17 April 2016; Katakolon, Greece.

It turned out to be a nice warm day. There was hardly any wind and that does not help to keep the temperatures down in the port.

As Katakolon is lying in a sort of horse shoe shaped bay where you need southerly or easterly winds to bring a fresh breeze. And as the port is surrounded by a hillside from the West and the North that longed for breeze is not always there. Today it was not a problem; it was warm, not yet hot. The real heat will come in July and August after the longest day of the year and when the countryside and sea water have nicely warmed up.

The lifeboats of the Titanic completely open rowing boats.

Today we were the only ship in port and as it was perfect weather, it was a good opportunity to lower lifeboats.  The crew always needs training; sometimes retraining as functions get changed and new crew arrives but also just to keep the routine and proficiency going. With every class of ship different lifeboats are installed as the development in the lifesaving world goes very fast. It is nice to have the latest gadgets available but it means every crew member who comes from another ship has to relearn the routines to be able to operate what we have on board here. The Koningsdam has the latest insights of what there is out there in the life saving business and no doubt the next generation of cruise ships will have that as well. This does not mean older lifeboats are less safe, but with the new materials out there the lifeboats can be made lighter and more space inside can be created. Older lifeboats had a lot of cross beams to provide internal strength and a lot of wood was used, quite often coated in polyester.

The model in use on the cruise ships in 70’s and 80’s. Some older cruise ships still have them.

The newer lifeboats are made of material which is similar or can include Kevlar, a synthetic which is as strong as steel. Thus the surrounding structure of the lifeboat can take over a lot of the strength which in the old days had to be supplied by the cross benches. As a result the newer lifeboats are more of an empty bowl type instead of a fish grate structure. This gives more room for the passengers and crew to sit in but also it makes the embarkation into the lifeboats a lot easier.

The model after 2000. This shows the semi open lifeboats of a S class cruise ship.

Lifeboats on a cruise ship always go down in groups. Partly due to the fact that we have so many on board (22 here on the Koningsdam, 11 on each side) but also because we constantly train on lowering in sequence and getting the boat commanders used to the fact that they are not alone with their boat in the wide wide world but when they enter the water they will be surrounded by 10 other lifeboats that have come down at their side as well.

The inside of the newest lifeboats. The opening for entry can be closed with a sliding door and there is room to walk around.

Training does not always focus on the pure skills in handling the boats, although it is important as we need to get the boats back again after lowering, but also on communication. With sometimes 6 nationalities among 7 crew, language, perception and the form of communicating will vary greatly.  Most crew is used to getting the order and then doing it. They expect the supervisor to watch and control them while they are carrying out the work. In a lifeboat the commander cannot see much as he/she is in the center and in an emergency the passengers inside the boat will block most of the view. Thus the crew has to shout at each other, confirm the orders received and report back (loudly) to the commander when the order has been completed. It is quite fascinating to see a 4 foot 4 Filipina shouting at a 6 foot 6 Dutchman but that happens, as the responsibility assignment is by skill and certificates and not by height or nationality.

Today I took the chance to have all the crew of a lifeboat (7 of them, Commander, Asst. Commander, Counter, Communicator, rigger fwd. and rigger aft) maneuver a lifeboat. Normally the asst. Commander drives the boat but the more skilled everybody is, the better it is.  So each of them got the chance to steer a lifeboat and go ahead as fast as they wanted and then do the same while going astern. A good time was had by all and they all learned something new as well.

Tomorrow we are in Piraeus and before we get there, the Navigation team will have a busy night as the route under Katakolon towards Piraeus can be very busy and the ships on the route are not always implementing the Rules of the Road as they should. We should be in the port around 7 am. under once again sunny skies and wind still weather.