It remains a sad fact that accidents and near misses continue to occur during pilot transfers with frightening regularity. Most of these fortunately do not result in injury, and a surprisingly high number of them are not even recognised for what they are.

Surveys into pilot ladder safety consistently reveal that unacceptably high numbers of pilot transfer arrangements are not compliant with the regulations.

Chapter 3 from the book "Crossing the Bar, The Adventures of a San Francisco Bay Bar Pilot" by Captain Paul Lobo, available on Amazon (link below)

The article was written by Allen Garfinkle, Executive Director – Board of Pilot Commissioners for the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun

Goodwin Sands, Kent. M/S bows of Trinity House ship "Ready". L/S "Tongue" lightship at sunset. Panning M/S from side to front of service ship (deck level). M/S lightship. M/S bridge of service ship, lightship passes. L/S two ships, pan to lightship. C/U ship's telegraph coming to "stop". M/S seaman pulls fresh water hose to lightship. L/S deck of service ship, general activity. C/U provisions waiting to be transported to lightship. M/S men passing food between ships. L/S side of...

Brief snapshot of a day in the life of a Humber marine Pilot.
This was filmed a few years ago, 2019 I think.
Some standards and best practices have changed since then, for instance I would not have my bag on my back while using the pilot ladder now, I would send it down using a heaving line.
#MarinePilot #shiphandling #pilotage #ships #timelapse #humber

Rostock; 02.05.2020: Actually, the special ship with the giant heavy-lift crane crane, which was designed for over 5,000 tons load capacity, was supposed to be delivered in the next few days. During final tests the crane broke off in the afternoon of May 2. Four people were injured in the accident. This is the second accident with Liebherr cranes this year in the Rostock overseas port. Already in February this year two cranes were reported to have fallen into the water during loading....

Pilot boat at Velsen-Noord crew prepares to join cruise ship Norwegian Prima.

Container vessel ALDIVIA (IMO 9333395) was dangerously close to public beach at Vlissingen Netherlands, on May 21, while heading out to sea, en route from Antwerp to Helsinki Finland.
The cause of dangerous approach is unknown, but the ship wasn’t detained, she continued her voyage.

Understanding the fundamentals of the pivot point is highly required for understanding the alteration of the courses. Pivot point is an imaginary point on the vessel which turns on a circular path on the perimeter of vessel’s turning circle when the vessel makes a turn. The knowledge about the position of the pivot point in a manoeuvring situation provides the ship handler with the information on the geometry of motion of the ship.