We need to fit a GoPro to the anchor one day! Or at least to the anchors chain itself, I always wanted to see how beautiful it is when the anchor makes contact with the sea floor. I love Anchor Handling Tug Support vessels. I first thought of becoming a crew member aboard one, but my heart yearned for me to be a assistant principal, so I’m the assistant principal at my private high school were I graduated from in 1993!
This was my first job back in 1997. I worked for a company out of Morgan city called acher marine. I helped set anchors for many rigs. I wouldn't say I miss it.
@Dr Evil small world indeed. When I walked on the kodiak I couldn't believe who big she was but like you said chouest blew that out the water. They're the new gulf Mafia
One of the best anchor handling videos I have seen. I am curious, what do you do with the anchor on deck, other than repositioning the platform. And informative and enjoyable video, thank you very much.
A pendant (as in jewelry) line is shackled from the bottom of the buoy usually via a 'pigtail' ( a small section of similar sized wire about 8-10ft long, this allows a little maneuverability when it comes to disconnecting the buoy) the pendant (sometimes more than one joined together dependent on water depth) lead s down to the anchor. . A suitcase wire or line (sometimes called a suitcase pendant) as in this case, passes through the buoy obviating the need for a whole lot of shackles and handling. This is usually much safer and quicker and suitcase buoys/lines are nearly always fitted to vessels that can pipelay, and often move in short spurts whilst laying the pipe. Quicker and easier to handle. It is unusual to 'deck' a suitcase buoy but occasionally the operator may want it decked if it is to be re-run over subsea pipelines and assets. In this case the anchor needed to be decked to disconnect as there appears to be a midline buoy that to has to be removed (the black Yokohama type) that is is in the the mooring array , this was probably position by clamp usually to keep the anchor wire clear of the seabed and other subsea assets.
@@oleyholmes1989 Good day. Normally the vessel would slowly steam ahead whilst slacking off the anchor pendant wire (the barge would have the brake set on the anchor winch for this anchor wire). The effect is the anchor is dragged back over the stern roller. After a position check the vessel would be requested to lower the anchor to the seabed. Often as not the barge would then tension up the anchor wire to test if the anchor was holding. Another position check, and if it was considered to be holding (sometimes the anchor is set down and the barge would just instruct the vessel to connect and launch the buoy without a holding test) then the vessel would be asked to carry on moving ahead until they launched the buoy over the stern. Whilst the connection is being made between the buoy pigtail and anchor pendant the pendant wire is held in a 'karm fork' or 'sharks jaw' or similar, where the pendant end wire socket sits behind the fork. . This fork is on a retractable ram that protrudes above and retracts into the deck adjacent to the stern roller and when ready the fork is retracted down below the deck. releasing the buoy. Loads of stuff on youtube on this equipment. It's been some years since I last had the pleasure (dubious though it was) of anchor handling so doubtless methodology has been changed/improved. So please excuse my convoluted explanation.
@@oleyholmes1989 That's it. The barge keeps its winch brake on. The vessel moves ahead slacking off the pendant wire and the anchor is skidded down the deck until it overboatfs.
I'm kinda guessing you don't get this stuff at Grainger. I didn't even know stuff like this existed. Good vid and camera work. Appreciate the descriptions. Cool the way the wire guides retract into the deck. Who knew?
TIPS: Make life easer for yourself by setting a hook to trip hook on the end of a fixed chain on deck. When the weight comes on the buoy as it slide down the deck the strop releases without any need for a tugger or human interaction via tuggers etc, much easier and works a dream. Second tip, I saw the deck lads fumbling around with an aluminium boat hook to catch the buoy strop when catching the buoy on the stern roller, there is no need for this at all. Use the aluminium pole with a fabricated steel hook with a steel eye/ring on the opposite side to the hook direction. slide it into the work end of aluminium pole. Attach a 15mm poly/manilla rope line onto the eye/ring twice the length of the pole. One man (1) hooks onto the strop and discards the pole, the other man (2) maintains control of the rope. Man (1) then attends with man (2) to heave the strop under control onto the work wire hook. PS get ride of the shackles in the buoy strops they add unnecessary weight. (a life time of experience), was the pipe laying barge the Castoro7?
deskpot1 Then you do the okey cokey and you turn around etc etc & where F*** did Man 3 go? That's what I want to know, was he putting the left eye grommet futtock splice IN when it should have been OUT?..🤔
you are a mister know it all, from what I saw the whole operation was pretty slick, and I can say that as someone who handled hundreds of anchors each from the castoro otto, castoro 10, and crawler, I actually decked all of the anchors of the castoro 7 for inspection purposes one time, completed 50+ semi rig shifts, dozens of jack up rig shifts, 4 years of tug and barge work, in all ranks in the deck dept excluding master. you'd have to be pretty checky to walk on a boat and pick the lads apart like that, you'd be told about it if you walked aboard the anchor handlers I worked aboard, especially if the boys were always at the anchors. and with regards to the extra jewelry in the system this could be policy and procedure related. that being said it is my experience that it is always wiser to have your trip line hook attached to a tugger to give you the option to trip in differing areas of the deck as ops dictate, such as mooring equipment stored on deck. and I have also noted with fixed trip hook set ups it can occasionally require too much weight to trip them.
@Dr Evil . A pendant (as in jewelry) line is shackled from the bottom of the buoy usually via a 'pigtail' ( a small section of similar sized wire about 8-10ft long, this allows a little maneuverability when it comes to disconnecting the buoy) the pendant (sometimes more than one joined together dependent on water depth) lead s down to the anchor. . A suitcase wire or line (sometimes called a suitcase pendant) as in this case, passes through the buoy obviating the need for a whole lot of shackles and handling. This is usually much safer and quicker and suitcase buoys/lines are nearly always fitted to vessels that can pipelay, and often move in short spurts whilst laying the pipe. Quicker and easier to handle. It is unusual to 'deck' a suitcase buoy but occasionally the operator may want it decked if it is to be re-run over subsea pipelines and assets. In this case the anchor needed to be decked to disconnect as there appears to be a midline buoy that to has to be removed (the black Yokohama type) that is is in the the mooring array , this was probably position by clamp usually to keep the anchor wire clear of the seabed and other subsea assets.
@Dr Evil There is no bigger chain to the 'semi'. Castoro 7 has anchor wires. The only chain in this assembly is the short chain tail shackled to the anchor shank? In the video the buoy is picked up by catching the buoy pick up sling of which there is one each side of the buoy. The buoy is heaved on deck using the work wire then the work wire is transferred to the spelter socket which is attached to the top end of the suitcase pendant wire to heave in the anchor.
@Dr Evil, Greetings, the C7 had many iterations of names. Began as the Viking Piper I believe. I started with Zapata Marine Service (George Bush seniors old firm)in the 70's when they first moved to the N Sea. Wandered around the world with them for thirteen years then joined Swire Pacific Offshore for a while before moving ashore Never really left the offshore business until 'covid' took charge and now the the old bones are playing up. I did spend several years working out of Houston and had many a visit to Amelia (MrDermotts yard), Morgan City, Houma, Fourchon, Aransas Paas, Galveston, Theodore (Al) and all ports/ yards along the Gomex. I recall the rafts of boats laid up (and that was during the second or third round of layups ) when I took the short cut drive from Houma down to Port Fourchon I used to stop at look at the lines of vessels trying to remember if or where I had come across one or two, there were that many , no chance. They world was littered up with boats stacked (and rigs) then as you know. The job was serious work, long hours, dangerous at times, exciting in others, and loads of travel.. Sounds a bit selfish but I think we had the best of it. The last chain moored rig (she was a semi) I worked with had been converted to a 'flotel' (in Brownsville Tx in 2006 after years of layup) originally she was the old Penrod 83 born around 1970 and turned into razorblades in Turkey circa 2015. It's a new world now offshore and the youngsters are welcome to it. Take it easy, get your covid jab, it's getting rough out there. rgds CA
@Dr Evil Greetings, yep still got all ten but had both wrists busted (they are okay now) Worked with the 'Jack Bates' many years ago. She went to make razorblades couple of years years back. First saw the Otis (later Halliburton plus others got into the scene) 'lift boats' down off Nigeria. Such was the demand in that neck of the woods for 'salty dogs' to do the work, McDermotts (Jaramac boats), Tidewater, Arthur Levy (mostly called something Seahorse, like the Lavaca Seahorse, Laguna Seahorse etc,). used to poach crews. Get ashore for a beer and there was always an offer for $10-$15 a day more if you returned from your off of days and went to work for them. Was doing vessel inspections up to a couple of years back. Not saying we worked in the 'good old days' but for sure they were far better than the bureaucratic, politically correct, nonsense around these days.
Just a thought ... I understand the purpose of wearing high Visibility clothing, but shouldn't it be another colour than the Buoy and ship? Just a thought.
Seems a bit dodgy at 1:55 running a slip hook through the guides? Fair enough it makes it easier to splash the buoy but if it gets hung up the buoy is away, is this the normal way to run lay barge anchors?
Which company is operating in Venezuela? Like a curiosity, that's all . I'm engineer and sometimes I'm fixing AHTS vessels. I have an video about a speed test . Amaizing video, by the way!
Jasper B its a pipe laying barge. If I remember well she was ballasted in that condition and we were clearing the anchor pattern after completiom of the project.
thats a semi submersible pipelay barge, the Viking Piper laying pipe. The slope to the sea is the stinger or exit ramp for pipeline from the barge to the sea floor.
Not a vessels anchor, it is for a oil rig,this is a large offshore supply vessel/ anchor hauler, 4 anchor are set out to hold the drilling rig in place and then pulled up to be relocated.
