Departure Yesterday was a continuation of the day; it was a very breezy affair. First I had expected to be delayed due to the luggage loading. In Dover you cannot use a conveyor belt or put luggage cages onboard. This is due to the tidal height difference, so what they do here is use a cradle and lower the luggage down towards the break door of the ship and then lift each bag into the ship one by one. That is time consuming but it is the only way possible. However they did finish on time and as soon as the Balmoral was clear of us, she left 30 minutes earlier, it was our turn. While we were waiting for the Balmoral to pass by, dark clouds were coming closer and closer from over the ocean. So I told the pilot that I was not leaving until this heavy shower had passed by. There can be strong winds hiding inside a shower and that would endanger our departure maneuver. It was going to be an interesting affair anyway without this extra wind. Thus we waited another 20 minutes until most of the rain had passed.
As we were on the exposed terminal with the wind full on the beam, I had ordered a tugboat for standby in case our “blow-way-maneuver” not was going to work out. The tugboat was positioned near the opposite pier in case we would drift in that direction. Taking in all those ropes that we had put out, took awhile but when the last ropes went the Prinsendam started to come off the dock at once. Next step was full ahead on the engines and aim for the gap in the breakwater wall. The pilot had explained that current and wind would be opposite near the breakwater and might even balance each other out, as long as he could find the right course and angle. In the end it did not matter as the Prinsendam sped up so quickly that we were racing through the gap before the current could get hold of the ship. It is seldom that it takes less then five minutes from the dock to open sea in a port, but today we did so.
Once outside we had our next challenge; how to get the pilot off. Due to the fact that the wind had been blowing strongly since 5 am. in the morning, there were high swells running at the pilot station and the pilot boat was bobbing up and down like a cork. After a few failed attempts to come alongside, I used a little trick by pulling the bow to starboard, to smooth out the waves and then let the bow fall back again. That created a sufficiently quiet moment for the pilot to jump off. He was not a happy camper as he was on leave and had volunteered to do an extra call out as two cruise ships were leaving at the same time. He had not planned on acrobatics on the pilot ladder. I could not take him with us either as the ship is completely sold out. Not a single empty cabin left. Neither in the staff area’s as the ship is on full crew strength so all is full as well.
With the pilot safely away, we started crossing Dover Strait as the North bound lane runs on the French side. Luck was with us, as there was only one bulk carrier in the way, and as soon as that ship was clear I could speed up. The moment we could turn to the North East would be the moment that we would have following winds and seas. Then the ship starts to surf and that gives a very smooth ride. And so it was. For the remainder of the evening and all day today, we had strong following winds and the ship was as stable as a rock. Good thing as you do not want to have sea sick guests during the first day, especially as it was the first formal night and the Captains Welcome onboard champagne toast. Normally North Americans are always the majority onboard our ships but this time they had competition. 250 Dutch guests are sailing with us and that means that for once I hear Dutch chattering everywhere. My British officers are talking about a “cloggy invasion”. It makes sense of course that the Dutch booked this cruise, as it ends in Amsterdam. Easy to get home, and as it started in England that was not difficult either to get to the ship. Quite a few came by train through the Chunnel (Channel Tunnel) and some by ferry. They left their car in storage on the dock side. Makes life a lot easier, if you can travel that way, as you do not have to worry about the amount of luggage that you have with you.
The wind should start to abate by tonight and that means a easy morning for docking in Oslo tomorrow. However it will be drizzly as the remnants of this windy weather front will catch up with us.
July 20, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Thank you for your interesting blogs. I am impressed not only with your content and your writing skill, but also with your diligence, as evidenced by the regularity of publication. We also publish a blog, but we do not post regularly; only when we have some interesting travel experiences to report. This makes me even more appreciative of your regular posts.
The information I find of greatest interest in your posts is the type of thing you described today, about boat handling in tight quarters and/or snotty weather. I owned and operated a small cabin cruiser in southern New England waters for many years, and understand the issues of dealing with winds, currents, and hazzardeous coastlines. It is interesting to me how similar the boat handling problems are, just on a vastly different scale. I am very impressed with your seamanship, as much as with your writing skills.
Thank you.