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Ocean Liner History and Stories from the Sea, Past and Present. With an In Depth focus on Holland America Line

20 June 2010; Trondheim, Norway.

The Approach to the pilot station of Trondheim goes through the Krak-Vag Fjorden. This is a very wide fjord with deep water and thus the Norwegian authorities do not deem it necessary to cover that part of the fjord system by Pilotage. No doubt the pilots like this as well, as now they can board in a nice sheltered area instead of having to bounce around in a small boat in inclement weather. Along the shores, there were several reminders of World War II activity by the Germans in the form of old fortifications and bunkers. Later on when coming closer to Trondheim we will see more of those. Trondheim harbour is located at the edge of a big bay and thus the docks are not really sheltered from the elements, especially the Northwesterly winds which blow through the Trondheimfjorden can make it very windy and choppy in the harbour. To make sure that I would not have any un-pleasant surprises when going in, I checked the local weather forecast for the day and they reported 4 m/s, which is roughly 8 knots and a gentle breeze. Very nice indeed.

The pilot boarded on time and announced that he would stay with us until Alesund. Also good news as it saves me time. I do not have to slow down, we do not have to call out extra officers and sailors for the transfer evolution, and it all makes life easier. Trondheimfjorden is very scenic, the shores are not very steep but gradual in incline and that means that extensive farming takes place. All around us were lush green pastures bathed in golden sunlight as the sun managed to come out from behind the clouds. This was the first time during the cruise that I saw cows in the meadows. Either the farms seen before, were not operational farms anymore or the cows had been kept inside, but here we saw them in larger numbers.

It takes three hours from the pilot station to the dock and the closer we came to Trondheim the harder it started to blow. White caps where appearing on the waves and later on, the white caps started to streak and foam. That indicated force 6 to7 and that is not very nice for docking. Certainly not for docking with the Prinsendam, which has much less power than the newer ships. So I had to come up with a plan, that encompassed plan A, safely docking and plan B, to get out of there as fast as possible if the situation would warrant this. An additional challenge was that the Cruise dock only has a length of 100 meters and thus I had to land the Prinsendam with 50 meters sticking out at the bow and 50 meters sticking out at the stern.

So I asked the pilot to bring the ship about 300 feet in distance from the shore and then hand over to me. My plan was; to let the ship be blown to the dock and as soon as she was getting momentum on the wind, stop the movement on the thrusters and the engines. If that test would work, then I knew that I could control the drift at all times and would not slam into the pier. So it happened. Position the ship in relation of the final docking position to the dock, let it drift, check the drift, did she stop, yes, ok, drift again etc. That is a slow maneuver but it is safe and you do not get any damage. If it does not work, then you just give full ahead and get out of there. Then suddenly about 20 meters from the dock, the Prinsendam stopped drifting. Wind force 6 to 7 on the portside beam but no more drift. Then the pilot woke up with the interesting announcement that “sometimes” the current bounces off the shore side under a straight angle. That sometimes was obviously today, thus it helped the ship get moving again. Then suddenly the current was gone and with increased momentum we were set towards the dock again. Stopped the ship again, etc etc. When almost docked, the ship suddenly sped 10 meters forward, with engines going astern and that also happened “sometimes”. In the end I made an eggshell landing but I docked 20 minutes late. So I decided to leave 30 minutes later as well. It was only an afternoon call and then every minute counts.

trondheim blog0 The cruise dock in Trondheim. Note the disturbed water, even on the lee side of the ship.

With everybody happily going ashore, I had an unhappy thought to contemplate; how to get off the dock again with wind force 7 on the beam. Time for tugboats. Nowadays there are less and less tugboats around as most ships have strong thrusters. Accordingly to the agent a strong tugboat was 7 hours away but there was a small one in port. Only 1200 HP. However as the dock was only 100 meters long with the bow overhanging, I thought that I might be able to angle the ship enough to get most of the wind straight on the stern and then back out. 1200 HP as extra stern thruster, to get that angle, might just do.

And so it worked out. When we left, I brought the ships stern in line with the Northwesterly wind and backed away from the dock. Once clear, we turned around in the strong winds and then sailed away. I just needed that little tugboat to give me anchor to prevent the stern from falling back towards the dock while making the angle.

By midnight we were in open waters and as we left the area through a different fjord than we came in, it took six hours instead of three. Tomorrow at 0600 we will be approaching Alesund. It will be a short night for both the pilot and I. However it is supposed to be wind still and partly cloudy tomorrow…….Hopefully.

1 Comment

  1. I sense that one of the many joys for you as Captain may be the same sense of joy, exitement, anticipation and accomplishment a superbly experienced chess-player has, mapping out and executing each move of each figure . Sea/ harbour are your board, weather and other variables your opponent and Prinsendam is your chess-Queen. If you are not a chessplayer on a wooden board, you certainly are a superb one on the water ! (:>) ! (with a great sense of dry humor to boot !)

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