Crossing the Bar: The Adventures of a San Francisco Bay Bar Pilot (Paul Lobo)

Chapter 3 from the book "Crossing the Bar, The Adventures of a San Francisco Bay Bar Pilot" by Captain Paul Lobo, available on Amazon (link below)

Review of Capt. Paul Lobo's book "Crossing the bar". The valet parker for ships: More than 30 years of being a Pilot. Book Review by Bianca Reineke, Germany

Some ship handlers today use electronic instruments from start to finish and these ships usually have powerful engines and thrusters and an almost unlimited number of personnel on the bridge.

Bulk Carrier sailing from Seaforth Dock through Gladstone Lock into The River Mersey

The Pacific Guardian pilot boat is first seen in Victoria Harbour near Ogden Point before making her way to Point Hope Maritime Shipyard for a full refit. This video captures the entire move process, from the cradle lowering into the harbour, to the careful docking of the vessel, to her move across the turntable and onto the spur line. Some of the footage has been sped up, since the cradle lowering and lifting are slow, deliberate operations where every movement is checked and rechecked....

Fewer vessels in voyage mean less pilotage and this means less income for many Pilots. Not every Pilot is an employee and many pilots are self-employed and organised in a brotherhood per example. They are earning only money if they are piloting a vessel. No vessel – no money.

Port Revel is used for shiphandling training of maritime pilots, masters and officers on a 5 ha lake with 11 manned model ships representing 20 vessels, and 4 tugs at scale 1:25 and DGPS tracking system. Instructors are former maritime pilots.
Training on the scale models provides experience that could never be gained on real ships for the simple reason that neither ship-owners nor local authorities would allow such risks to be taken. Scale models allow the shiphandler to make mistakes....

My personal impression is that a lot has changed in terms of safety in the last two years. Non-compliance with current legislation that directly affects the safety of pilots is now no longer tolerated by many stakeholders. Something is happening. And that is a good thing.

9 December 2019 - 'APL Mexico City' hits adrift and rams port crane in Antwerp.
Author of these images is unknown, they circulate freely on social media.
Should an author identify with these images and have any objections, they will be removed upon simple request to Flows.be.

Personal Locator Beacons (PLB) and other individual MOB devices have been available for some years now and have evolved to incorporate a variety of different alerting methods and combinations. However, usage of these additional enhancements within UK Pilotage is still in its infancy.