This morning we had a bit of excitement, more excitement then I care for. In the early morning we approached the pilot station with a gentle breeze blowing from the North East and it looked a very promising day. We were scheduled to dock in Monte Carlo which since a few years has a semi floating dock that can accommodate two medium size cruise ships.
The pilot station is about a mile from the shore and so we were happily approaching with about six knots speed. The pilot came racing out in his boat and while he was approaching the ship, the wind suddenly started to increase to 30 knots, to 40 knots and then to 50+ knots. That is storm force. By the time he was on board and on the bridge, I had the “brakes” on and was making an abort maneuver. What was happening was that the Mistral had suddenly started. The Mistral is a local wind that can suddenly develop in the Rhone Valley of France and then build up very rapidly to storm force. A Mistral is normally not predictable and just happens. According to the pilot it only happens about twice a year in the Monte Carlo area and today we were the lucky ones.
An “abort” maneuver is something that is always in the back of the mind of a captain. When preparing for an approach, you think, what can I do if the approach does not work. What is plan B.? Monte Carlo has deep water all the way up to the coast so there is room to come quite close before it is too late but with 50 knots of wind blowing, a modern cruise ship drifts very quickly and a decision has to be made rapidly. So in this case, full astern, bow and stern thrusters full to port and use the wind as a friend instead of an enemy and let it blow you back to open waters.
For those who are not familiar with ships, a good way to compare it is with driving a car. You are driving into your garage, the hood is just going through the door and suddenly your grand daughter jumps in front of the car. What do you do: full on the brakes, even use the hand brake as an extra, try to stop on time and at the same time try to keep the car from swerving into the garage walls. That’s about what is on a captains mind when he approaches a port or a dock.
The pilot left the ship again, to be called if things got better and I decided to wait; as a wind that suddenly pops up normally also suddenly disappears again. My guests did not notice that much of the whole happening although some felt the ship shuddering when I suddenly applied all the horse power available. But when I made my announcement to inform them of the situation, it was clear for even the greatest landlubber that “those seas out there were not normal” as a gentleman from Iowa put it to me later in the day. In the mean time we had company in the form of the Sea Princess who was scheduled for the anchorage but due to the wind and whipped up waves also had to wait for better times to come.
By 9 am. the wind died indeed down, and we moved towards the port. Picked up the pilot at the breakwater and backed into the harbor, docking on the inside of the pier. This made the Veendam the biggest and most expensive yacht in Monte Carlo harbor that day. Bit of a dreary day but everybody was happy that we at had a least made it.
June 1, 2015 at 5:51 pm
does the Nieuw Amsterdam dock or tender in Monte Carlo?
June 4, 2015 at 11:24 am
Good morning,
it depends on other ships in port. The ship does fit at the dock, but as with every port were there is limited dock space there is
a pecking order. large ships go first, then if there are two large ships, then the one which calls the more often gets preference.
Most of the time dock space is on confirmed by the harbour master about 14 days in advance, if conflicting traffic is expected.
Best regards
Capt. Albert