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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 You Won’t Believe How A Pilot Boat Is Hauled Out for Refit
published on 24 September 2025
The Pacific Guardian pilot boat is first seen in Victoria Harbour near Ogden Point before making her way to Point Hope Maritime Shipyard for a full refit. This video captures the entire move process, from the cradle lowering into the harbour, to the careful docking of the vessel, to her move across the turntable and onto the spur line. Some of the footage has been sped up, since the cradle lowering and lifting are slow, deliberate operations where every movement is checked and rechecked....
Video Pivot Point Specials 2 - position for ship moving ahead or astern
published on 12 May 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.
Video The Physics of Golden Ray Capsize - Part 2 Mechanism and Solution
published on 5 June 2021
This video provides the detailed explanation of the phenomenon showed in Part 1 of this topic and a solution for this problem at the end. This phenomenon was recently disocovered by Dr. Steve Shaojie Tang and published in his book by Faiteve inc in 2018. The book info can be found at Faiteve inc https://www.faiteve.com/ The testimony of the captain on duty in the public hearing of Golden Ray capsizing at https://livestream.com/uscginvestigations/events/9252896/videos/211109207 in the time...
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
Video CHIRP Pilot Ladders (Landscape)
published on 13 December 2023
Article Safe working with harbour cranes
by American Harbor & Docking Pilots Association - published on 24 August 2022
Article Simulation of Maritime Helicopter Operations with Pilot Assistance for Enhanced Ship Deck Landings
published on 19 January 2022
Opinion Accidents: Prevent or react
by Steven Detre (Saab Technology) - published on 25 November 2022
Port operations, whether these are being performed on water or on land, are often not without risk. Pilots boarding a ship while sailing, navigating through narrow passages, collision avoidance with other smaller or larger vessels, discharging and moving cargo on land, walking between container handling equipment and trucks…