Bow thruster effect on ship's headway 1

When the bow thruster has been in operation for a while, pilots often notice that the ship not only turns but also gains speed. But why is this? Opinion by Capt. Hugues Cauvier.

This video has been recut and edited by the creator Hugues Cauvier. Previously there were three episodes, which have now been combined into one.

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,...

This video complements the earlier demonstration of wind effect on straight track and shows now wind effect on turning circles. It can be seen that during a turn under strong wind the ship reduces turning when it comes close to equilibrium on straight track - if the Wind-to-ship speed ratio is big enough then the ship even goes straight instead of turning. This is shown for three samples for Head, Stern wind and Beam wind. The turning can be increased if the ratio of Wind speed-to-ship...

A portable pilot unit (PPU) is a portable navigation aid system designed specifically for ship pilots, such as the SIRIUS series from TRENZ in Germany (www.trenz-ppu.com).

A handy and simple tool to determine in a minimum time what is really needed as tug assistance, is the Bollard Pull Calculator which calculates in an approximate way the total required tug power for ships in various conditions of wind and current. This tool can be loaded as an app on the smart phone.

Tips by Captain Kris.
kris@mes.de
krisdedecker

To minimize the risk of a vessel allision with a terminal gantry crane, the American Harbor and Docking Pilots Association recommends that all terminal operators with gantry cranes adopt the following Best Practices.