My son's "newest toy"

Tug "North Sea"

4,200 HP

His quote: "What red blooded young man wouldn't want to play around with that much horsepower encased in steel and wrapped in rubber".

Now your talking! Is he going to convert it to pleasure?

Ron

windmist wrote:
Now your talking! Is he going to convert it to pleasure?

Ron

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*The pleasure he gets from it, other than driving it, is to get fat paychecks.

Hey Dave
We were at the fuel dock next the North Sea last week at IMTT in Bayonne,N.J. I knew the capt (Chris) , from when I worked at K-sea. Big changes ahead for them, hopefully it will benefit all involved.

dwhatty wrote:windmist wrote:
Now your talking! Is he going to convert it to pleasure?

Ron

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*The pleasure he gets from it, other than driving it, is to get fat paychecks.

*Congradulations to your son, David.* He gets those fat paychecks because he has earned them.* It takes much knowledge and skill to operate a vessel such as that!

A floating lighthouse? :-D

Definitely gonna win the "mine is bigger than yours" contest. Is LOL acceptable on this Forum?

Sailor of Fortune wrote:
Big changes ahead for them, hopefully it will benefit all involved.

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*Do you mean the Kirby buyout? Management says changes are coming but they don't sound good. For instance: No raises for anyone except Capts and Chief Mates and 28 day hitches vs 14 days.

dwhatty wrote:
Tug "North Sea"

4,200 HP

His quote: "What red blooded young man wouldn't want to play around with that much horsepower encased in steel and wrapped in rubber".

Click to expand...

That might be a bit of a "Toy", but its more of a huge responsibility.* Trouble is, no matter how much experience one has as a professional mariner, unless it's aboard tugs, they won't let you play with their toys.* It seems the amount of experience one needs to get a towing license is far higher than most other types of similar tonage licenses.* I wonder if it's a bit of over kill for simply towing one barge, but then again, if the same license let's you push one of those two block long rafts of barges tied together up a river, perhaps it's barely enough.* I have nothing but the highest respect for those who operate tow boats, it looks to me like there are more ways to run into trouble than there are opinions about anchors.* Keep up the good work.............Arctic Traveller

Well, if there's any truth to that thing about "men and boys and the size of their toys", he da man.

Dave
The Kirby buyout is exactly what I was referring to. The 28 day rotation will be an adjustment for sure but hopefully the positive changes will outweigh the negative. Kirby has deep pockets. One area that hurt K-sea in the last few years has been vessel maintenance. I'm sure Kirby will turn that around quickly. Your son and the other wheelhouse personnel will be the least affected by new ownership. The bevy of vice presidents and others at the top will probably be very worried on day 366.
I hope Tim Casey fares well in the end. He is a sharp guy that put an amazing company together in a short amount of time. Unfortunately, over leverage, soft economy and several other factors conspired against them.
I do the 28 day gig and really like it better than the 2 week stint (I did it for 5 years at k-sea)

Look on the bright side Jack, here in Aus we do 5 week stints ( 5 on 5 off) for off shore work.
Harbour tugs do 2 x 2
But bottom line is good pay and conditions, tenders and Anchor Handlers have only got better over the years.

I would like 5 week stints when we do ocean work and salvage. 5 week rotation in NY harbor is a tough gig. Currently we are doing harbor work without a break between barge turn arounds. It is tiring but the days fly by. As you know, it is when the crew bitching stops that you have REAL problems!

I may let you know what the harbour work is like over here soon.
Looking at may be doing some relief work on the harbour tugs up in some of the coal ports in Queensland.
Have a few mates up there driving tugs and also as harbour pilots.

You couldn't stay "retired " for to long ,could you? I think that Gardner repower project got you missing the "snipe locker"!

Nah mate , it got me missing the cash locker.
Got a bit of work to do to complete the gardner project when I get home from France next week.
Haul out boat , remove prop and repitch it and also look around for some work, (cruisin dollars)
All is good or I'm dilusional, I'm not sure.

Tidahapah wrote:
All is good or I'm dilusional, I'm not sure.

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*Perception is*reality.* Cruise on!

I never let my delusions go to my head.

Some pics number one son just posted of his rough just ended Gulf of Mexico crossing towing a 320' barge. He said the entry into Brownsville across the bar was not pleasant. Huge shackle on the tow, which was in push position at that point, snapped at the roughest and most inopportune moment, resulting in a very close call and dangerous work. Said the sea state was rougher than the pics make it appear. Makes me worry.

dwhatty wrote:
Some pics number one son just posted of his rough just ended Gulf of Mexico crossing towing a 320' barge.

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*Not my idea of a good time. My hat's off to those guys that do this every day. If I had known you drink Corona, you wouldn't have had to put up with the beer I served.

P.S. Your avatar looks great!

*


-- Edited by SeaHorse II on Wednesday 5th of October 2011 09:41:24 PM

Speaking of tugs, I like the looks of the Tsavliris Hellas, Philippine registered, Greek owned, 1978 Belgium-built, 10,000 BHP, 67-meter-long, 14K ranged vessel I saw last week in Ponta Delgada, Azores.

*




-- Edited by markpierce on Friday 7th of October 2011 07:04:10 AM

The tug "Hella" was on a dead ship tow in the Gulf of St Lawrence about 10 days ago and the wire parted, putting the ship on Cape Slattery. We passed it just after it happened. We were in short steep seas in the straights of Hongeido towing a crane barge to the great lakes. My understanding is that she is still stranded and very damaged. The tow was bound for Turkey to the ship breakers. I'm not sure if it is the same tug or not. The AIS signature we saw was 50+ meters.
My company told us we may put our tow to the dock in Montreal and go back to the stranding site but we never got any further word on it. Several of the Canadian pilots we used had been on the tow just 2 days before.

This all smacks of the book "Grey Seas Under" by Farley Mowatt.*

I love that green deck. Willy's in green trim and could do that nicely.

nomadwilly wrote:
This all smacks of the book "Grey Seas Under" by Farley Mowatt.*

I love that green deck. Willy's in green trim and could do that nicely.

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*Great book. A classic.

SeaHorse II wrote:If I had known you drink Corona, you wouldn't have had to put up with the beer I served.


-- Edited by SeaHorse II on Wednesday 5th of October 2011 09:41:24 PM

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*Walt: Not to worry.* I'm ombibulous.

The boy and his toy on the hard on the beautiful coast of Texas.