Pilot Vessel Tribulation

Cairns based Pilot Vessel underway outbound 19/9/21

off Taipei, bit choppy seas

ABP’s Port of Southampton has officially named its brand-new pilot launch, Mayflower.

While filming for the Voyager T2000, Frank from Safehaven Marine asked if I wanted to make a video about the brand new Pilot Interceptor 60. There was no way I was going to miss this opportunity!
If you would like to find out more about this boat or would like to get in touch with me about anything mentioned in this video: 👉🏻 https://linktr.ee/john_johnson 👈🏻
Voyager T2000 Yacht Tour: https://youtu.be/Z8m7mWNWGAs
Voyager T2000 sea trial: https://youtu.be/ihgjtrgV0O4

It’s not always calm seas, helicopters and fast speedboats. In the third weekend storm this year, the pilot embarks MV VERA D by fast launch craft of the Pilot Station Vessel PROCYON. It takes professional teamwork by Pilotboat crew, the ship VERA D and VTS to board these ships in the harshest conditions in a violent Northsea. Well done and thanks to all players involved!

In December 2020, Australian Pilot Captain Ritesh Bhamaria was expertly piloting oil tanker MT Godam through the Torres Strait in adverse weather conditions when he and the vessel crew sighted a distant hand waving for help in the rough sea.

Most pilot embarkations and disembarkations around the world, are still carried out using a traditional pilot ladder, consisting of wooden steps supported and secured by side ropes.

A handy and simple tool to determine in a minimum time what is really needed as tug assistance, is the Bollard Pull Calculator which calculates in an approximate way the total required tug power for ships in various conditions of wind and current. This tool can be loaded as an app on the smart phone.