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Copenhagen at last!
It is raining again, although it was sort of clear much of the day after a near
torrential downpour last night. There has not been a dry day since last
Tuesday. It is really a shame as the public has been driven away from this
Festival celebrating the birth of the Danish icon, Hans Christian Andersen, 200
years ago.
PRIDE II got here on schedule last Wednesday, June 1,
after a little bit of resting from the steady go-go-go of the previous four
weeks and 4,400 nautical miles. The Copenhagen waterfront is lined with about a
dozen vessels of mostly Baltic Sea roots. PRIDE II is one of two non-Baltic
vessels in this gathering of vessels ranging from as far east as St. Petersburg,
Russia. While, we represent the most westerly of all of the vessels, England is
representing the "near" west.
 
Although this Festival is using Hans Christian Andersen
as a theme, there is a lot of story telling about Denmark's military maritime
history through dramatization and reenactment. Already we have seen what was
for me a first - a full scale, "living" theater reenactment of a battle between
Sweden and the Danish home fleet. Vessels in the Festival were performing, as
well as people in period costume. There was a love story imbedded within the
"act", along with other human drama leading up to the actual "invasion" of the
Swedish fleet with guns blazing. PRIDE II was part of the defending Danish
fleet and repeatedly shot her four cannons all lined up on one side. With the
dreary, overcast and wet day setting the tone, it was impressive to me to see
the energy demonstrated by the actors. They did indeed carry the show leading
up to the crescendo of cannon fire from all over the "stage".
 Meanwhile, ship's business has had to continue in the
midst of all the performances and visiting public that came to see the ships. I
have been chasing a month's worth of e-mail communication, while the crew have
been getting after some maintenance and attending to the visiting public. I
have managed to give each watch a full day off. Not enough considering the past
month, but providing more is not realistic due to maintenance needs as well as
performance requirements of our Festival obligations, for which PRIDE II is
being paid. Hopefully the crew will "hang" together well enough with only one
day until the next port, next weekend, when they will get another day off. With
luck, they will get at least one day off every week for the next month. Not
really a full payback for the missed days of the last month. Nor is it a fair
repayment for the good work they have performed, but I hope it is enough to keep
their spirits up. Without their good spirits, no amount of PRIDE II's beauty
can overcome a listless crew.
Tomorrow we must get underway at 2000 hours after being
open to the public from 1000 till 1800 as the Festival organizers have an image
of a public fleet departure. Normally, a Festival would not require the
participating vessels to get underway at the end of a full day's work and expect
them to "sail" to another port. Fortunately or not, the next port is Helsingor,
about 20 nautical miles (or at least 3 hours) away. We will be lucky to have
PRIDE II tied up again by midnight and the crew stood down from their work
(another 16 hour day). Then it will be another day of open house, followed by
another evening departure, plus a full night's sail in order to make our
obligation in Odense, some 110 nautical miles away and 24 hours later.
 Part of my problem with this schedule is the not knowing
until the day before what the plan is. Up until now, our understanding of the
event schedule was that we had obligations for 10 hours per day, which permitted
me to schedule work and time off accordingly. But with these surprising new
facts, I am forced either to work the crew for a very long day or not get
maintenance done and instead break into watches and give them compensatory rest
for the very odd and ever changing demands of this Festival. Considering the
needs of the ship versus the needs of the crew, I think I will have to forego
ship maintenance in favor of providing the crew more rest, so they will be able
to respond willingly to the requests of the Festival organizers.
What I am sensitive to regarding the crew is what I
sometimes describe as the "hang over effect." PRIDE II and her crew have just
completed 4,400 nautical miles in 30 days. This equates to nearly 150 miles per
day, not subtracting the days spent idle in Lunenburg, Falmouth, and southern
Denmark. If you subtract those days out, the daily rate becomes over 200 miles
per day. Those idle days were not idle for the crew, who were put to work with
either vessel voyage preparation or regular maintenance. During the voyage, the
crew worked the ship while the sea wore down the maintenance they had already
been performed. As the voyage was prepared for and lived through, the crew were
willing performers throughout its duration. Now that the voyage is complete,
there is a real need to recover from the non-stop expenditure of effort.
However, since we arrived "just in time," there is the need to fulfill the
immediate mission obligations while also catching up with maintenance. But when
does the crew get the chance to recover? If we had not had the delay we had at
the beginning of the voyage, all that extra time after a quick passage could
have been dedicated to both crew recovery, as well as maintenance at the end of
the passage, before the event obligations commenced. But when all of the "extra
time" is consumed at the beginning of the voyage, there is none available for
crew or maintenance. This forces the crew to continue to perform even though
they have expended most of their reserves. Hence, they continue to perform in a
depleted state, which comes back to my observation of the "hang over effect."
The crew are doing their jobs, but not with the same brightness they would if
they had the time to rest up from the voyage.
Despite my worries, the crew has been getting around and
checking out Copenhagen. They have also been mingling with the crews of the
Festival fleet. Plus, not withstanding my concerns for "rest", few have missed
the opportunity to see Copenhagen's night life and still perform their PRIDE II
mission duties the next day. Ah, the infinite resources of youth!
Cheers,
Captain Miles |
