Friday 29 January 2010
Arrival Kaskinen 24-01-'10
We arrive in the dead of night again. The boatmen plow their way through the snow to catch our ropes. One of them is finnish my friend Jarmo.
Sunday 24 January 2010
Passerby
Foxhol and superstructure
Icefield
Keeping watch
Saturday 23 January 2010
Onward
At sea/ in the ice
At sea 16-01-'10
The dockers fill up the hold in one day. At night around 02.00u the pilot comes on board to guide us and after the engineer has started the main engine we leave for Finland. It's four and a half day's sailing. At the North sea there's a strong wind blowing, but it's not too cold. But on the Elbe we meet the first drifting ice. It's clear, we sail towards extreme temperatures. On the ice chart I find that half the gulf of Botnia is covered by ice. Further up north we cannot sail without the assistance of an icebreaker. But at first we will try to follow icetracks. At night we nead the searchlight. The ship is shaking, and rattling. Every time we ram thick ice a big bang sounds and the ship moans.
Dordrecht 14-01-'10
At home for a little while! It' s so beautiful, sailing on the Nieuwe Maas, towards my beloved Rotterdam. All the harbours I visited over the years, the shipyards I took photo's of, the compagnies I worked for as a welder. All comes passing by as I am looking out of the window. I am exactly where I want to be, on board of a sea-going vessel. Many times I was standing on the quay at the Parkkade thinking: how am I going to do this? In what possible way can I go to sea on a ship? And here I am.
Second mate
I step outside for some fresh air. When I look through the window the bridge looks cosy. I decide to take some photographs secretly. The captain is navigating and the second mate, Marino is working at the chart-table. Normally you would also see me sitting there reading a book or writing a letter. The second mate is busy preparing a voyageplan for our next destination: Dordrecht. We are going to bring a load of stainless scrap to Tornio, the harbour furthest north in Finland.
westlock to sea 12-01-'10
Visit
Our friends form Belgium come to visit us. At the place where we are now it's possible. In other harbours it can be so difficult to welcome people on board you simply have to forget it. Sailors have faced having to drag their grandmother underneath a fence that wouldn't open. Whole families were refused acces to the ship because of safety-regulations gone mad. Redigulous! But here in Zeebrugge, quay nr. 309 there is no crazy security-man in a uniform and big fences with camera's all over.
This is Aaron, a nice boy, crazy about ships since he was an infant. He is a good listener and we show him around the whole ship. I take photo's on every location, for the project he is going to do about the Westgard at school. Nobody wants to become a sailor nowadays, so we have to be very carefull with this young fan.
This is Aaron, a nice boy, crazy about ships since he was an infant. He is a good listener and we show him around the whole ship. I take photo's on every location, for the project he is going to do about the Westgard at school. Nobody wants to become a sailor nowadays, so we have to be very carefull with this young fan.
Breathtaking 01-01-'10
Cold! 29-12-'09
Friday 22 January 2010
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