Anyone ever been in 20 foot seas?

[93LXHORSE]

We are heading out from Port Fourchon LA in a little while to a location 200 nautical miles out.

It's a 36 hour transit in good weather, but we are going to have rough seas the entire time, then sit out on location for a while until we can overboard our shit to the bottom.

They are calling for 20 foot seas. I'm a little nervous, but the captain and all the Shell guys guess it's going to be OK or we wouldn't be going out... I hope they're right!

This will be a gut test for sure

[svauto-erotic855]

20ft seas are not a big deal if you are in a big boat or if you have been on the sea since birth. If you are not then you need to bring some raw ginger, Jamaican ginger beer, and some ginger snaps that have so much ginger in them that they burn your mouth and eat a lot of all 3 or you will not be feeling so hot.

[93LXHORSE]

Apparently the boat has been through this kind of stuff many times. It's a little late at this point to get some ginger, lol...

It's a 300 foot work boat with Dynamic Positioning, and super bad ass everything as far as navigation equipment, engines, thrusters, etc.., all modern.

The crew is hardcore and has dealt with this kind of stuff many times.

[svauto-erotic855]

300ft boat? You are good to go. For some reason I was picturing a 50ft one and that would have made for a very unpleasant trip.

[GE]

... will be waiting for a new Boat Story!

[1carcrazyguy]

I would pick up a few cans of flex seal just in case.

[93LXHORSE]

We may not go. Big client meeting to decide. Alot depends on the Perdido rig sitting out there, and currently they are on weather hold for 7 days.

So, we could go out there on a 40 hour transit, then sit for a few days, and everyone be miserable, or sit here at the dock and wait for it to clear, then head out.

I vote for the latter because next Tuesday it's time for me to go home anyway....

[AnthonyS]

I was in the Navy for 10 years. 300 ft in 20 ft seas is going to suck if you don't have lots of sea time. Enjoy.

[93LXHORSE]

Update, they postponed that job and we are sitting at the dock for a few days...

[93LXHORSE]

I would have told you that they would have put the trip off, if I read this earlier. I have, however, been in swells like that on a 42 footer. The best thing to do is look outside at the rest of the sea and not confine your view to inside.

Well this vessel is contracted by Shell and has projects scheduled all the way into middle of next year. This one was to drop a big FMC tree on top of a tubing spool down in the Perdido / Silvertip field. It weighs about 50 tons. We just got finished with one in the Stones field... both are about the same depth, over 9000 feet. The boat was already set up - a big spool with 3000 feet of synthetic line to be dropped through the moon pool, to be attached to the steel cable from the crane, with the tree attached to it.

The concern was that even though the crane has enough cable to reach the bottom, the weight of the cable plus the tree would have put it right near the max capacity of the crane. So they did all these trick hand offs underwater using the ROVs to attach everything such that the synthetic line saved 25 tons of weight. It was bad ass they way they did it... the Stones Field went well, and they have all the equipment do to the Silvertip job already on board, so they were kind of hell bent on getting it done.

But had we gone out there, they would have risked half of the folks getting sea sick during the 40 hour transit, plus however long we were going to ride it out til the seas calmed. They all met for hours yesterday and decided to postpone it, thank goodness.

All that shit on deck, even though chained down, would have been risky as well.

[YALE]

Take the extra time you've been given and go get dramamine and a bunch of ginger, like svo855 said.

[helosailor]

I've been through stuff like this plenty of times. Done it a few times in a destroyer (~500ft). Eees fun.

[sig239]

... will be waiting for a new Boat Story!

Shit will be coming out the other end..

[CyaNide]

20' is not very deep. (That's what she said)

CN

[Gargamel]

I've been through stuff like this plenty of times. Done it a few times in a destroyer (~500ft). Eees fun.

It's not really rough seas until they close the flight deck and you are chasing your food on the plate in the galley.