Piloting a VLCC from sea to Dolphins 90

KITTIWAKE ( MMSI 232008570) is a Pilot and currently sailing under the flag of United Kingdom (UK) Here she is speeding down the River this morning.

Vessel name: Polaris ; Year built: 2012 ; Flag: Netherlands ; Homeport: Rotterdam Length: 81.2m X 13.3m ; GRT: 2501 ; Callsign: PBZN ; MMSI:245142000 ; IMO: 9496915 Type: Special Vessel / Pilot Ship A "Pilot Ship / Pilot Vessel" is a "special type" of ship in which it accommodates a certain and limited Marine Pilots (Sea, River, Harbor Pilots), it also carries small boats/crafts that are used to tender services to and from the Pilot ship. In a Pilot Vessel, the Pilots can take their time...

A week of ship traffic on the seven seas, seen from space. Get a glimpse of the vibrant lanes of goods transport that link the continents.
The vessel movements were captured using newest terrestrial and space-borne AIS technology from FleetMon and its partner Luxspace. The records cover the world's merchant fleet with some 100.000s of cargo ships, tankers, ferries, cruise ships, yachts and tugs. FleetMon provides advanced fleet monitoring services, software APIs, reports and analyses of...

The Port of Seville has new maritime navigation aids. #PPUs (Portable Pilot Units) offer pilots accurate real-time data on the position, course and speed of a vessel on the Eurovía del Guadalquivir. This information is very useful for pilotage and for docking and undocking manoeuvres.

#PPUs have two elements: on the one hand, autonomous, wireless sensors that the pilot places on the ailerons of the vessel’s bridge to obtain data about the vessel’s movement; and on the other hand, a...

SAMMON Lecturing Video describing
"Pivot Point Demonstration"
-------------------------------------------------------------
SAMMON - the IDEAL tool to identify manoeuvring capabilities of a ship - SAMMON - learning the EFFECTIVE way

There were some astonishing pictures in the press some weeks ago of a Royal Marine employing a jetpack to launch himself from a RIB to land on the deck of a ship with extraordinary precision. You cannot imagine that it would be a feasible proposition to equip pilots with such a device, but it did cross my mind after reading a horrible catalogue of disgraceful seamanship and poor design exhibited in what ought to be the simple matter of keeping pilots safe as they board and leave ships.

Flying from Shortlands, following the beautiful HM Orc 181 "Nepean" Flying to the very edge of VLOS helped by the elevated position in the carpark, also helped by a good strong coffee from Hesse St! Little known fact, when I was a small child I went out in the Pilot boat from (dad recalls) Gem Pier in Williamstown! I only remember being a bit scared and that's about it. Learn about the Port Phillip Sea Pilots here - https://www.ppsp.com.au/story/ Learn more about the pilot boat here:...