July 21st 2022, a thrilling day for me when I met up with the Foyle Pilots and was given a tour and a trip out on pilot vessel Foyle Leader 2. I was in the company of Coxswain Tommy McDaid and several other pilots, I was taken out past tall ship Grace O'Malley then we collected the pilot from a cement carrier called Cemluna, then back to Greencastle, it was a fantastic experience. Many thanks to Tommy and the crew for making this happen. www.nightskyhunter.com
What a great pleasure to meet these guys at the harbour - they could not have been more helpful and forthright about their work. At first glance, the glide of these orange powerboats up and down Belfast Lough seems an almost effortless task, but close up this is a very skilled trade and constant management of risk 24/7 in high and low seas, jumping from ship to boat to land taking safe control of the great volume of steel vessel coming in and out of this busy port. Though a hub of...
Like many seafarers I have long been a keen follower of The Nautical Institute’s MARS programme, and along with many other members I listened to the recent webinar on that topic. One theme which was repeated more than once was that it is better to learn from someone else’s misfortune rather than have it happen to you. Having personally been involved in two near misses resulting from unsafe pilot transfer arrangements in a relatively short space of time, I asked how experiences and knowledge specifically about pilot ladder safety could best be promulgated to avoid repeating common accidents or near misses.
