15 September 2013; Seward, Alaska.

The pilot came on board at 04.00 hrs. in the morning and we were all looking forward to a nice day in Seward, which near the end of the season is always something one hopes for but not always gets. But it looked good; no wind, clear skies and a starry night. Also the pilot only reported good things about Seward and thus the good ship Statendam proceeded accordingly for what was going to be our last call of the season. You could maybe not see that the season was coming to an end on a day like this but you could feel it. The cold was definitely in the air and later even after the sun had shone for a few hours, it just remained very cold.

What did not help with that temperature was the wind factor. The weather forecast had indicated a gentle breeze of about 10 knots from the north but by the time we started docking it already blew 20 knots. By the time the sun came out it breezed up to 30 knots and by noon time it peaked to about 40 knots. With the winds near the airport peaking even higher. Time for me to run back to the computer to double check the weather forecast but there was no change reported. Only the local – hourly- weather observations from Seward airport confirmed what was going on, so I had some extra lines brought out just in case. I think the wind was just generated by the sun, e.g. the sunny day in the interior because as soon as the early evening came it all died down again to a gentle breeze; the same as we had in the morning.

The one nice thing was that this strong wind from the north helped to level off the waves that we had yesterday. By tomorrow we should be sailing through a complete flat sea, with maybe only a low swell running that comes in from far away. However this gale force wind did bring down the cold temperatures from the mountains, as it blew partially over the snow capped tops and some of the glaciers in the vicinity. As a result the noon time temperature never rose above the low 50’s. (Around 10oC) and even with no clouds in the sky and a brightly shining sun, it felt much colder.

If you have to deal with un-predicted winds and weather you are getting a bit wary whether it will go the way that you expect it to go. I was not expecting so much wind and thus it was difficult to make up my mind about when this wind was going away again. I can hold the ship against winds of about 25 knots, but above gets difficult. As you still want to leave on time, if safely possible, then you might need some help or some insurance. That is normally delivered by means of a tugboat. As Seward has the Ore dock where on a regular basis coal ships dock, there are always tugs around.

Time to call the agent and find out what was available and how much time they needed to swing into action. When a tug is not in use, the crew normally lives ashore waiting for their pager or cell-phone to go off. The agent indicated that the tugboat skipper needed to know, either way, by 16.00 hrs. that was good enough for me, because if it was a sun-generated- wind, then it would be easing off around that time. Time to keep a close watch on the anemometer. By 16.00 hrs. the wind had being steadily coming down from 32 knots to 18 knots, with lower dips and I knew I was in business. The agent was advised otherwise and shortly after I saw one tug leaving port, as it could now leave for their next assignment.

We pulled out on time at 20.00 hrs. with the wind having died down nearly completely. Sunset was around this time and it was getting dark very quickly in Seward. We made a lot of noise with the whistle to let the good folks of Seward know that we were leaving; but we will be back next season.

Tomorrow we will be crossing the Gulf of Alaska again and it is going to be flat calm. At least until late in the afternoon. Flat calm in September, very unusual but I count my blessings when I get them. We will have some windy weather before we finish the Alaska season. No doubt about that.