20 August 2010; Helsinki, Finland.

The day started the right way with me not having to get up as early as during previous calls. When it is high summer we normally have the Lapland tour by airplane and that means that I have to be docked by 06.00 for a timely tour departure. Today there was no tour, and I could arrive at the civilized time of “somewhere before 8 am” as 08.00 hours was our docking time. So instead of getting out of bed at 3 am for a 0400 pilot, I could get out of bed at 5 am for a 06.00 pilot. What a luxury. It takes about an hour to get into the port but I try to go in a little bit earlier, as traffic can delay the transit and then suddenly you are too late instead of being on time. Plus the regular speed from St. Petersburg is such that I can continue on the same speed setting all the way into the port and thus save more money on fuel by docking early. The dock fees are per call and not per hour and thus makes no difference. Although the days are getting shorter it was daylight by the time we approached the pilot station. Normally I do not mind day or night for going in or out of port but Helsinki is different.

As there is “the hole” a very narrow passage that gives access to the central harbour of Helsinki, ships go through it day and night but the perspective for the sail through, which involves a course change while right in the middle, is better when in day light. In the June blog of our Helsinki visit there is a photo of “the hole”. This is one of those passages where nothing is allowed to go wrong, otherwise you have a problem. A wrong course change, a black out or anything else and you sit on the rocks. To avoid a problem caused by losing propulsion (e.g. the black out) the pilot goes through with a speed of about 10 knots. That means that if you would loose propulsion, the ship would still sail through safely on the momentum of its mass. It takes sometime for a ship to slow down and also steering is only lost when then ships hull loses velocity. Not much to worry there.

The concern is more in regards to the human factor. Either the pilot is giving a wrong course change, or the quartermaster steering the wrong course. For that we try to build in as many safety’s as possible. It is the captain’s job to keep a close eye on the Pilot. We know the course changes and the courses to steer when going through a hole like this. Each pilot will approach in his own way, based on the wind and the location that he ended up as result of his previous course change. So what I do, I set margins. If the ideal course is 010o but it is safe to steer courses varying from 008o to 013o, then I only check if the pilot operates inside those limits. If he is outside the margin, for which there might be a good reason, then I will question that. As long as we end up right in the centre of the hole, for that one course change, then all is well.

Looking after the quartermaster behind the wheel, is either the job of the Officer of the Watch (if his assistant is on the bridge to answer phones and alarms) or the chief officer, so that the OOW can answer the phone. According to Murphy ’s Law, phones will always ring at crucial moments so Murphy has to be kept in check. Steering mistakes do occur, most of the time because the accented English of the pilot is misunderstood by the quartermaster who speaks his version of that language. Hence always an officer is standing right on top of the steering stand.

As usual it all went perfect and we sailed into the Helsinki harbour in glorious sunshine and wind still weather. We kept that weather all day long, so our sail-a-away was beautiful as well.

Tomorrow we are in Stockholm and that is a very early morning again. My phone will ring at 03.30 for a 04.30 pilot to start the 4 hour sail into the archipelago.