polishing off George Foreman in ‘the Rumble in the Jungle,’ an actor was President of the US and in response to the previous year’s oil crisis, in Paris they were putting the finishing touches to forming the International Energy Agency. In November 1974, these guys were part of the solution; they were Maersk Drilling’s first rig team bound for Maersk Explorer.

First of the many

Rolling Back the Years

A unique view from the dog cabin of

parts of the operation that they have

never seen before from this angle

Rolling Back the Years 15

Now 40 years on, marking the

anniversary of the company

they were the first employees

of, they gathered to reminisce at

the centre where today’s drillers

are trained. Walking around the

Maersk Offshore Simulation and

Innovation Centre, MOSAIC, they

saw a world very different to the

training environment when they

began their careers.

For one of the 18-strong party,

visiting MOSAIC wasn’t a new

experience. The day also marked

the personal 40th anniversary of

Niels Erik Jensen, who uniquely

is still working for the company.

Now approaching seventy he had

visited the simulation centre for a

course only last year.

You are never too old to learn,

but this was a world of difference

from the first well control courses

he and his colleagues had had.

‘I remember it well,’ he said.

‘Chevron sent an instructor to

the rig, he had a box which was

a portable simulator and after

our normal 12 hours shift we did

about three to four hours training.

We did this for three or four days.

But we had it easy; today’s guys

have so much to learn.’

Niels paid his modern day

counterparts a huge compliment.

‘They have to be much brighter

than we were, the industry has

changed. So too has the way of

training, the simulators here are

near-life experiences.’

IN WAR ZONEFor Helge Poulsen it was a chance

to recall a near-death experience.

He was one of the 56 crew on

board the Maersk Victory in the

Persian Gulf the day an Iraqi

plane bombed it. His memory

was refuelled by a scale model of

the Victory’s twin sister, Maersk

Viking. One person died, but as

Helge pointed out to his wife

Hanne, it could have been much

worse.

‘A few of the guys were

sunbathing on the helicopter

pad when the attack happened,’

Helge told her, ‘the shell hit one of

the legs and unknown to us the

detonator split from the casing.

The damage was done by the

force of the shell. We found the

detonator on the other side of

the rig, luckily we had a guy on

board who had been in the British

army and he knew what it was

immediately.’

The party spent two hours trying

out the simulators and imagining

themselves back on board – for

Niels it was a little more vivid.

He was about to head back to

Egypt for one last tour of duty, on

December 31, the first of the first

becomes the last of the first. ●

‘They have to be much brighter than we were, the industry has changed.

For Helge Poulsen it was a chance to recall a near-death experience. He was one of the 56 crew on board the Maersk Victory in the Persian Gulf the day an Iraqi plane bombed it.

On the drill floor, Niels second left,

and his former colleagues feeling at

home

Helge takes Hanne on a finger tip

tour of the sister rig to the one he

was bombed on

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There are few things in Brazil

which are more a part of the

country’s make-up, its cultural

DNA, or its lifestyle values, than...

no it’s not soccer ... than capoeira.

Capoeira is a strange mixture, to

the sound of a bowed stick with

a single string and a stone to

change the notes, Brazilians move

with lightning gravity-defying

speed – it’s like Tai Chi on speed.

When you witness it, there is

much to suspect that Michael

Jackson was inspired by it and

that breakdancing is its offspring.

It is easy to see the attraction

which brought together a group

of children in Rio de Janeiro who,

under the sponsorship of Maersk

Training in Brazil, learnt to do

capoeira and to do it so well as to

graduate.

Capoeira was devised by African

slaves brought to Brazil during

Portuguese colonization, and is

a result of racial discrimination

that forbade slaves from per-

forming any type of martial arts.

It was invented as a mixture

of dancing and fighting moves

so that the combat would be

mistaken for a dance ceremony.

The fighters would confront

each other using choreographed

movements to the sound of the

berimbau, the single-stringed bow

which is struck by a stick, the

trademark musical instrument of

the capoeira.

GOING GLOBALSo emerging from eras of

discrimination and suppression,

the capoeira can now be ‘fought’

by anyone from any ethnic group

and represents the acceptance of

the African culture into today’s

society. Indeed it has gone global.

The youngsters of the Capoeira

Brasil Children Group in Tijuca,

performed under the eyes of

capoeira masters from all over

Brasil – two generations of

athletic ambassadors promoting a

lifestyle that values discipline and

respect for tradition. ●

Floating Like ButterfliesStinging Like Bees

Click here

to feel the rhythm

Hamburgefintsiv 17

We mentioned in the last

eSea that Stonehaven, just

south of Aberdeen, was famous

for two things, the home of the

inventor of the fountain pen and

the deep-fried Mars bar. No one

questioned the pen claim, but

could the sheer genius of dipping

a Mars bar into beer batter and

then deep frying it in oil have

come from this Scottish village?

The Scots are an inventive

people, but could they really

have come up with something

so gastronomically exciting. Of

course they could as an eagle

eyed eSea reader proves with his

grabbed snapshot when passing

through Stonehaven. ●

SCOTS land on MARS

Hamburgefintsiv 18

We’re infatuated with it. It governs our actions, influences our moods, determines our lifestyles; it’s all around us, it never leaves us, it’s not religion, food or sex even. It’s on tv, most of us carry it in our pockets as an app, it’s the weather.

A recent survey showed that

those who get a lot of it,

the British, spend an average of

six months of their entire lives

talking about it. John Cappelen

talks about it all the time – the

senior climatologist at the Danish

Metrological Institute – says it’s

his job, his hobby, his passion, his

life. ‘I never tire of talking about

the weather.’

For over 30 years he’s been

looking at old weather charts,

looking back to the future.

We’ve been going through

unprecedented weather, cloud

bursts, storms, we’ve even had a

summer, but according to John it’s

not unprecedented, we’ve been

there before and we will be there

again.

‘We have had a storm list since

1890 and all that Allan and Bodil

did was to break a period of calm.

There is no tendency, it just goes

up and down,’ he says. Allan and

Bodil are not a loud singing duo,

they were notable storms which

caused havoc in Denmark in

October and December last year.

The idea of talking to John was

triggered by the previous issue

of eSea – the new territories

that were opening for the wind

turbine industry because the

new giants were reaching into

a different weather sphere and

wind patterns – but we put that

aside, temporarily, to look at

how weather affects just about

everything we do.

Umbrella FellaEvery cloud

has a silver lining

says John

Umbrella Fella 19

Today John says the weather

is much more accurate and

detailed because the modules

collecting the data deliver it at

a higher resolution and more

frequently. This has led to what

he calls Nowcasting, the ability to

know very locally and precisely

what is about to happen within

minutes. What it can’t predict

is what the Danes call ‘skybrud’

– what the English speakers

call a ’cloudburst’, the Germans

‘Wolkenbruch’, and regardless

of name, without any warning

makes you very wet .

John has an amazing ability to

match weather events to dates,

he immediately tied in the latest

skybrud in Copenhagen – ‘you

couldn’t predict it, we could track

the system, but because it had

no pattern as to where it might

deposit its rain, there was no way

to warn about it.’

DISASTER TO SUICIDEWeather forecasting has been

about or quite a while. It started

as the result of a maritime

disaster, the sinking of a steam

clipper and the loss of 450 lives in

1859.

The first weather forecast was

printed 154 years ago in The

Times; the author, a distinguished

seafarer who captained Darwin’s

global voyage of evolutionary

discovery, got it spot on. He,

Robert FitzRoy, was struck

by the disaster of the steam

clipper Royal Charter in 1859

and started to put into place a

means of mapping the movement

of pressure patterns and their

subsequent effect on those

below. His first ‘forecasting of

the weather’ was spot on, but it

turned nasty for Robert, seen as

the sole voice on what to expect.

Like the weather he gauged he

was subjected to greater pressure

to get it right and when he didn’t,

he hit is own personal depression

– he committed suicide.

SUNNY DANESThe Danes are far from depressed;

they are, according to many

surveys, the happiest people on

the planet. If too much darkness

and cold make you glum and

too much heat lazy, could this

be because the Danes get the

perfect mix? ‘My job is about

extremes and we do get extreme

weather here, but not in the same

context as the rest of the world.

The tropical cyclones make our

storms seem like nothing, but

does us being temperate mean

we are happier, I’m not sure,’ says

John.

What he is sure about is the

value of change, the value of

seasons. The reefer container

industry is responsible for

making supermarkets mono-

seasonal. You can buy any fruit

and vegetables year round. ‘But it

is not the same, the taste of that

first Danish strawberry of the

year is special and it’s all down

to us having the right mixture of

rain and sun,’ he says.

Constant rain, constant sun,

constant wind are boring

according to John who then got on

to the flavour of new potatoes and

the lushness of the raspberry crop

– perhaps in the future he can add

some flavour to the DMI weather

forecasts. ‘Wind from the north

west at 10kms, temperature

rising to 18C by mid-afternoon

and strawberries, sharp and clean

tasting and pickable for dinner.’ ●

The first weather forecast was printed 154 years ago in The Times; the author, a distinguished seafarer who captained Darwin’s global voyage of evolutionary discovery, got it spot on.

Hamburgefintsiv 20

One reunion, which is possible

if a little awkward, is for

those who want to go on board

the old ferry, Ærosund. The

ferry travelled to the southern

Danish island of Æro, to and

from Svendborg, between 1960

and 1999, clocking up enough

kilometres to get to the moon and

back three times. Now it is .019

of a kilometre under the Baltic,

that’s 19 metres and it is home to

any passing fish or crustaceans

who fancy the opportunity.

The final, above sea level, view of

the Ærosund was quite magical

– it was like a funeral for a dear

old lady who everyone agreed

was going to a better place with

great dignity. Several thousand

people turned up to pay tribute

– its passing has been covered in

the news, from helicopter, from

the many ships but we like doing

things differently at eSea. We say

goodbye to the Ærosund in verse.

●

Sund of Silence

Click to join

the last farewell

21Poopdeck

Doesn’t it rile you? It’s one

of the few things you

can’t easily buy online, a real

Christmas tree, yet a week before

Halloween they were selling them

in my local DIY store. Just because

the needles don’t fall off like they

used to, they stretch Christmas

by yet another fortnight!

Stretching things to make them

eek out is alright, needs be, but the

nice thing about being seasonal is

that whatever is attached to them

is, just so, seasonal and special.

There to be enjoyed for a fleeting

magic moment. John Cappelen

touched upon it elsewhere in

this eSea when he said you can

get fresh strawberries 24/365

but there was something special

about that first local one. There’s

equally something special about

getting the tree a few days before

Christmas, not in October.

But you can understand the need

to capture the market. There

are towns where they’ve given

up with the concept of having

a centre. You can’t buy a loaf of

bread, tea bags or a BandAid

downtown, because there’s no

longer a downtown. You can

visit a solicitor or the council’s

rates department, walk past an

empty church or try your luck at a

cashpoint, but little else.

And it’s no wonder. Recently I

needed a small attachment for my

camera. Downtown Svendborg’s

three shops that sell camera

gear couldn’t oblige. I returned

home and a seven in the evening

ordered it online. A van pulled

into my drive the next morning at

9.45, a quarter of an hour before

the shops open, delivering my

lens extender. The part had come

from a storeroom in Antwerp.

Sadly the only thing they seem

to sell downtown these days is

shops. They can’t compete. The

computer this is being written

on, cannot be ordered in a shop

without them going through the

Friendly Fred & Frugal Friend

22Poopdeck

same process that I did at home

to get it. By the time you have

ticketed off the specifications,

somebody, somewhere in China

is already putting it together and

asking a colleague for the stamper

to put ‘Designed in California’ on

its butt.

Within two days it was on its

way and I could follow every

plane, every customs halt, even

the pallet number it was on for

the 37 hours it took to come from

Shanghai to South Denmark. It’s

another sad sign of the times that

watching its progress through

South Korea, Kazakhstan,

Germany, Sweden was more

enthralling than what was on tv.

The shops should not give up,

there is someone out there

who likes to buy things the old

personal way. A friend of mine

runs a business in Copenhagen

supplying a particular type of

off-road transport, the sort that

grown boys love and younger

boys dream about. Well they

don’t have to dream for too long

because you can get these bikes in

a size for six-year-old and up.

RIGHT SAID FREDSo my friend, Jan, is at a trade

show and along comes the heir

to the Danish throne, HRH The

Crown Prince Fredrick. They chat

about the size of Prince Christian

and safety equipment and the

Prince then asks for Jan’s card.

Next day Jan’s phone rings – ‘Hi

Jan, it’s Fredrick, Christian’s

father.’

I adore that story for the

grounded simplicity of the Prince’s

approach and the fact that he

didn’t designate some equerry to

‘sort it out.’ Try as I might, I can’t

imagine certain other Royals

taking such a one-to-one personal

approach.

I honestly don’t know if any sale

followed, that’s between Jan and

Christian’s dad, but businesses

survive on money exchanging

hands and sometimes the

frugality of the shopper can be a

drawback.

CHICKEN STORYTwo men were reunited last

month after first meeting 17 years

ago. For Dane Poul it was a warm

moment of reflection for meeting

up Rudi, who had just flown into

Billund from the Philippines. He

arrived in November in an early

snowstorm, in shorts. Poul drove

Rudi to Esbjerg where he was due

to take a one month course.

Leaving him at his self-catering

apartment, Poul suddenly

remembered, ‘you’ve no local

money!’ He pulled his wallet

out and took out a 200dkk note,

handing it to Rudi, he promised

more the next day.

Time passed, in fact nearly three

weeks of it, when Poul suddenly

remembered, ‘Rudi, I gave him no

more money!!’

He rushed over to the smiling

Filipino and apologized. ‘I’m so

sorry I forgot, forgot to give you

more money.’

Rudi smiled, ‘It’s OK, I’ve still 75

kroner left’

In three weeks he’d eaten just

about every part of two chickens

and filled up with rice for

breakfast, lunch dinner.

Poul put his wallet away and

turned to Rudi ‘I’d like you to meet

my wife.’

23eSea library To go back in time and access articles from

previous issues, simply click on the photo of the edition.

The numbers in front of the articles is the eSea issue.

For direct access click on the article title

eSea 1 Instructors’ back to sea programme - Sea Time Reduction announced - Vetting for Supply - New Deepwater Horizons open up

eSea 2New Towmasters’ course gets full simulation treatment - Deepwater course piloted - Wind industry - Drill instructor gets back to the well head

eSea 3MOSAIC II announced - Offshore wind, the new challenges - West African pilots use simulator to deal with the ‘big boys’ - CraneSIM in Vietnam - Piracy through the ages

eSea 4MT launches new website - Chinese in big safety push - Rig crane put in a box - Safety and People Skills build platform emergency course - how to communicate across cultures

eSea 5Maersk Training pennant raised in Dubai - Platform crews pilot Emergency Response course - How to be best in Vetting class - Danger of computer over reliance

eSea 6MOSAIC II, the ground is broken - Rig participants up to elbows in some very special mud - Semi-sub crew learns anchor handling - West African pilots start payback

eSea 7Chinese Container crews look to safety - Rig crane simulator tested - Esbjerg’s new facilities - MOSAIC II update - DP sea-time reduction - Coffee Break with Bent Nielsen

eSea 8Titanic Edition looking back at 100 years of increased safety and improved training - the lifeboat revolution - man overboard - spreading knowledge - tomorrow’s seafarers

eLibrary

eSea 9$15million Phone call - Wrappers off MOSAIC II - 5 Year drilling package - Tomorrow’s leaders today - Family comes too - Learning in luxury - Danish Olympians teambuild

eSea 10Breaking the ice, a new route in navigation - crane simulation arrives - Newcastle’s drop in course for the high life - the silent disease, loneliness - Chinese catch safety bug

To go back in time and access articles from previous issues, simply click on the photo of the edition or use the QR code.









eLibrary












eLibrary












eLibrary












eLibrary












eLibrary












eLibrary












eLibrary












eLibrary












eLibrary




eSea 1

eSea 10

eSea 9

eSeaM A R I T I M E /O I L & G A S/ W I N D/C R A N E · JA N UA RY 2013

macondo – a lesson unlearnt? the worlds most advanced offshore simulation complex >�

the most socially isolated person on planet earth? >

training to avoid skyfall >

captaining a floating town >

combating stress with underwater rugby >

11

EM AGA ZINE FROM M A ERSK TR A INING

eSea 11

eSea 8

eSea 7

eSea 6

eSea 5

eSea 4

eSea 3

eSea 2

MARITIME• 1 DP Sea Time Reduction

• 1 Vetting for supply

• 2 Towmaster course

• 3 West African pilots’ eye-

opener

• 6 West Africans payback time

• 10 Ice breaking through world

short-cut

• 11 Captaining a hotel

• 12 Bridge and engine room in

sync

• 12 A new look at mooring

• 14 What MLC 2006 means

• 15 All Fired Up – a very real

computer game

• 16 Ngoc’s Fourth Bar

• 16 838 Days – Søren’s days in

pirate captivity

O&G• 6 Semi-sub crew handling

anchors

• 6 Mud course

• 9 The $15million phone call

• 11 Macondo – a lesson

unlearnt? 12 North Sea,

experts look to bright future

• 14 Brazil’s oil and gender

revolution

• 15 Gulf Lessons – performance

enhancement

• 15 What is Performance

Enhancement?

WIND POWER• 12 The father of wind power

• 12 A2Sea’s new windcarrier

• 12 Olsen team get specific

training

• 13 Training at heights for lady

with no vertigo

• 14 Blade Runners, the new

high level repairmen

• 17 Carload of Hopes: the

heights some people will go to

for a job

• 18 Career Climber – Jonny

benefits from his car-eer

gamble

• 18 Bonus Points – we take

a tour of Siemens training

facilities in Jutland

CRANE• 3 CraneSim in Vietnam

• 4 Rig crane in a box

• 7 Rig crane simulator tested

• 13 APMT’s management

improvement programme

• 15 Slinging in the sunshine

SAFETY• 4 Container industry in big

safety push

• 7 Chinese container crews

show huge progress

MISCELLANEOUS• 3 Piracy through the ages

• 8 Titanic edition looks at

progress since 1912

• 9 Turning a course into a

family holiday

• 10 Loneliness, the problem of

isolation

• 11 Underwater rugby,

combating stress

• 13 Piracy and the cross - the

roll today of the seamen’s

mission

• 14 The Story of Ngoc – a

remarkable tale of resilience

and good fortune

• 14 Eat meet and leave – the

messages in our diet

• 15 Puffed – Hawaii’s Ironmen

• 15 Michael Bang-From

defusing to enlightening

• 15 The story of the world

beating blue boat

• 16 Colony of Hope, meeting

India’s stigmatised community

• 17 Marstal – port of passion

and ferry tales

• 18 Tracy’s Screen Test – we

see how to Skype yourself into

the right job

eSea 12


wind powerWindmills - never ending or beginning >�Poul la Cour. Father of Wind Power >Olsen band crack safe operation >The Floating Table >Bridge and Engine in Sync >Door Knobs to Safety >The North Sea Glory Story > 12


eSea 13

eSea 14

eSeaM A R I T I M E / O I L & G A S / W I N D / C R A N E · N O . 14 / 2 0 1 3

food


Don’t blame the cook >Eat meet and leave >

Triple E = 3M’s >Brazil’s oil and gender revolution >Funny Tummy

So what is the MLC 2006 all about? >Food for Thought >Blade Runners >

Playing the name game >

The Story of Ngoc

eSea 15



15

Gulf Lessons >Keep taking the tablets > What exactly is Performance Enhancement? >When BP means Better Prepared > Nintendo boys, game on >Puffed, but the magic drags on >No bang Bang >Girls Out Loud >Every Boat Tells a Story >Science - stronger than steel >All fired up >Space, the final frontier >

performance enhancement

eSea 16Piracy – Søren’s

Somali Story

Ngoc's Fourth Bar >Colony of hope >

Farewell Favela, So Long Shanty >Starbuster >

All Sorts Have One Aim >Knowledge Seekers >

Helsingborg to Prague, via Svendborg >Surely not >



16

eSea 17

Carload of Hopes >Revolving door >

Caught Flagging >Logomotions >

Hard Drive for Soft Skills >Perfect Pressure Performance >

Marstal - port of passion and ferry tales >Rockall - All Rock or Oil Rock? >

eSeaM A R I T I M E / O I L & G A S / W I N D / C R A N E · N O . 17/ 2 0 1 4


17

The Great Bag of China- what's the secret of good branding?

eSea 18

Oceans Seven >Bonus Points >'Tracy's Screen Test' >What’s a Flag State? > She’s Leaving Home >Stonehaven, home of ... >SiberianOnSafety >Recalculating... >



18

Jonny’s $10,000 Gamble

Hamburgefintsiv 24

ContactEditorial issues and suggestions:Richard Lightbody - [email protected]

Names and emails of those able and eager to help with specific enquiries arising out of this issue

Sales enquiries Aberdeen (UK): [email protected]

Sales enquiries Brazil:[email protected]

Sales enquiries Esbjerg (DK): [email protected]

Sales enquiries India:[email protected]

Sales enquiries Middle East:[email protected]

Sales enquiries Newcastle (UK):[email protected]

Sales enquiries Norway: [email protected]

Sales enquiries Svendborg (DK):[email protected]

Or visit our website www.maersktraining.com

eSea 19 - Hello Goodbye

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