Holland America Blog
Safety Officer
Holland America Blog Has Just Posted the Following:
As far as distance is concerned it is only a short hop between Victoria and Seattle. As far as the captain is concerned it is a very long hop to make. That has to do with changing pilots and the broken sleep on this stretch. The ms Statendam pulled out just before 23.00 last night and then disembarked the pilot outside the harbor entrance. Although in Canadian waters the area is so wide and is covered by VTS that it considered safe enough for all the ships to do their own thing. At least when going in the direction of Strait Juan de Fuca. Thus for the next hour we sailed by ourselves to the south, crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca and ending up at Port Angeles pilot station where we embarked the Pudget Sound Pilot who guided the ship to Seattle. We have now arrived in American Territory. So the captain had departure, the crossing and then the pick up of the new pilot.* A soon as the ship is safely under way, there are about 4 hours of downtime before he has to be back on the bridge for arrival, as we dock most of the time around 05.30. By the time docking is finished it is nearly 07.00 hrs. and that is hardly a time to go back to bed as the whole world is waking up and demands attention. If it there is some time, an early afternoon snooze might be available, but the ship sails already at 16.00 hrs. and at 15.30 there is the mandatory Guest boat drill which also requires the Captains presence and input. Then after moving off the dock and sailing back to the Port Angeles pilot station it requires the captain’s presence again. And if it were only the hours it would be just a day of regular routine but they are very intense hours as the bridge team is fully focused to ensure that everything goes according to plan. Today the routine was upset a little bit as we had a change of command. Capt. Sybe de […]
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As far as distance is concerned it is only a short hop between Victoria and Seattle. As far as the captain is concerned it is a very long hop to make. That has to do with changing pilots and the broken sleep on this stretch. The ms Statendam pulled out just before 23.00 last night and then disembarked the pilot outside the harbor entrance. Although in Canadian waters the area is so wide and is covered by VTS that it considered safe enough for all the ships to do their own thing. At least when going in the direction of Strait Juan de Fuca. Thus for the next hour we sailed by ourselves to the south, crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca and ending up at Port Angeles pilot station where we embarked the Pudget Sound Pilot who guided the ship to Seattle. We have now arrived in American Territory. So the captain had departure, the crossing and then the pick up of the new pilot.* A soon as the ship is safely under way, there are about 4 hours of downtime before he has to be back on the bridge for arrival, as we dock most of the time around 05.30. By the time docking is finished it is nearly 07.00 hrs. and that is hardly a time to go back to bed as the whole world is waking up and demands attention. If it there is some time, an early afternoon snooze might be available, but the ship sails already at 16.00 hrs. and at 15.30 there is the mandatory Guest boat drill which also requires the Captains presence and input. Then after moving off the dock and sailing back to the Port Angeles pilot station it requires the captain’s presence again. And if it were only the hours it would be just a day of regular routine but they are very intense hours as the bridge team is fully focused to ensure that everything goes according to plan. Today the routine was upset a little bit as we had a change of command. Capt. Sybe de […]
Click here to view the article.
