"Allatsea", on the road with Britain's most popular marine warranty surveyor.

You can see my house from here

Location, 500 metres west of the westerly limit of the Fannit windfarm (and you really can see my house from here....just), exactly where we were last night when the DP and plough trials were completed successfully. I'm not too sure why we're still here but most likely, judging from the activity around  a certain bit of kit on the main deck, that the ROV has died and that means they can't hook up the trenching plough to recover it to deck to start preparing it for cable installation duties. Ho hum.

True to project form too was my instruction last night from those on high, to survey three other support vessels, by this Friday, in Ireland. I like a chuckle me, even at daft things.

Fannit trenches

No night personnel transfers are allowed (they said) so 0630 this m orning saw me waking the crew of Sea Weasel in order to get a ride out to the Polar Prince. Don't know why they were so surprised, I told them I'd be early. Tch tch.

A quick 30 minute ride at a very bouncy 23 knots saw me at the Prince, hard up against the side with her specially designed and fendered bow and I was just about to step onto her decks when a  voice boomed over the radio that such practice was dangerous and I was to wait until the risk assessment findings had been implimented. Hmmm. One hour and a gigantic 'surf' ladder in place later I boarded. This involved leaping from a  bouncy small boat deck through what seemed like a massive chasm of nothing and grabbing a vertical steel ladder that sat higher than the Prince's deck. It was frightening and wholly un-necessary. Heh, that's the safety industry for you, wankers  making things even wankier!! Bless them!!

In rigging the gigantic surf ladder the 200 tonne rated Kenz crane managed to clip and destroy a vital bit of cable installing equipment. This will put the project back around 5 days it seems. That was one hell of a risk assessment... see what I mean about wankers?

The Sea Jack, said by some to be a self elevating work platform and by many others to be a pile of crap, lived up to the latter name last night and broke one of her legs. They towed her to Sheerness to inspect the damage with divers. While the divers were in the water, said leg made an uncrontrolled 12 metre free fall to the seabed. Cooo, bet the water turned brown near the divers. Latest is they'll get a crane barge from Holland, lift the leg, secure it, then tow the lot back to Holland for repairs.

All in all then, not a particularly good day for Fannit Wind.

Later than I thought..

Waiting waiting waiting. P Prince still isn't here and despite my best AIS searching skills (pretty naff at the best of times) I can't see how far she is away from our dearest Fannitt. Luckily, Ben, the skipper of the crewboat doesn't seem to mind this kerfuffle so I'll wander down to the south side of the island and jump on board his catamaran in Ramsgate at around 8pm.

Talking of 'south side of the island',  the best blogger to make that place his home, eastcliffrichard,  has had a bit of a crash on his motor cycle and is nursing some broken bones and very sore other bits. Poor chap. I thought his blog had gone a bit quiet. Get well soon eastcliff, your smile making posts have been missed indeed. Besides, we want your take on Thanet council's sacking of Harbour Master Dominic. Cynical folk are suggesting that the shop-keeping numpties that hold the power over there got a bit of the arse over the dredging contracts not being, ahem, properly tendered for. Or in other words they didn't get a cut of the very large fee's that were required. I do get puzzled by all the political intrigue in this tiny and very unimportant place. How can someone who runs a back street carpet shop possibly be competent enough to head the local authority? Actually, I think I may have answered my own question there.

It'll be a late start

Just as allatsea was about to quoff his third pint of the night the old jellybone wobbled into life with the news that Polar Prince wouldn't leave Scumhampton until 0600 and thus wouldn't be in field until teatime on monday. Splendid news, more beer then.

This morning news reached allatsea towers that in fact the old girl won't arrive off Fannit until around 2100 tonight. Coo, what a long day day doing very little. The problem is that once we do get aboard it'll be straight into a night long programme of DP trials etc. No sleep for the wicked it seems. Tch tch.....yawn.

Bro in Lundunn

When Bro was over from the land of poor taste and great distances during the summer I was a pretty infrequent poster of bloggy bits. It seemed to get put on the back burner more often than not. That really, was pity because in those three weeks I got up to far more interesting things than I did in the rest of the year. Nowt new there then.

Anyway I thought I'd post a pic of the two of us on the Embankment in the great city of Lundunn. I'm the gawjis one on the right.

 

Madam allatsea is on the bus in the background about to start a sightseeing trip, sans husband and bruvver in law.

Happy days.

Numbers that SHOCK

Well maybe shock is too grand a term but I won't change it.

A traditional drill chuck key, increasingly rare in this modern age but still much loved and used by us older chaps. I lost mine, ordered a replacement from Screwfix it was £1.95. Mislaid that too and needing one pronto, popped to B and Q where I had to pay a whopping £7.18. Cheeky, thieving, Scumhampton based, gits!!

It's a gawjiss, sunny, cloudless, windless day here in Fannit. Temperature is 26 degrees in my back yard. Mrs allatsea was talking about putting on her swim suit and sunbathing. Luckily for all concerned I managed to talk her out of that one. It'd frighten the horses for  a start.

Polar Prince hasn't left her South coast haven yet but should be here in Thanet at around 0600 tomorrow morning. I'll be going out to her on the oddly named but very fast (25 knots) Sea Weasel to have a look at her DP and Ploughing trials and then the first inter turbine array cable installation. It's exciting stuff. Some of the ploughing will require a bollard pull of 120 tonnes. From a DP vessel? I know it's been done by some boaties but not yet, I believe, this one. If she's not up to it they'llhave to bite the bullet and hire in a big old tuggy wuggy to help. If the market's busy that could a large wodge of dosh to the daily budget requirements. At one point last year the daily rate for a 180 tonne (pull) class tug went to £250,000, sans fuel. Ouch!!!

Princely delay

Delays on the Polar Prince front, didn't join her last night, looks like it'll be sunday now. Poor timing. So, this morning found me on the 0629 to Cannon Street instead of a DP installation vessel. The train was crowded this morning too, including a particularly loud female who managed to irritate about 300 of us with her constant coarse jabbering into a phone. I wanted to point out that there was no need to shout as the phone wasn't connected to the other caller by string but guessed that she wouldn't understand the sarcasm.

The chap sitting next to me observed  that she was coarse, loud and ugly. I pointed out that if we cut her head off it would sort out item number three in the list, and, by association, items 1 & 2 too.  Lack of a suitable sword and the prospect of 15 years in prison put a dampener on the plan though. Pity.

The office is a bit deserted today, either the second wave of swine-flu has struck or the others have got the arse and not bothered turning up. If we get anymore training directives from the terminally inadequate ("I wannabee important") oiks in our safety  department there may be a few more of us not turning up.

Fannit thoughts

After several months of near slumber as far as warranty matters on the Thanet Windfarm was concerned, things have ramped good and proper. Cable laying starts this weekend, from two vessels and the substation (a majour piece of work in its own right) is also rumbling into life. With 54 UK winters under his belt allatsea (and quite a few others) is/are a little  spooked by the all winter through cable-laying and substation installation schedule. All these tasks are very vulnerable to weather intervention and offshore North Kent coast in winter is a ghastly place at the best of times. We could be in for some frustrating times I fear. Three guesses as to what we'll be doing on XMAS day. Hmmm.

With drunky nunky relocated away from allatsea towers and a broadband connection a tadge faster (fingers crossed) than creakingly slow, working at home has improved a great deal. Two days this week in the home office (nope, not THAT Home Office) and, dare I say it myself, very productive they were too. Lundunn today, just to put my face and expenses (it's a blank canvas to me Tom) in. Home office tomorrow and very likely, offshore tomorrow night, Polar Prince, Thanet Wind Farm. I'll get my sailor togs ready then.

 

Workington-choochoo-Lundunn

The visit to Workington and offshore to the installation barge went smoother than a baby's smooth thing. When I first saw the itinerary I thought it a blueprint for 'going pearshaped rapidly'. How wrong you can be. Coo.

Even the trip down to Lundunn from Workington via Carlisle went swimmingly well. Caught the 0648 at Workers and minced into the offices near Old Street at 1125. I amazed myself. Back into the admin groove straight away with the difficult choice of what to have for Xmas lunch at the Marine Dept festive party. It's mid September for goodness sake, how can anyone think that far ahead about such banal matters? Seemingly, lots and lots. Me included.

Back in July, after circling for half an hour having taken off fom Edinburgh we landed back in the Scots capital. There we were held on the tarmac (and not allowed to use phones) for another half an hour before being informed that they would put us on another flight to London later that evening. Eventually we were allowed off the plane(nearly two hours after take off) only to be told that our flight had now been formally cancelled. Hmm. Meanwhile my preorderd taxi had left Margate, driven to LCY and waited an hour before I was physically allowed by BA to phone said taxi and inform him I wouldn't be there until tomorrow. Naturally I paid the man his £85 fare (it's nearly 70 miles by road from Margate to LCY) and naturally I claimed that that fare from BA as it was there ineptness that prevented me from cancelling the cab earlier.

BA have written me a nice letter saying that 'As safety comes first' they can't re-imburse me and that I'm sure I understand. Well Nicola Donnelly of BA Customer Relations and Katie Reeves of Reed and Mackay Travel, I don't!!

Norfolk to Merseyside and all the bits in the middle.

The train from Norwich to Liverpool takes 5 and a half hours. During that time a passenger gets quite a grand tour of the middle country. Thetford, Ely, March, Peterborough, Grantham, Nottingham, Alfreton, Chesterfield, Sheffield, Stockport, Manchester (twice), Warrington, Widnes and Liverpool (twice). Cooh, worra lorra stops.

While I'm on I'd just like to say that I deliberately used the term 'middle country' there because the North Starts at Lancaster and ends in Berwick. All you lot wot live in Manchester and the surrounding towns are middlanders not Norvenners. Got it? I speak as a closet Geordie on this matter.

Now on the very matter of what's the North and what isn't, tomorrow I'm going to Workington, it's in the North. I was last there during the coal strike of 83/84 (or thereabouts) so it will hopefully have a changed a bit, it needed to. And the reference to the coal strike? Well throughout the coal strike Workington was 'exporting' UK produced coal to UK power stations. I was on a UK ship that carried it to the power stations. They were heady, emotional times. Oooh, and full of bile and biggotry too. Not much has changed then?