St Helena (the ship)

15.01.2021 - 25.02.2021
01.08.2020 - 23.10.2020
04.01.2020 - 24.06.2020
04.11.2019 - 27.12.2019

m/v St Helena (ex MNG Tahiti, RMS St Helena)

Captain

As I was in South Africa on vacation I got out of the blue an email from Allan Wilson asking if I would be interested in joining St Helena for major refit and then sailing her. After a bit of digging I realized it was the ex RMS that was the last one of its kind and had been servicing St Helena island with mail and supplies as well as passenger capacity. 

St Helena in Birkenhead, UK before the refit

Rescue of Wilhelmine

So on the 9th Nov we headed from Helsinki towards Kimito Island, more exactly to Pederså commune. It was a few hours drive and enroute we tried to find lodging and finally when all options on the Island were exhausted for one reason or another we settled for renting a house in Ekenäs, the drive from there was a mere 45mins.

Just arrived 

Rescue of Wilhelmine - prologue

My ex colleague Jan sent me in mid Oct some pictures of a small coaster that looked very quaint. At same breath he asked if I'd be interested in kicking her alive after 10 years of cold lay-up at a beach in Kimito Island and tentatively deliver her to shipbreakers in Denmark. Yes, I said, I'm always up to a challenge, especially one like this, one of a kind adventure.

As I was soon due leave I made plans to travel to Finland. With the pandemic raging in Europe it was all a bit touch an go so I took the train from Liverpool to Harwich and then the ferry to Rotterdam where I continued across Netherlands and Germany to Luebeck where i boarded the Finnlines ferry to Helsinki. 

On the ferry I coincidentally bumped into an old acquaintance, Capt Fredrik, who had finished his contract with Saga cruises newbuild and was returning home together with his wife. The mood was pretty festive to say in the least. 

Likewise Captain Pekka of Finnlady was an old classmate of mine that I hadn't met in years, it was nice to exchange news. The crew on the ferry was minimal due to covid cuts. Anyway, I arrived in good order to Helsinki on 28th Oct and headed for Loviisa where I was to meet Jan and Juha onboard the 92yr old m/v Greta where she was to be first put into winter condition before heading over to m/v Wilhelmine and her startup operation.

Sahaniemi pier

Media postings

It seems the vessel I'm working on, St Helena, has quite the media coverage last few days from Northern as far as the Southern hemisphere ...

Extreme E press release

New livery

This Saturday m/v St Helena moved from Cammell Lairds Campbeltown facility into their Bidston repair facility for further outfitting afloat.

This move activated the local paparazzi into action and here are a few shots by local talents: 

St Helena on the Mersey (by Phil Owen)

Vacation time

After having done another 6mths onboard after the 2weeks off at New Year I was starting to get weary on the daily repair drudge & managed to get my ex colleague to relieve me for July. Our worked had not stopped at any point despite COVID, the yard abandoned us for lockdown but we carried on as usual.

River Severn

S/y Eye of the Wind logbook

In the "Logbook" edition 3/2019 of the "Eye of the Wind" publication there is an article about "Anny" and her comparing both schooners on page 4 as they were at the same time in the same port. I have translated the German article, original written by Mr. Ronald Herkert, Managing Director of FORUM train & sail GmbH.

Life takes a turn...

As I was enjoying my rotational leave from Ventum Maris in South Africa I got a mail asking if I would be interested in joining a commercial venture with world wide itinerary. My interest was immediately peaked so I said "yes but that I was in a contract so needed some notice" in case we would come to an agreement. 

RMS St Helena watersalute

Photographer: unknown

Ventum Maris

14.06.2019 - 02.09.2019

Captain
m/y Ventum Maris

Ventum Maris anchored at Maddalena archipelago

New adventures

After I left Illusion + having been properly disillusioned by the Owners and zero progress in just about everything I resigned, handed over to my Chief Officer and went R&R to South Africa for a few weeks to clear my head. 

Ventum Maris in Valencia

Illusion Plus

26.12.2018 - 08.03.2019

14.06.2018 - 17.12.2018

m/y Illusion Plus (today Eternal Tsingshan)
Captain

Illusion Plus

Joining again

Recently I was staying at my friends pad in Liguria, up in a medieval village of Montalto Ligure as I was doing rounds to the Riviera for various contacts looking for my next challenge. That aside my month was slowly coming to an end and one afternoon I was at the pad when I received an email out of the blue from China.

Yantai 200.000t mega crane and an oil-rig

Lady S

02.11.2017 - 02.12.2017
04.11.2016 - 05.01.2017

Captain
m/y Lady S

Lady S (courtesy by Burgess)

Moonlight II

29.08.2017-01.11.2017

02.03.2017-01.06.2017
p/v Moonlight II (ex. Alysia)
Captain

Moonlight II (courtesy of Yachtcharterfleet)

Hellenic day

This Sunday I decided with a few crew go see some hellenistic sites handpicked from the guide book.

Becin castle

Bodrum

Having settled into the Yalikavak marina we finally had a chance to take a few hours off and I decided to go to Bodrum to see the sights as I had never been there before. According to the guidebook the only places that have any value historically is the Bodrum castle and the Mausollus mausoleum.

Yalikavak marina

Doing a Ferretti

I received a phonecall about 2 weeks ago asking of I was interested to step in as Capt on a 25m Ferretti as the permanent Captain unfortunately had had a heart attack so I thought it would be ok to help out for a few days and said I was available. 

Local boats

Lichadonisia islands

Having heard about the Greek Seychelles I decided to go visit. The group of Islands are located on the NW corner of Evia. You can either drive on the mainland to Kamena Vourla and take a ferry over or drive through Evia and boat over. I decided to do it the hard way and drove through Evia to enjoy the scenery instead of the heavily trafficked boring highway (and tollways) up towards Thessaloniki. 

Lichadonisia

Road trip

As I signed off Moonlight II in Nice after the open day event and handover to the other Captain, I decided that instead of flying I'd be going to Greece by land. So I disembarked on a calm day and saw classic yachts at the Beaulieu anchorage.

s/s Delphine

s/y A

As we had finished our refit in Greece overhauling all machinery on Moonlight II we were fit for fight for a summer of charters and we set our heading for the French riviera. Our next stop was the open day display in Nice. It's a small event organized by ECPY with ML2 as the largest participant where we went in 1st and then the port was filled up with all other participants coming in size wise, kept 3-4 pilots busy for an afternoon.

s/y A

Suez

After having departed Dubai in good order for European summer we had finally arrived Suez, the ditch of decay and depravity in form of bureaucrats descending on you like the proverbial plague in search of bribes and presents. I have had a few unpleasant transits where the rot was so bad I have no words for it.

Some of the old wrecks trafficking these waters

Signing on p/v Moonlight II

After looking for my next gig after the temp on Lady S I was approached by Owners of Moonlight II to come and put together a dream team and get the boat charter ready for the summer things started moving very fast and on 1st March I was on a plane to London to get indoctrinated in the Burgess office.

Cunard house

SeaTALK

I was surfing the net and came across a site called Seatalk, It is a wonderful tool for those not so proficient in the english language wanting to get more familiar with seafaring terminology. Best of all it is free for anyone to use. I suggest to go to the FAQ section first or clicking the "how to use" video, as the website is not very straightforward to use.  Below is the excerpt from their homepage.

What is SeaTALK?

Training

After having stepped off Maryah in January I looked for new challenges but it appeared no one was stepping off or looking to employ Captain's. I ended turning down one offer as I was just about to board a plane for a course so that went as well. Then having been pretty much unemployed for most of 2016 I did my STCW Manila upgrading and renewed my license so I am good to go for the next 5 years.

Courtesy of The HR suite