Yesterday I took a 20 minute chopper ride (not my shortest by the way) in a Huey out to the Saipem 10,000 which is on location offshore Borneo. The purpose of my visit was to reconnoiter the ship to complete a pre rig-up survey, determine the lay of the land and see what facilities the ship has.
As my stay was only 24 hours I had complete the survey lickety-split, which meant 10 hours of cambering over pipework, climbing ladders, squeezing through crawlspaces and crawling along cable racks with a tape measure; so plenty of pictures, notes and sketches. The net result is that apart from having a clearer picture of what the rig-up entails, I got my coveralls dirty for the first time in months. And it felt good!
I also got incredibly sweaty because it's like a cauldron out here. The temperature was over 30C and with all the water around us, plus the lack of breeze, the humidity was 100%. I think I sweated out a couple of kilos, all of which ended up in my clothes. I've never perspired through my coveralls before - they weighed a ton when I took them off. I reckon I was more physically drained from the climate than the physical exertion, and I slept like a log last night.
The last few rig-up issues were completed with a face-to-face with the company man and rig superintendent and now I am ready to fly back home today - just in time for lunch. It was very strange feeling to take a trip offshore knowing I didn't have to work a twelve hour shift for several weeks, and it made me feel like a VIP to come out for one day.
Hi Jeremy,
ReplyDeleteAm off to the 10k in the next week. Any advice or tips for working on it? How stable is it to work on?
Cheers,
Max