Adventure aboard the Wave Venture—November 5, 2013

A huge thank-you to Joan Peggs for organizing the "adventure" and for writing this report. 

Most members marshalled at Pier B for 11:20 am; we were introduced to Samantha Rosindell, Operations and Administrative Assistant of Ogden Point. Promptly following Samantha, we headed  over to Pier A, the beginning of our 'on water' experience. Captain Mark Nash met us inside the gate of Pier A, spoke briefly to us, and then directed us to the gangway. He very nimbly navigated it; some Rotarians were not so fortunate but soon acquired their 'sea legs'. The large group of Rotarians and guests were split into 2 groups; Kerri, 2^nd officer took one group, Alan, 3^rd officer took another group.

Wave Venture is owned by Global Marine, a British based company; the ship is registered in London but based in Victoria. A complement of 50 persons man the ship; approximately 30 are officer level (mostly British - one woman, with a few Filipinos and one Indian), the remainder being the operating crew (all Filipino). 

Second Officer Kerri and Captain Mark

Within the officer level there are:

•  the officers in charge of operating of the ship (marine background)
• the officers in charge of the cable repairs (engineering background)

This ship is responsible for the area spanning 'North to Alaska', south to Mexico and west to the International dateline. The ship usually has one call/per year; so far this year they have been called out 5 times. They need to be ready to depart within 6 hours; this limits their off-duty travel adventures! Officers are on watch duty on a three-day cycle – one day on, two days off; their contracts are on an eight week cycle; eight weeks on, eight weeks off – home for eight weeks! Crew have a contract of 8 or 9 months, then they go home to the Philipines; their name goes to the bottom of the list working its way up for the next opening. The crew stay with the same company; they know their way around the ships, and the company knows them.

    

The function of the cable ship is to repair broken/damaged communication cables (some were laid in the late 1800's). Breaks occur due to damage from anchors, earthquakes, or other weather related problems. Second officer Kerri explained the method by which the cable is brought onto the ship after the break/damaged area has been detected.

If the break is too deep, a remote-controlled submersible is lowered to locate the break, or an old-fashioned grapnel is used to lift the damaged cable to the surface – one end of the cable is secured to a buoy, the ship then goes in search of the other end. After locating it, the two ends are eventually joined by inserting a new section of cable; the repaired cable is tested on board ship and also by the respective owner prior to being 'laid to rest'.

     During the short visit in the engineering section of the ship we were given a demonstration of the repair of a cable. Cables used to be co-axial; all are now fiberoptic. The thickness of the cable is governed by the depth to which it is laid; those close to the surface have many layers of steel around them to protect the fibers.

   

Leading the way, Second Officer Kerri took us to the aft bridge where First officer Alex (above) explained the various computer screens; he noted that they always have paper backup.

And who uses the cables? We all do. All communications (telephone, fax, email, internet etc.) is transferred  through the cables. If there is a break in a company's cable they quickly negotiate with another company to re-route the communication. Obviously they pay for the re-routing. A group of companies team together to put out RFPs. Companies, such as Marine Global, bid on these contracts. Will the cable ship ever be out of business? Never, according to the First Officer; the use of satellites is no comparison – they are more difficult to repair, more costly to replace, and communication flow is not consistent. So next time any of you are on one of the local beaches, and you notice the huge sign CABLE, cast your memory back to the visit to the Wave Venture

Kerri's group ably followed her down the gangway; no missteps this time. After thanking her and bidding her a fond farewell we headed to Pier B 'lounge' where we enjoyed a tasty lunch of sandwich , vegetable, fruit and cookie platters made by Thrifty Foods Deli (using the smile card to support the club and in turn support Thrifty Foods). Starbucks coffee was also available.

Members mixed and mingled sharing their ship adventures. Before too many attendees began drifting back to work or other activities, Brian thanked Samantha for facilitating the visit to the ship.

A special thank you to Don and Pablo (no, not "above"!) for collecting the money on October29th; to Don for collecting the remainder yesterday, and for making certain the total balanced prior to passing it over to Anne.

Happy Guy Fawkes to everyone before the night is over (we were on a British ship)!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_Night