Opinion Bow Truster Effect on Ship's Headway
by Capt. Hugues Cauvier - published on 14 July 2022
Opinion A Corrected Version on Positioning of Pivot Point
by Capt. Santosha K. Nayak - published on 18 November 2020
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.
Opinion Scientific Fact: The ‘traditional’ understanding of the ship’s pivot point is wrong!
by Tim Cummins, Harbour Pilot, Portsmouth International Port - published on 9 July 2020
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Video Bow thruster effect on ship's headway 1
by Capt. Hugues Cauvier - published on 14 July 2022
Video Hugues Cauvier: Understanding the ship's pivot point (complete video)
by Capt. Hugues Cauvier - published on 3 September 2024
Video How to Launch a Pilot Boat–Behind the Scenes at Point Hope Shipyard
published on 20 June 2025
Welcome to Point Hope Shipyard in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. In this video, I follow the float off of the Pacific Navigator, a hardworking pilot boat that serves the Port of Victoria and Ogden Point. We watch as the vessel is pulled along the marine railway, rotated on the turntable, and positioned onto the cradle. Once secured, the cradle lowers to float-off depth, and the Pacific Navigator fires up her engines for a short harbour spin before returning to duty. Some segments,...
Video Wind pure drift encounter - practical experiments for getting useful data
published on 8 July 2022
How to get information for wind & current limits to be potentially encountered by thrusters – or current? - this will be described in this movie:
- Measure Drift speed, due to beam wind with no propulsion;
- Measure drift speed using full thrusters
- Estimate wind & current limits to be potentially encountered by thrusters – or current...
- Finally there is a simple formula as Rule of Thumb: the transverse drift speed is about 7-8% of wind speed!
Video Pilot Ladder Promo Launch by KARCO
published on 18 June 2021
Video Yaw Stability of Ships - Basic Principles by Knud Benedict
published on 18 November 2021
Another very good explanatory video by Knud Benedict. Absolutely worth seeing.
Yaw Stability is an important element of Ships Manoeuvrability - both for course keeping and turning ability. This first video in a series explains the Basic Principles of stability in steady state equilibrium conditions and the forces / moments involved
Video AMPI Marine Pilot Profiles Webinar - November 2021
published on 16 November 2021
Thanks to Jacqui Kenyon, Chevi King and Kate Delisky for joining Jeanine Drummond on this webinar to discuss their careers and pathways into marine pilotage. The audience was a great mix of experienced marine pilots and newer maritime industry participants, as well as school aged children, with people joining us from Australia and overseas. It was an opportunity to create greater awareness of the maritime industry, and the important role marine pilotage plays in protecting our port...
Video Understanding and Preventing Tug & Barge Risks
published on 15 January 2021
Blog: https://www.merrimacins.com/understanding-and-preventing-tug-barge-risks/ Understanding and Preventing Tug & Barge Risks The maritime industry relies on tugboats and barges for a wide range of applications. Tugs are used to pilot vessels into and out of ports, while barges are used to transport bulk materials. The relationship between tugs and barges is critical, as most barges are not self-propelled and must rely on the skilled operation of a tug or tugs for propulsion. At Merrimac...
Video A world leader in pilot boat building: Safehaven Marine
published on 30 April 2021
Cork based Safehaven Marine is most famous for dramatic videos of its boats during stormy weather sea trials. It’s ‘Interceptor 48’ are in service taking on all types of sea conditions around the world. The newest vessel the ‘Belgrano’ will be used by pilots on the River Plate estuary Montevideo, Uruguay.