After the class phase, I went through a hiring process/physical/drug screening/etc, for Dunlap Towing Ocean Division and did a 40 day hitch onboard the Polar Endurance towboat to Western Alaska with a crew of 7 (including myself).
The trip went well and I learned a ton about ocean towing. By the time we finished out our cruise, we had been to Anchorage, Dutch Harbor 2x, and Naknek, offloading/loading cargo at each port. The weather was mild for the entire trip, yet a few days of wind and heavier seas left me feeling a little under the weather while my sea legs re-sprouted from beneath my inner ear. On numerous occasion, we'd get hammered by winds and heavier seas, and I would find myself "getting fresh air" out in the fidley looking out the back hatch. The video below is an example of one of those instances, and the picture below it is the opposite weather conditions.
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| Getting hammered by wind |
| Smooth sailing day |
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| Smooth sailing day |
Making and breaking tow is an interesting process. Not terribly difficult, but can be extremely dangerous if you aren't paying attention. It involves dealing with heavy objects and lines/cables under extreme tension where one mistake can lead to serious consequences. Fortunately, our crew was well trained and everything went as planned.
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| Typical cargo loading |
Cargo work on the barge in port is expected amongst the deckhands, so each time we would pull into port, I would don a hard hard, gloves and work clothes for long days and night of unlashing and lashing of the cargo containers upon the barge... not rocket science, but hard on the hands, knees, back, especially after being awake for long periods prior to coming pier side. We had some pretty chilly days in Dutch and Naknek, that were hard on the joints during the cargo process, but we all survived.
Crew dynamics is always an interesting subject. You meet 5-6 people for the first time and then cram into a living space that is roughly a 2-story, ~25'x60' steel box with few windows (the "house" upon the boat") and then yet set forth on a voyage for 30-50 days. You get to know some people really well, others just baffle you and make you scratch your head. If you're an easy going person like myself, you do great and just motor through making the best of the whole dynamic. Others get caught up in "sailor drama", talk smack, complain and really just create more headache than what it's worth. I prefer to stay fairly neutral and enjoy the ride for the most part. Social differences wont typically get hammered out amongst strangers in a 30 day period, soI don't bother to try. I met some cool people and will most likely keep in contact, potentially sailing with them again at some point.
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| Some of my homies |
As far as readiness goes, I felt that my 4 weeks of classes that I had prior to my sea phase, prepared me more than sufficiently for working on a tugboat for the first time. I knew the terminology, understood the processes fairly well, had good expectations and came aboard with a fair amount of confidence and respect for what I was about to undertake. PMI goes a little farther with their classes than most schools so that you are not just getting trained, but that you are comfortable with the subject knowledge and "ready" to implement it. Being fresh out of class, it was nice being able to recite rules of the road, navigation lights, marlinspike seamanship and safety training topics verbatim. I'm sure the freshness will wear off and I too will fall prey to some lost knowledge over time, but for now, it feel good to have at the ready.
I term that I use to use quite a bit when I managed an outdoor adventure company, was "withitness". It was coined by one of our rock climbing instructors and I've held onto it ever since. We use it to explain a leaders demeanor with regards to guiding, leading, working in technically challenging jobs that can and will contain elements of risk and or safety. I try to always strive for a certain level of "withitness" and try to have my sh#% together so-to-speak when on the job. Tug boating is no exception, especially when trying to move up the ladder into the pilothouse. My goal in life, is to build that "withitness" through training, practice and assessment. PMI did a great job in that regards and I look forward to the remainder of my classroom sessions in June and October this year.
I got word from my wife on our way back that my Able Bodied Seaman upgrade was approved by the Coast Guard, as well as my STCW endorsement. My prior Navy time was sufficient for me to not only get the AB ticket, but to get the AB "Limited" upgraded endorsement. AB consists of "Special", "Limited" and "Unlmimited", each based in sea-time. I'm close to the unlimited upgrade, but it doesn't really make any difference as far as pay goes, unless I'm wanting to work on large ocean going ships. For tug operations, an AB ticket is an AB ticket regardless of your rank and pay is typically the same.
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| AB Limited! |
So, I'm home now with a honey-do list of things that need to get addressed before I ship out again. Mostly lawn, garden, pool related so that the house is ready for summer. We are planning a large pool party for Memorial Day weekend, so I'm inspired to get it all done soon. I'll be heading back to Seattle for another 3-week session on navigation and then potentially shipping out on another sea phase sometime soon thereafter. I may make a few short posts here and there in the meantime, but mostly I'll be blogging about the Navigation class once it starts up on the 3rd of June.
Liberty Call! "Request permission to go ashore... Granted!" C-ya!
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good for you mike.
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