Kimber's IOU

I owe you a post anyway. I haven't made a post since I was on Alvheim and did the Stavanger half-marathon.

I actually was on Alvheim twice in August. I went out to meet with each crew and complete some process safety training as well as help out with the improvements we continue to make for process safety. Have I mentioned before how exciting this job is?!? How cool is it to commute to work by helicopter? Then to work on such a new and sensational project that has gone through the amazing transition from Maersk operation to Marathon operation! Alvheim or any FPSO is phenomenal to mean. Plus I have been involved in the beginning of the operation with the ability to apply what we have learned from other operations to Alvheim to truly make it the best and safest operation. It has been so exciting for me and I feel blessed by the chance I have had to work here on Alvheim in Norway and with all those I now count as my friends.

One of the times I was on Alvheim, I got to "shoot the ship", which was so cool. When the tanker comes to offload Alvheim, they must be connected. So the tanker comes to within 90 meters (which is really close by the way for this very large bobbing vessel) and gets connected. This is done by shooting a small line from the aft of Alvheim to the deck of the tanker. We use a small air gun which is attached to the rail and just fire, aiming for one side or the other of the tankers deck. And about the aim. It isn't like firing a gun. As I learned, twice, you don't always hit the tanker. Granted, it is hard to miss. My first shot went wide right. The second shot actually hit the deck, then bounced off. Surprisingly they let me shoot again. Although I know that since the bridge could watch on CCTV, there was much laughter on the bridge. So I made the third shot. So criminals every where, beware, I am a great shot! Can't hit a tanker. But I am so excited that I have gotten to shoot the ship. After the line goes across, a series of heavier and heavier lines are winched across, until the offloading hose can be sent over. It is really an interesting operation.


The other item of note for me was I completed the Stavanger half-marathon. I am relatively pleased with how I did. I ran the whole time and felt very food as far as fitness. I started at about a 5 minute kilometer and could easily have maintained this for the run except I started to have severe pain in my hips about half way. My legs and lungs felt great and quite energetic but my hips were a real problem. I finished in about 2 hours 13 minutes which I am not that happy with but it was my first 1/2 marathon and the weather was not great. About half the race was in rain.


The course was fine. About 1/3 was on trail and the rest asphalt. It was well marked and plenty of water available. There was only one section towards then end that I thought there was not enough traffic control. There were a lot of fast moving cars in one area, and tourists in another. I am sure I will try another 1/2 marathon sometime but I need to sort out my hips first. Oh, and congratulations to all the other Marathon marathoner's and 10K runners. Well done!

The next post will likely be our farewell to Norway. Although we are very sad to leave, we will always treasure out memories here and I for one will always think of our time here with a smile.

Another ship in our log

Yesterday morning we were greeted by the sight of a new visitor to our port. The Stadiongracht is a general purpose cargo vessel registered in the Netherlands. She arrived yesterday to deliver eight large cylindrical objects (two can be seen on her deck in the picture.) The cylinders have "FPSO" painted on the end of them, so they will most likely be part of a Floating Production Storage and Offloading ship. Kimber's company's ship, Alvheim, is just such a vessel. It would be interesting if they were building one of these ships here to be able to see the construction process.

Speaking of construction, the pier project next door is coming along. They have just about finished pouring the new support structure within the old pier foundation. They are also erecting a new crane on the pier itself. I am beginning to think the crane is the national bird of Norway with all of them that I see around here!


And on another note, we helped Sidney out with a little project from school. Her school is trying to be certified as a "Green" school, so they are doing an "Eco-Week" next week. The kids were asked to make an outfit out of recycled materials, so we made Sidney a dress out of a map (which we seem to have tons of with all our traveling!) We still need to make her matching hat, but I think it is pretty cute. Unfortunately, it is not very functional, since she can't sit in it and has to shuffle when walking to keep from tearing it.