No ferries today from Oban

We made it across to Mull this morning at 8:00 but due to the storm surge and it coinciding with high water we couldn't use our forward ramp to discharge the vehicles due to the height of the tide. This meant turning the ship around and putting the stern in, it is configured differently from the forward ramp, so it was usable.  It meant some of the bigger vehicles having to back all the way ashore, but they did get there.  The wind was coming round to the West all the time and increasing in strength, as forecast.  The first photo shows the view from the bridge on the way back, about a Force 10, wind at about 50 knots.  Now we are pinned alongside in Oban with 50 to 60 knots of wind on the beam and the ship banging away against the pier, see the second photo.  No more sailings from Oban, or nearly anywhere else on the West coast for the rest of today.  This has got to be one of the windiest months for a long time, this storm is due to peter out tonight before, hopefully dying down and we can have a gentle step into the New Year.  

Back to normal

For the first time since I joined the ship last week, today finds us back on our normal schedule. Until now we have either been sailing up from the Clyde, following a holiday timetable or indeed been on holiday. Routine on here is the norm, and it is reasonable to say that the crew are far more comfortable with the familiar and predictable. There is an expression for those of us that have been on this service for a year or more as becoming "Mullified", embarrassingly I must admit to having joined this set. I know when to appear and where to stand to the minute and the inch. One of the deck crew was most perturbed when ordered to move from his normal standby station at the bow to work down aft on the poop when we had some new men on board.

Earlier in the month I had an interview for a 2nd Mates position that had become available in the fleet; unfortunately I wasn't successful in my application. I have the opportunity to get feedback from the company, so I'll probably take them up on that to see where I can improve or went wrong on the day. Jobs are becoming difficult to find at the moment so I am grateful for the work that I do have here with my schedule laid out until the end of 2012.

Weather today was OK, well for this part of the world, tomorrow promises to be a real stormer with a forecast up to Force 11, winds in excess of 60 knots maybe. I hope that you aren't aiming to go to Colonsay.  

Thanks to the cook

We had a very restful Christmas Day.  Thank you very much to "Fitzy" or John the cook on board for all his work on the day.  It was great to sit down to a fully prepared meal and not to need to wash up afterwards.  We are slowly fading away to small mountains with the amount of food that we had at lunchtime and just in case we got hungry later in the day the mess room table was groaning under the buffet that was left out for the evening.  

Weather wise there was no concession to Christmas Day.  Wind and rain all the way but so mild, 12.6 C today, not winter at all.

Hope that everyone had as good a day as we did.

It's not a real one

Christmas Spirit

Decorations are now up in my cabin and in our mess room.

Home again from the Garvel

Hebridean Princess with Isle of Mull in background

Stern section with Greenock Ocean Terminal and the hills covered in snow

In the dock looking forward to the bow thrusters.

Bow thrusters

Starboard stabiliser fin in stowed position.

Twin propellers and rudders

Variable pitch propeller 

Becker rudder, note the extra flap at the back to increase the effectiveness of the  rudder.

I'm not long home from the ship, left high and dry in the dry dock at
Greenock. The work has started in earnest now and the ship is slowly
but surely being taken apart by small teams of men in dirty boiler
suits and quilted jackets.
Some of the main jobs are the painting of the hull above and below the
waterline. This year the hull is being hydrowashed from amdships to
forward to take off all of the old paint and go right back to the bare
metal of the hull. The ship in the dock with us is the Hebridian
Princess which has undergone the same treatment overall, you can see
the brown rust on the hull. Apparently this is necessary to key in the primer
coat of paint.
Hardly ideal weather conditions to do any work with frequent snow
showers and icy winds, but what can you do in December?

Good to be in Greenock

Well we made it to here but it was a rough old passage down here to Greenock from Oban.  There was a gale of wind which is OK, but alongside it was a high westerly swell that hit us on the beam once we were clear of Islay and heading for the Mull of Kintyre.  The ship's motion was pretty awful and then about 4 in the morning we took one seriously large roll of 30 degrees or more and the decision was made to head towards Ireland to ease the pain and damage.  Fortunately this paid off and the motion came back to tolerable, we stayed on this course for an hour then turned due East and surfed our way in towards the sheltered waters of the Firth of Clyde.  

Here we are alongside in James Watt Dock ready for our training exercise tomorrow and then into the dry dock itself late afternoon.  We will be sharing the dock with and ex Calmac vessel the Hebridian Princes formally the Columba.  Snow on the hills all around and temperatures down to freezing, so it should be fun splashing about.

Heading for the Clyde tonight

We have one more run to do across and back to Mull and then this evening we are heading off at 20:30 for Greenock, on the Clyde.  James Watt Dock to be exact, we were there earlier in the year at the Marina with Tarawa.  We are aiming to arrive about midday to suit the tide and will be tied up there till Monday evening when we transfer to the Dry Dock next door and we dry out to sit on the blocks.

Before that we are carrying out an emergency evacuation drill on Monday morning.  This will involve inflating one of the liferafts and the MES, (Marine evacuation system) which consists of a slide and floating platform and then as many of us as can be rounded up sliding down into the wet platform and boarding the liferaft. It is for our own good so hopefully it all works well.

So dear reader while you are snuggled up in your bed tonight think about us heading round Cape Horn, sorry Mull of Kintyre, into the snow and wind.  Winter has arrived now with a thump