Day 22 The Bridge

As you might suspect from today's title, today was our opportunity to tour the bridge and have the Captain tell us about the various aspects of the ship. So this 32,000 ton vessel draws about 3 meters (9 Feet) and requires about one meter in addition to be able to maneuver. The bridge is festooned with an array of sophisticated equipment. The Captain broke the equipment down into two categories; dumb electronics and smart electronics. Dumb included things such as the GPS controlled steering which once set on course will continue even if it drives you up on the beach. The smart equipment included things like the stabilizers which extend about 15 feet out from the ship when deployed and are about 7 feet wide. These fins are controlled by a computer that will analyze the movement of the ship over a period of time and then anticipate the next movement and act before it happens. These only control the roll of the ship from side to side. They cannot help with the fore to aft movement.
We were able to see where the sonar had detected two electric or telephone cables that we were passing over. They also had radar that showed that there were two cyclones (typhoons) about 500 miles to our north east.
The Captain indicated that the ship burns a type of barely refined oil which must be heated before it is ready to be used by the power system. In fact the fuel is burned to produce power to run the generators which in turn run the propellers as well as the rest of the electrical equipment on board. He indicated that the ship could improve its speed at night by about 1 knot per hour due to to the fact that the electric demand is lower because the passengers are sleeping and the kitchen is not in use and there is more electrical power available. They do have a reserve of diesel that can be used if needed but the other fuel is cheaper.
There is an emergency stop system that can stop the vessel in 4 ship lengths. Doing this might severely damage the equipment, but in the case of an emergency could be done.
He also educated us about the rules of the road which means that no vessel, sailing ship or other wise, is allowed to impede shipping as long as you are in a seaway. Kind of like an expressway for cars. This debunked the understanding that sail always had the right of way over steam.
There are three watches each 8 hours in length during which one of the officers is in charge of the sailing operation of the ship. He told us that maritime rules require that the crew must be able to evacuate the passengers in a 30 minute period to meet requirements.
All in all it was very interesting.

Chris - "Seabourn meets Flathead" We had a surprise yesterday when we got a note from a couple who are fellow passengers who are residents of Lakeside, MT. For those not familiar with Montana that's about a 15 min. boat trip across Flathead Lake from our house. We met them for drinks tonight and will have dinner with them sometime soon. Joanne's first question to me is "Do you have a son who performed in Bigfork?" She adored Stephan and remembered him from 10 years ago. Does a Mother Proud! What fun...they are a delightful couple who have other residences in California.