08 August 2009, The Kieler Kanal and Kiel (almost)

For me the Kieler Kanal starts a long time before the guests get their first glimpse. You first have to go on the Elbe River; the river that leads to Hamburg. It is roughly 36 miles from the Pilot station to the entrance of the Kieler Kanal and as I have to be at the entrance at 10 am. it means that I pick up the Elbe pilot at 0700. With three hours for 36 miles, I do not have to run up river full speed and I have also some time on my sleeve in case something happens. As it is a busy river, it always does. This time it was very busy at the pilot station and several small container ships pushed their way in, all being in a great hurry, as they are on tight schedules to deliver their containers on time. I prefer then to take some speed back and wait until they have all scattered their different ways. Thus we had the pilot about 10 minutes late but for these things I had built this leeway in the schedule in the first place.

During our last call at the Kieler Kanal we were blessed with a hail and rain storm when entering the first locks but this time it was wind still and nicely overcast. The weather remained great all the way through the transit and so I did not have to worry about that one. However life is never dull and it brought something else to keep me occupied with. That is apart from watching the traffic and keeping a close eye on the pilot. We had a German film crew onboard from a regional TV station. Germany is a Federal State and most of the states that form part of the union have their own Television channel. Sometimes one regional station covers several states. However all these stations can be received in the whole Federation. This film crew was filming a program called Cruise Ships in Schleswig Holstein. The latter being the province in which the Kieler Kanal is located. The whole thing is going to be a 90 minute program to be transmitted this coming Christmas. As the Prinsendam is about the largest cruise ship that goes through the Kanal we were selected for the “onboard scenery shots” which included yours truly. My German speaking capability was an unexpected but very welcome bonus.

The inside and outside of the ship was filmed, then the dramatic scenes of us going under the bridges (less than 3 feet clearance) and what the captain and the pilot do all day on the bridge. …..Drinking coffee and looking out of the window….. That latter was of course not exciting enough, so we had to act as if we were working. Incorporating a pilot to pilot exchange, discussing the shipping, and looking through binoculars in a professional way etc. Going through the Kanal is quite complicated, but if things are under control it does not look like it and that does not suit a TV crew. In the end they were very happy. They came onboard in the first locks when our overland tour went off, and they left in the last locks when the overland tour came back.

The transit through the Kanal is quite slow. Being the biggest ship, the operators are afraid about the wake (see my Amsterdam Aug 06 blog) and thus we are limited to a speed of 7.5 knots. You cannot make up for lost time. And time we were starting to loose, as there was quite a bit of opposing traffic that we had to meet at certain passing points in the Kanal. By the time we made it to the last locks we were well over an hour behind schedule. By the time we came out it was 1.5 hours and then I still needed an hour to get to the dock in Kiel. We were supposed to make a 20.00 to 2400 hrs call there but it all depends on the transit time in the Kanal if that works out. I make sure that the guests understand this from the moment we are leaving Amsterdam. Now it looked like I would not be docked until 21.45 or even 22.00 hrs. and I had to be on the way again by midnight to make Warnemunde on time. So sadly I had to decide to let Kiel be Kiel without the presence of the Prinsendam. We turned left when coming out of the locks, going to open sea, instead of turning right into the harbour. It was still 11 pm. by the time I came off the bridge. Tomorrow the Warnemunde pilot will come on board at 04.30, as I have to be docked on time for the tours to leave for Berlin at 06.30.

It is “Hansa Woche” in Warnemunde so the port will be full of all sorts of sailing ships, including square riggers, navy ships, ferry’s, regular cargo ships and as “the diamond in the crown” the Prinsendam will be docked in the middle of it all at the Cruise terminal. I am supposed to represent all the sea captains in port by being present at the Yearly “Sailors Church service” and give a speech in German. So all day I have been refreshing my German vocabulary with the pilot.