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2014 Knarr
World Tour (Tugs and Typhoons and Norwegians) |
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Greg
started working on the Knarr in Geoje,
South Korea in October of 2011 (thanks Ken). He moved to Jangpyeong on the island and after a few months moved to Okpo in May of 2012. Bruce and Greg had a number of Typhoon parties during the stay and generally
caused mayhem everywhere they went. The Knarr is Greg's first new build
FPSO and the first steel was cut in October 2011. The ship came out of
dry dock in September 2012 and the naming ceremony was in February
2014. It is 256 meters long and 48 meters wide. It is Samsungs
first EPC FPSO and owned by Teekay. Greg
works for BG Group, the old British Gas, who has contracted the Petrojarl Knarr for the Knarr oil field. The Knarr
sailed from Samsung's shipyard in Geoje, South
Korea to near Flora, Norway, over 15,000 nautical miles. Teekay's description of the Knarr The naming ceremony was held the 22nd of February in the
shipyard. See the details here. Video from the Naming Ceremony Next the ship went into Green Dock #3 to change out the mooring
table. Photos from the day before it leaves the Green Dock #3. Greg moved onto the ship in a rush on the 5th of May, just
meeting the deadline. There was 3 years of accumulated stuff to finish
packing. The ship was due to leave SHI on Monday 7 July. But a
typhoon (Neoguri) was forming in the Pacific so the
departure was delayed. The projected typhoon track put the Neoguri
right in the route of the Knarr out of Korea. 201408
Here is the route the Knarr intended
to take:
The typhoon progressed mostly along the projected track, the
weather in Geoje became rather ominous and many
vessels sought shelter in the bay around SHI and in Jangpyeong.
SHI has largely moved off the ship and done a fabulous job cleaning up.
Insulation materials are stashed in many places on the upper deck, underneath
the modules above.:
Finally, the ship left the side of Green Dock #3 on the 10th of
July at noon with little fanfare as the typhoon was still coming and the
weather was a little temperamental. The SHI tugs brought it to an
anchorage for testing the lifeboats and the MOB (man over
board) boat. Teekay
had hired some drones to photograph the departure and there are some
interesting videos of that and the tugs here: Knarr Leaves Green Dock #3 Video 1 Knarr Leaves Green Dock #3 Video 2 Knarr Leaves Green Dock #3 Video 3 Teekay put together an awesome video from the drone footage. You
can see that here. Teekay's awesome video of Knarr The weather had improved but was still grey. Many vessels
departed during the morning. There was a flurry of tug activity.
Some hesitation as the last material is loaded on and off the vessel.
The pilots are on board. People waiting on the Green
dock for photos. Around noon, the ship finally inches away from the
dock. The drones are launched to photograph the occasion. Typhoon track for 20140710. As you can see from the chart
(location of Knarr marked with arrow), the typhoon
was South of Geoje headed Northwest. The
threat of the storm had past.
The next morning, two of the three tugs were tied to the FPSO,
the lead tug, the Fairmont Sherpa, an ocean going
tug, IMO number 9315563, MMSI 245609000 was first and then the Fairmont
Glacier, IMO number 9344796, MMSI 245355000. The ships towed the Petrojarl Knarr up the passage, out of the SHI anchorage and over
the tunnel that leads to Geoje. That took
most of the day and around 4:00 pm, the third ocean going tug, the Fairmont
Expedition, IMO number 9358943, MMSI 245309000 was tied to the starboard side
of the Knarr's fo'c'sle and the journey was finally
underway. Photos from 20140711 Leaving Geoje Video of Bridges and Tunnel
from Busan to Geoje #1 Video of Bridges and Tunnel
from Busan to Geoje #2 Video of Bridges and Tunnel
from Busan to Geoje #3 Neoguri had moved further off to the Northwest and wasn't a
threat as you can see from the weather in the photos and video. There was a very full moon the night of the 13th: And with the full moon came word of another typhoon, this one
projected to cross the path of the Knarr:
So
on the 14th, routes to avoid the typhoon were studied. Here are the
possible routes in red and the path of the typhoon in pencil:
On the 14th, the weather was still beautiful: But the typhoon was clearly still headed for the intended (and
pretty much only) route to Singapore.
On the morning of the morning of the 15th, a new disaster
struck. The Camp Boss announced that the last of the bacon had been
eaten at breakfast. Some unscrupulous supplier
had put pork legs and corn on the cob in the bacon boxes. Greg sent out
an urgent message in hopes of obtaining the international distress symbol for
running out of bacon. Fortunately, a former Naval Academy grad and
whirlybird pilot (Mark Coonrod), had the definitive proper signal flags for this
occasion. Read some of the
correspondence here. Greg was spared the bacon disaster by
the ever resourceful bacon chef who barbqued some pork bellies and made bacon in the next
mornings with the result. The Great Bacon Mutiny of 2014 was avoided. Photos from 20140715 showing
the barbequed pork belly. The typhoon of course was still in the way:
On the 16th, the typhoon was deemed sufficiently far enough
South and crossing the Philippines for the Knarr to
head back to the original course. Photo from 20140716 shows the
chart with the location of the Knarr for William
and Jupiter. Here is the typhoon track:
By the 17th, the Knarr was taking the
closest passage through the Strait between Taiwan and the Philippines. The
weather was still brilliant so Greg took the
opportunity to take a number of photos of the islands. At this point
the Petrojarl Knarr had
entered the South China Sea. Luzon was visible for sevearl
hours. Video of the tugs from
20140717 The typhoon was moving away to the North and to the West:
As the Knarr moved South, she ran into
the remnants of the storm, the swells picked up and some of the crew were actually seasick. The headwinds increased
to 20 knots. Photos of the charts from
20140718 And the typhoon moved on to the West and North:
A new typhoon was forming, but the track was well to the
North of Knarr:
On the 19th, the wind was still blowing
and the rolls were still fairly active. There was a barbque
and the Chef cooked the last of the pork belly. At this point, the tugs had demonstrated that 12 knots could be
a normal speed. All should bode well for Oktoberfest. On the
22nd, the security boat joined the fleet. It looked nice and Greg
decided it's primary security feature would be to provide pirates with bait. The timing for reaching Bintan was
suboptimal as we reached in the evening of the 23rd. The Knarr dropped anchor. The next morning the fleet of ships, boats and barges showed up
for the pit stop. It was a day of material movement. Just after midnight, at 2:00am, the last supply boat showed
up. The material was loaded, the technicians departed, having just
completed their satellite programming a few hours earlier. The barges
were off and the Knarr raised anchor at 5:25am. As everyone knows, Singapore sits at just 1 degree, several
minutes off the equator North. So on the next
day, as the Knarr was pulled toward the Sunda Strait, the ships crew
crossed the magical line called the equator. The toilet bowls began
immediately spinning the opposite direction and the gods smiled favorably on
the vessel. Neptune visited and Christened the
crew. It was great line crossing revelry. Although Greg has
crossed the equator 5 times on a ship, it was the first time he got a
certificate. Certificate Photos from the Crossing the
Line Party The ship sailed South into the Southern reaches of the South
China Sea. The water is very calm here typically and the weather very
balmy. Video 20140725 Knarr in
the South China Sea near Indonesia It
was also decided on the approach to Singapore and during the stop there to
take the Southern Route out of Singapore and through the Sunda
Straight into the Indian Ocean. Greg had never taken this route before,
one of the key drivers was the traffic in the Malacca Straits was
prohibitive. Of course this was a great
decision as it would take the route just past Krakatoa. Here is the
route from Singapore to Mauritius.
By
the 28th, the ship had moved into the Java Sea and was approaching Jakarta. And on the 29th, the ship passed Jakarta and sailed on through
the Sunda Strait and the ships
crew was afforded a beautiful view of the remnants of Krakatoa in the sunset. Photos from 20140729 - Near
Jakarta Photos from 20140729 -
Krakatoa Almost immediately through the Straits, the ship entered the
Indian Ocean and the began to slightly roll. The Indian Ocean is very
blue and most beautiful. Next land should be Mauritius. At
the end of construction, Teekay insisted that the
stern thrusters were required for the voyage. We made fun of them for
being a bunch of steamies, "you're getting
towed to Norway, you're not going to drive there"
The thrusters were actually very important on the voyage as the Knarr fishtailed severely without them. This video
shows the ship without power, fishtailing all over the Indian Ocean. On Tuesday morning, the lead tug Fairmount Sherpa was
disconnected from the Knarr so it could go faster
on to Mauritius to begin bunkering. Photos from the activity and the
other daily happenings are below. After a few days of rain, the sun
came out in a blue sky. On 8 August, the Knarr and her two
attendant tugs are approaching Mauritius. Arrival is scheduled for
around noon on 9 August. Greg
made a video this day The
Knarr arrived off the coast of Mauritius on the
morning of August 9th. Greg
made a video of the arrival in Mauritius 20140809 Knarr Arrives in Mauritius Greg
got off the ship in Mauritius and fortunately there are no photos. He
spent a few days reveling with Norwegians who had gone too long without
liquid sustenance. Champagne flowed. Dereliction ensued.
What do you do with a drunken sailor? Johannes Bunes,
Greg's back to back boarded the ship for Capetown and beyond. After a few days of Mauritius,
Greg flew to Johannesburg to catch the Singapore Airlines flight. He
spent a day in Singapore and then back to Geoje.
After 5 days of completing packing in Geoje and
downloading all the incomplete work from the tow, Greg left for the US.
He spent a few days with the kids and then flew to Los Palmos
Spain to meet the Knarr which had crossed the
equator a 2nd time on it's run up from Capetown. Greg beat the Knarr
by a couple days and enjoyed a few days on the beach and catching up with the
crew in a nice setting. On
the evening of the 5th, Greg and the crew entered the harbor, cleared customs and were loaded on the Knarr.
They left the next morning. The
Knarr was towed North around the West side of
Ireland and then into the North Sea. Between the Shetland Islands and
Scotland, the Knarr received her first
helicopter. Greg captured this on video. 201409 Knarr’s First
Helicopter The
Knarr had made such good time, preparations had not
progressed to the point that the shipyard could receive the Knarr. So the Knarr did a giant donut in the North Sea. Captured
on AIS.
The
3 tugs and Knarr also showed up very well on the
AIS
On
the 16th of September, after making incredible time on the tow, the Knarr arrives in Haugesund,
Norway. It was a picture perfect day.
The sky was cloudless, it was warm and the Knarr
was slowly towed into the main harbor late in the day. Greg took lots
of photos. 20140916 Arrival in Haugesund donut
in the North Sea Greg
also took 3 long videos of the various tug activities and the entry into the
harbor. 20140916 Arrival in Haugesund
1 Things
in the shipyard weren't quite complete, so Greg and the crew spent the night
on the ship. Greg
got off the ship the next day. Greg
left Haugesund for Oktoberfest in Munich and could
have had a couple extra days of training. When he got back it was
raining. It rained pretty much the entire month of October in Haugesund. After a few days in the hotel, walking
back and forth in the rain and putting up with the English, Greg moved back
onto the ship to enjoy the good Norwegian food. The stay in Haugesund included work on the cranes, lots of insuation and heat tracing and other commissioning
activities. At
the end of October, Greg flew down to Barcelona to meet the Kiwi and sail to
the South of France, then back to Haugesund and
about the time the ship left the shipyard, Greg flew back to the States to
see the kids. Teekay did an awesome video of the Knarr
leaving Haugesund. Awesome video of Knarr
leaving Haugesund The
next time he flew to Norway was to fly to Floro, so
he could catch a helicopter out to the ship. The weather cooperated and
the moorings and riser pull ins happened steadily throughout the end of the
year. 20141124 Knarr
Umbilical Pull-In 20141204 Helicopter Operations Video 20141205 Helicopter Operations Video The
holidays on Knarr are very special. The food
is awesome and the people extra Norwegian friendly. There is lots of
fun and games and secret Santa. Magnar played
Santa Claus. Remember to bring something nice to wear for Christmas dinner. Due
to very poor planning (and a desire to go to Oktoberfest), Greg was on the
ship for both Christmas and New Year. 20150106 Helicopter Operations Video Greg
then got a nice break from the ship. There
was a lot of testing of systems before first oil. On the 5th of
February there was a massive testing of the deluge system. Knarr doesn't like fire. 20150205 Deluge System Testing 1 20150205 Deluge System Testing 2 20150205 Deluge System Testing 3 20150207 Video of the Wind and Waves 20150207 Jan-Petter on the Weather Before
production, you could take a camera just about anywhere on the ship.
Here are a couple stern videos from that time. Greg
and Peter Harkins were out inspecting systems and took these two videos: Finally,
on the 16th of March, Knarr produced her first oil. 20150316 First Oil Flare Lighting Video BG
did a great video production to celebrate There
was an eclipse on the 20th of March. There was a special eclipse
weather report to celebrate the height of the eclipse 20150320 Eclipse Weather Report On
the 20th of March, there was a massive emergency drill involving other ships
and helicopters 20150320 Helicopter Search and Rescue 1
Video 20150320 Helicopter Search and Rescue 2
Video 20150320 Helicopter on Deck Video 20150320 Helicopter Taking Off Video 20150321 Knarr
Photos from the Drill 20150324 Video of the Skandi
Seven To
board the helicopter, you must wear a survival suit in case of an emergency
landing on the water. 20150401 Greg in a Survival Suit Video Norwegians
love the sunshine. They are usually outside any time it shines. 20150420 Norweigans in
the Sunshine Video 20150723 Knarr
Orcas 20151224 Christmas Eve Weather Report
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