Interesting job

TyBoo · Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2017 11:56 pm Post subject: Interesting job

Here is a short clip of a Columbia River bar pilot climbing aboard the E/V Nautilus outside the river entrance today. It was recorded by my nephew who was aboard the ship.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKwHgk8Py4g

colbysmith · Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 12:12 am Post subject:

Watched pilots (and some park rangers) do the same thing on Princess Star Cruise Ship. Good time not to lose one's grip! Colby

AstoriaDave · Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 1:39 am Post subject:

(Tyboo, somehow I ended up on this one: https://youtu.be/_weLIMK4ImE ... a Lisbon pilot transfer. Wrong one.)

That is a very dicey move compared to what your son's video shows. The pilot in the correct video makes a swift, clean transfer, still a ballsy move, though! Thanks for putting it up.

[Aside: Fifteen years ago I watched a Columbia River Bar pilot, Deb Dempsey, do a similar move onto a car carrier one night when Becky and I were guests aboard the Chinook (pilot launch). It was smooth and uneventful, with only a short reach and step for her.

Columbia River Bar pilots and their pilot boat crews typically arrange things so the pilot can use the sheltered side of the freighter when both vessels are running parallel at about 8 to 10 knots, just like in the correct video! That arrangement makes for a relatively protected transfer. Specifically, there is very little clapotis, aka rebounding wave action.

That said, the CRB Pilots lost a pilot, fairly new to the game, a few years back when he fell between the vessels and suffered a head injury as the pilot launch came down on him ... suggesting clapotis is not entirely absent in CRB Pilot transfers.]

Wandering Sagebrush · Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 7:58 am Post subject:

OPB has a great program on the Columbia bar pilots. If I can find a link I'll post it.

I agree, an interesting job!

http://www.opb.org/television/programs/ofg/segment/columbia-river-bar-pilots/

TyBoo · Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 8:03 am Post subject:

hardee · Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 8:22 am Post subject:

I have watched this from ship board several times and to me, it would make sense for the Pilot to have a harness on and a line from the ship to clip onto before starting the step across.

Seems like that line, and a winch above, could save a live some time.

Harvey
SleepyC Moon

hardee · Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 8:47 am Post subject:

This is a clip from the Columbia River Bar Pilots helicopter service showing how they do it from the bird.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOblnigsqKc

and another, older one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V2-O9TG0oI

And from the Helo Pilots seat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0NQya8o1cU

My neighbor, a retired Coast Guard helo pilot flew for the Columbia Bar Pilots for several years. He has since moved and is now flying for the oil deck transfers in the Gulf of Mexico.

Harvey
SleepyC Moon

stantheman · Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 10:40 am Post subject:

AstoriaDave · Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 4:29 pm Post subject:

hardee · Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 5:42 pm Post subject:

JamesTXSD · Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 6:14 pm Post subject:

Very cool watching those Pilots come on by helicopter. None of that in our area, all the Pilot transfers are boat to ship. In the hierarchy of captain status in our area, the Pilots are at the top of the food chain... then: ship/tug captains... excursion boat captains... off-shore fishing/diving/crew-boat captains... 6-pac fishing charter captains. Lots of the young captains want to get on as a Pilot - may be different in other areas, you almost have to be born into it.

Thanks for sharing the videos.

AstoriaDave · Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 7:00 pm Post subject:

Until a few years ago, all pilot transfers on the Columbia River Bar were done using pilot boats. The helos came in to play when the pilots realized they could handle more ships each "workday" for a given pilot, because the pilot vessels move about less rapidly than helos. Pilots used to spend a good sized fraction of their shift on the pilot boats. The pilot boats are still in use because the helos cannot operate in poor visibility, and they cannot cable pilots on or off vessels in very high winds.

Dempsey had to add 40 lbs of ballast for helo transfers because she was slight enough she would get blown around on the end of the cable, when her beefier comrades would not.

Helos are expensive, but their added cost is offset by better use of bar pilot time. The helos also allow transfers a bit farther out at sea, handy when traffic near the mouth picks up.

Excellent web site here: http://www.columbiariverbarpilots.com

localboy · Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 11:44 pm Post subject:

I would imagine being crushed between two boats would be a huge concern. One even higher than cold water....

Ordutch1975 · Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2017 12:01 am Post subject:

These guys have more cojones than I do.

hardee · Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2017 12:41 pm Post subject: