eSeaM A R I T I M E / O I L & G A S / W I N D / C R A N E · N O . 2 4 / 2 0 1 5

EM AGA ZINE FROM M A ERSK TR A INING 24

Fire in the hold! > Training helps knock millions off well cost >

Training is vital but how do you train a trainer? >

Dubai warms up as a global training hub >

So what’s it like to live out there in the North Sea? >

Winds of change for technician who took a chance >

Putting people before politics >

Memories, Misery, Money & Motion-sickness >

Island of SteelYou can’t find it on Google Earth, but this ‘town’ is home to about 120 men, and women, from up to 25 different nations. It’s an island of steel where there are only two times, daytime and night time. >

Dubai warms up as a global training hubRain on the windows of Louises hometown Aalborg is not really a novelty, but in current home Dubai it is a real treat. >

Training is vital but how to you train a trainer?When Bjarne Møller steps out in front of his class for the first time he knows he has three minutes to win them over. >

Training helps knock millions off well costDrilling is an expensive business. So imagine the joy when the longest well ever drilled in the Mediterranean and deepest in Eqypt was achieved in 79% of the allotted spend time. >

Fire in the hold!Chief Officer Darius Zinkevicius has absolutely no doubt that the words and guidance of psychologist Frank Lamberg Nielsen carried him through the most trying and dangerous circumstances he ever had to face. >

content

Tyred not Tired‘Sometimes it is an element of competition and sometimes it is their personal style in that they don’t want to be like anyone else ’. It’s the Mid-West’s contribution to the American Dream, the customised pick-up truck. >

Putting people before politicsParty politics were left in the council office when elected members of Esbjerg Commune took part in a one-day First Aid course at Maersk Training in Esbjerg. >

Mud GloryApart from the length, breadth and depth of the pain barrier, Andy Suthern’s abiding memory of a 12 kilometre run uphill, downhill, across rivers, through pipes and mud and then more Yorkshire mud, is of teamwork. >

24 26 28 30

18141084

Winds of change for technician who took a chance ’I was working on the crane pad and shouted out “ twins” and the whole crew shouted back. It was a never-to-be-forgotten moment ’. >

Memories, Misery, Money & Motion-sicknessHow well do you know your workmates? Well enough to spend 24 hours bobbing up and down on the edge of the North Sea in an inflatable life raft? >

22

3

In journalism it has long been held that today’s

news headline story is tomorrow’s wrapping

for fish and chips. Fish and chips is a hard

concept to convey to most of the world, but

even in the UK, beer battered fish and ink-

stained chips sold in newspapers is a fading

memory. The feeling however that a story has

a short life span is not.

In this e-tech age, we are faster and better

informed than ever before – perhaps we don’t

gain from the deep insight of a 1500 word

article, but when your wife’s phone bleeps

and she turns round and says ‘Sepp Blatter’s

been suspended’ you realize just how wide and

shallow the blanket coverage of today’s news

is.

We don’t look for dramatic stories in eSea,

just stories that reflect life in our industries.

We’ve had 24 issues and we are in the process

of marking our quarter century by gathering

together some of the best stories to make a

coffee table version, something you can wrap

your fish and chips in.

There are no news hounds making eSea,

but here I’d like to thank one colleague who

has developed a fine sense for a good human

interest story. In two dozen issues there are

stories that stand out, and most of these

are triggered by one source, Frank Lamberg

Nielsen. I think even Frank would agree that

his first ‘tip off’ was a little blind.

That was when he met the Vietnamese refugee

who grew to be a Maersk captain and Frank

recalled his story as if it was a prolonged

interruption to a course, but since then he

has been the inspiration behind some stories

which, like Captain Ngoc have gone beyond

this publication. Today he brings us Darius.

It’s a rare story because being able to marry a

moment in training to a positive result in real

life is never easy – it happens a lot, but mostly

the realization that ‘what I learnt was actually

vital,‘ goes unnoticed.

It’s about ultimate stress management, so get

yourself a cup of coffee or tea, and slowly, very

slowly because that is the secret, join Darius

as he puts out a fire. eSea is very much about

people and we are so happy to hear from you

about the Darius and Ngoc’s of this exciting

world.

Richard Lightbodyrli039@maersktraining.com

A better story experience

44

Marketing and training share a common plight – the results are not always obvious and staring you in the face. It’s this

difficulty to openly attribute any one action to any one result that makes this story significant.

Fire in

the hold!

Fools Rush In Where Angels Fear To Tread

Hamburgefintsiv 5

Chief Officer Darius Zinkevicius

has absolutely no doubt

that the words and guidance

of psychologist Frank Lamberg

Nielsen in June were what carried

him through the most trying and

dangerous circumstances he ever

had to face.

‘Frank had drummed into us on

the course the fact that the worst

thing you can do in an emergency

situation was to rush into it. He

even told us not to approach it

in the same manner as a non-

emergency, but to totally slow

down.’

The opportunity to put this

contrary to normal reaction into

practice came en route to Pelepas

in Malaysia. An ‘unlisted’ cargo of

27 tons of hubble-bubble charcoal

combusted and set off a fire in

a container at B level – the fire

in the heart of the cargo was a

serious threat to the entire vessel,

the 332 metre long Caroline

Maersk.

SLOWLY DOES IT‘When the alarm bells sounded,

I knew it was the real thing

because heavy smoke was

reported from the deck. I did what

I’d learnt to do on the course. I

went slowly down the stairs,

slowly, so slowly, like I don’t

normally do, not running and it

was very hard to do.’

‘First I went down to my cabin

and I put a coverall on and I

zipped it very slowly. It was a

big effort and it was very hard

to do, but I was concentrating

on zipping very slowly,’ Darius

recalls.

August 2015A serious fire on board

a container ship in the South

China Seas. Chief Officer

Darius Zinkevicius.

June 2015Bridge Resource Management

Course at Maersk Training in

Svendborg. Safety Instructor,

Frank Lamberg Nielsen.

Hamburgefintsiv

‘I went down five or six decks

very slowly, I didn’t care if it

took an extra minute, it doesn’t

matter. When I came from F deck

to B deck I arrived in control, I

didn’t feel stress in my body. At E

deck at the fire station the crew

looked at me and didn’t know if

it was fire or an unannounced

drill. Later on a female 3rd officer

said she’d been angry with “this

crazy guy” because it was four in

the afternoon and it was another

unannounced drill.’

Darius incidentally is far from

crazy. Born in Lithuania, brought

up in Denmark and living in

Uruguay he speaks five languages

and has been at sea for 15 of his

44 years as a navigator and Chief

Officer with Maersk Line.

‘Because of my clear state of mind,

all the actions we took over the

next 60 hours were down to being

in a state where I was calm and

rational. If you are stressed you

start forgetting and blocking and

the crew gets worried, but when

they see someone who is calm

6

7

then they know they are going in

the right direction.’

SUPERCREW NOT SUPERMANThe whole crew came together

to fight the fire, entering into

the dark hold on as many

as 30 occasions. They were

together, totally focused on the

extinguishing the blaze and

danger. Darius worked for the first

30 hours without a break. He was

not alone, however at one point he

had to tell the chief cook to break

off fighting the fire and get back

to his normal role because they

needed food. The feedback, of the

non-nutritious sort, from the crew

was positive.

‘I’m proud of myself, proud of

the crew. Now I have a lot of

confidence, I have done it and I

know I can do it again and know

that everyone can do it.’

‘I would like to share this with

everyone because it is about

Stress Management Tools. I don’t

consider myself as a Superman, I

think I’m average when it comes

to stress management, that’s

why during the course I paid a lot

of attention to what Frank was

saying,’ said Darius. ●

Bridge Resource Management

EXTRACT FROM BRIDGE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT COURSE DESCRIPTION‘The very essence of this course is to put focus on and in some

extend train the officers to handle dynamically escalating

situations in a simulator emphasizing the need to apply this

learning to real life situations.’

This couldn’t have been more true than on the Caroline Maersk

that day. Darius picked up what he needed from the crisis

management section and how to confront stress. The three-day

course also covers:

• Human Factors

• Communication, Perception and Assertiveness

• Stress, Complacency, Distraction and Fatigue

• Planning and Pilot Integration

• Resource Management, Decision Making, Leadership

and Team Work.

• Case studies and simulator exercises as a learning tool to

backup/illustrate the theory

• Bridge resource management knowledge, understanding and

proficiency as recommended in STCW

• Observations and feedback given by each of the participant’s

own colleagues is processed.

Drilling is an expensive business. Every minute costs, so every minute counts. Estimating how long it takes to do a job is crucial doing it within that realistic estimation vital. So imagine the joy in the accounts office and the floors above when Atoll, the longest well ever drilled in the Mediterranean and deepest in Egypt, was achieved in 79% of the allotted spend time. It knocked nine weeks off what they call the AFE target – Authority For Expenditures.

Sixty-two days ahead of

schedule means 62 days of

huge savings for the oil major BP

and gave the crew on Maersk

Discoverer the opportunity to

reflect on how they did it.

There were many factors in the

success from highly technical

to training. What made this a

successful well was probably a

combination of lessons learnt

from previous wells Geb and

Salamat, the equipment being in

premium condition and the ability

of the crew to follow a plan.

Rig leader Allan McColl also

highlighted the focus on

actively using observation

studies to optimize operational

performance as a key factor

in improving procedures. ‘The

strong performance is a result of

the dedicated use of the ‘Plan Do

Study Act’ methodology in the

planning and execution of the

work,’ says Allan who added that

the crew had moved on from the

8

Training helps knock millions off well cost

Oh Happy Days

9

HPHT complex wells into what

is termed batch drilling and have

drilled nine further wells.

Much of what the drilling process

was practiced in a ‘dry run’ on

simulators at Maersk Training

in Svendborg, but from feedback,

what went on in terms of

teambuilding was a major factor

and that was put down to a week

of identifying and developing

soft skills by a former OIM on

Discoverer, Brian Train.

‘The session (in Svendborg)

was a step in a very important

direction and the whole

Discoverer performance was

greatly improved by the “one

team” approach and some

excellent planning sessions

from all involved. It did help to

cement the idea that BP could

only be successful if Maersk was

successful and vice versa,’ says

Brian.

The marrying of ‘soft’ people

skills to technical ability has

been an approach followed

by Maersk Training since

they established performance

enhancement courses two years

ago. These all-embracive week-

long programmes, developed in

conjunction with Maersk Drilling,

have since been tailored to

individual rigs and targeted wells

for oil majors. ●

Training helps knock millions off well cost

Oh Happy Days ‘The strong performance is a result of the dedicated use of the ‘Plan Do Study Act’ methodology in the planning and execution of the work,

When Bjarne Møller steps out in front of his class for the first time he knows he has three minutes to win them over – 180 precious seconds to grab their attention, their interest and their loyalty.

In front of him are no more than

four people who he will assess,

coach and then watch as they

bloom into the vital role of being

tomorrow’s educators. In the time

it takes to boil a soft egg he has

to establish a relationship which

will last long beyond the seven

days that he has at his disposal to

train-the-trainer.

Bjarne’s students are uniquely

different to the type of teachers

we had at school – often people

who went from school to

university and then back to

school. His charges come from

different worlds and it is that

uniqueness that is so precious

when they step up in front of their

first class.

NASA CONNECTIONJeff Davis, formerly a Chief Office

on supply vessels in the Gulf of

Mexico explained, ‘I’m a virgin

soldier I’ve never taught beyond

elementary school substitute

teaching. Bjarne definitely opened

my eyes to different ways of

teaching a class instead of the

normal ways that you see. I’m

good to go, I’ve learned a lot.’

Also Houston-based, but with

the People Skills Department

is Evelyn Baldwin who was

certainly not a first timer. In fact

Houston Gets A Pair of Trainers

Training is vital but how do you train

a trainer?

“A good teacher is like a candle – it consumes itself to light the way for others.”Author Unknown

“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.Albert Einstein

“Don’t try to fix the students, fix ourselves first. The good teacher makes the poor student good and the good student superior.” Marva Collins

10

Hamburgefintsiv 11

“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”

William Arthur Ward

11

some of her training has been

out of this world – at NASA she

trained astronauts and flight

controllers for the International

Space Station program before

coming to the oil & gas industry

and using her physics background

as a technical instructor for the

BOP Control System with GE Oil &

Gas for two years.

Regardless of the quality of

her training CV she felt Bjarne

really challenged her to find new

techniques, push ideas and try new

things. ‘It was a great experience

and I think I’m going to be a better

instructor because of the course.

I love it that Maersk Training

requires all instructors to do it.’

42 YEARS AND STILL LEARNINGTrain-the-Trainer has two

principal purposes. Firstly

to qualify the student to be a

trainer and secondly that the

student gains an attitude that

development in the trainer role

is a never-ending process. ‘I’ve

been a trainer for 42 years and

I’m not finished yet. Sometimes

I think I’m close to 100, but then

I realise that I’m down on 85%,’

says Bjarne practicing his self-

assessment.

The course is divided into two.

A pre and a main course. The

pre-course lasts two long days,

eight to eight. There is a lot of

theory and I’m trying not to be too

THE LEARNING PYRAMIDAND AVERAGE LEARNING RETENTION RATES

“We can teach from our experience, but we cannot teach experience.”Sasha Azevedo

“There are three things to remember when teaching: know your stuff; know whom you are stuffing; and then stuff them elegantly.”Lola May

“The average teacher explains complexity; the gifted teacher reveals simplicity.”Robert Brault

Lecture 5%

Reading 10%

Audio-visual 20%

Demonstration 30%

Discussion 50%

Practicing 75%

Teaching others 90%

12

13

heavy on theory but letting them

discover it through exercises.

With exercises the new trainers

realise that student activity is

essential if you want them to

reach understanding. PowerPoint,

lecture, this is not training, this

is listening. Training is when you

work with and solve problems.

Theory takes in how to make

an objective, how to structure,

which method to use and what

training aids and how to handle

the training aids. Then there

is training technique, body

language, voice control.

That’s followed almost

immediately by the five-day main

course where Bjarne can relax a

bit as it is now the new trainers

turn to work and to train each

other. Each has to do four lessons

and each of these is evaluated

using video recording.

OPEN EYES, OPEN MINDSWhilst training Bjarne is

looking out for reactions

and commitment, failure is a

possibility for if Bjarne doesn’t

think you are up to the mark,

he won’t let you loose on an

unsuspecting class.

He then goes into repair the

damage by using a process

which he sees as fundamental in

training, the ability to open eyes

by spreading the responsibility

and cooperating to finding the

solution. In other words he puts

any failure back on himself. For

example to someone who is not

engaged he’ll ask ‘I’m sorry but

is it because the way I do this? Is

it boring or are you reflecting on

how I’m doing this because I’m

not clear, because I want to do the

best for you.’

It wasn’t a technique he needed

on this occasion, all four

participants, including the

Houston duo, were cleared for

take-off. ●

BJARNE’S FOUR GOLDEN RULES• Proper planning prevents

poor performance

• Involve students

• Don’t make it complicated

• Try to create motivational

energetic environment

“The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be ignited.” Plutarch

“The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.Mark van Doren

“A good trainer is self-reflecting and analyses their own performance through asking what I got right or wrong”Bjarne Møller

Bjarne – A case study‘There was this Indian guy who

admitted he was an introvert –

didn’t have a social gene. ”I live

out in the country, I’ve just got

married to a professor,” he said

and he just wanted to go step

by step. But you have to have

a social gene and to involve

yourself in training because

you have a responsibility. He

talked to his wife who was

used to standing in front of

students and he put her on the

phone to me. She said I think

we have found the tools and

they had – in his last lesson I

have never seen anyone put so

much energy into it. He was so

tired afterwards he virtually

crawled out of the room.’

13

14

There was a time when Louise would look out of the window and be excited by the sight of snow – now the thrill is the four or five times a year it rains. Rain on the windows of hometown Aalborg is not really a novelty, but in current home Dubai it is a real treat.

The Middle East has been

Louise Lund’s base for the

past four years and that has given

her a chance to really draw lines

of demarcation between living in

the moist green grass of northern

Quick Look

Out the Window

- it’s raining!

Dubai warms up as a global training hub

14

Hamburgefintsiv 1515

Hamburgefintsiv

Jutland and in the dry sand of

Dubal.

‘Dubai planners seem to have

one rule, if we are going to have

something, it must be bigger

and better than anywhere else,’

says Louise. It is a leading world

tourist attraction; more people

visit Dubai Mall, the world’s

largest shopping centre each year

than visit the whole of Denmark.

In fact Denmark celebrated a

record number of visitors in 2014,

47 million, but that is still 28

million fewer than went shopping

at the Mall.

AALBORG IN REVERSEDubai is a visitors’ stopover and

many of those who stop, stay

with the large number of foreign

nationals for whom the emirate

state is a tax-free workers

paradise. Having somewhere

for friends and family to stay is

a plus/minus for those who live

there.

‘Most weekends we have visitors.

For the first two years it was

tiring and expensive, we went

to the top of the Burj Khalifa five

times in less than two months,’

she says pointing out that their

guests now have moved on in

terms of how they entertain

themselves, ‘they now enjoy the

things we enjoy, it is easier.’

Seeking relief from the sun and

heat by staying inside, life in

Dubai is a reversal of Aalborg

where you are kept indoors by

the cold. Being inside has turned

Louise and her husband into film

buffs – there’s little Hollywood

has turned out in the past three

years that they haven’t seen. ‘The

funny thing is that in Aalborg I

never went to the cinema, it’s just

something you do here and of

course being here the cinemas are

a bit different.’

Different means deep comfy seats,

waiter service and Hollywood

movies still wet from the cutting

room. Dubai is a very service-

conscious society; that along

with the drive to make it a world

commercial centre makes it

16

17

a vibrant living environment

which has attracted thousands of

expats, particularly those in the

post university pre-family and

two dogs group. Louise is a sales

executive with the new Maersk

Training complex that opened its

doors at the end of September.

99% HAPPYIn business she sees little

difference in being a woman

executive in this part of the world.

‘Lots of people think of the Middle

East and say “but you can’t drive

there as a woman or go out alone”

but Dubai isn’t like that, I can

freely do what I would in Aalborg,’

says Louise.

It’s an environment that pulsates,

but how does it hold up to life in

Aalborg? Louise was surprised,

but delighted, to hear that her

hometown recently came top of

a European Commission survey

into how inhabitants viewed

the quality of life in their city.

People in 79 cities were asked 30

questions including those about

public spaces, cleanliness and

financial security. Aalborg came

top with a whacking 99% happy

rate.

‘When we have children we will

probably return to Denmark

because that is the better place to

bring them up,’ she says. But until

that happens, Louise says she will

continue to enjoy the 360 days of

sunshine.

And it’s about enjoying Dubai

that Louise thinks is a major plus

in her role of getting participants

to Fly-Stay-Learn. The new

centre is just next to the new Al

Maktoum airport, is in the hub

of what is a hub city – the area

is called Dubai World Central

(DWC), which says it all. Most

of the world’s capital cities are

within an eight hour flight of

Dubai. This assess, competitive

accommodation and the new

purpose-built centre are three

majors in her sales toolbox. ●

17

Hamburgefintsiv 18

Hamburgefintsiv 19

If it had a mayor, a judge, a

priest, for two or three weeks

at a time it would be one man. On

this shift it is David Lodhi. His

charge is what most of us would

call a drilling rig and a growing

number of people refer to it as

an offshore installation. It’s a

new title which makes David, as

the manager, the OIM of Maersk

Resolute. The Resolute is a jack-

up rig currently in 60 metres

of water in the Danish sector’s,

South Arne field*; that’s about

280kms west of where Denmark

becomes somewhere you can

actually stand on and keep your

feet dry.

REAL LIFE ARTIFICIAL COMMUNITYSo what is life like for an artificial

community which is just about as

inaccessible as the orbiting space

station?

One image to immediately get out

of your mind is that of the gold-

rush mentality, of tough-talking

men searching for riches and in

the process succumbing to the

Island of Steel

Hamburgefintsiv 20

testosterone-driven desire to bar

brawl their way to the top of the

heap. Nothing could be further

from the truth – alcohol, like land,

is at least 280km to the east, or

330 to the west. On board is a

team of professional people for

whom care, safety and teamwork

are as much a triangular

stabilising factor as the Resolute’s

three giant legs.

David sees the first impression for

those arriving on board as being

the crucial moment in establishing

how the entire stay will be,

regardless if it is for a day or the

usual work-shift of three weeks.

‘We welcome people on board

and explain to them what we are

experiencing in the operation,

safety-wise and whatnot. We tell

them if there is anything they

are concerned about they should

always come and see us first thing

rather than walk around and be

uncertain. That welcome is the

first step to having a successful

stay out here,’ says David, who

along with the Safety Officer and

medic take everyone through an

induction. The induction is the

same for everyone, whether as

a first timer or an experienced

hand. For some it is an update, for

others an introduction of what

exactly is expected of them when

on board.

WELL CONTROL – TEAM CONTROLWhat David looks for in those

arriving is a certain sense of

nervousness – in it he sees

people in touch with their new

surroundings and believes that,

like sportspeople, you need the

edge that nerves give you in order

to do a really good job.

Doing a good job involves

management, in the doghouse

there is well control, in the OIM’s

office, team control. So what do

you do when there’s a threat

of a personnel blow out? With

120 people living in a pressure

cooker you’d expect some

friction, but according to David

it is because they are so isolated

that the pressure is immediately

confronted.

‘We respect each another, we

don’t judge one another and we

see how to compensate for each

other’s positives and negatives

out here, and it works really well,’

he says.

‘It’s like when you notice

somebody’s not get getting

20

Hamburgefintsiv 21

*The North Sea is shallow basin with an average depth of 100

metres. This shallowness increases the potential for sudden

storms and wind driven turbulent conditions. The Resolute

operates over what was once Doggerland, glacial debris so vast

that it joined East Anglia in England to Holland, Germany and the

expanded southern part of Denmark’s Jutland peninsula. Fishing

trawlers working the Dogger Bank to the south have dredged up

large amounts of moor peat, remains of mammoth and rhinoceros

and occasionally Paleolithic hunting artefacts.

Getting thereVisiting a rig is a matter of time, commitment and achievement.

Maersk Drilling require an on-line elearning program to have

been successfully completed, a valid Danish Maritime medical

document (the Blue Book) and a certificate from the three-day

BOSIET and HUET courses and naturally, a reason and invite.

To make it easier for you click here for a quick rig visit.

See the video

Hamburgefintsiv 22

23

The phone rings, ‘It’s Jonny’

The banter is an instant updating

of a crowded life, slightly numbed

by the sounds of travel from

outside. Jonny Chung is in the car

again.

It was like the first time

we talked. Then he was on

speakerphone saying he’d just

sold his car to pay for some

training – a life-turning gamble

which paid off for the likable

Geordie.

Now 312 days later he was in

another life-changing situation

and as a consequence was

thinking about changing cars

again – he’d just become a dad,

twice over. He needs something

bigger, more sensible.

He’d just spent two days in

hospital

The twin’s weren’t a surprise,

their arrival date was since

they chose to see the world four

weeks ahead of schedule. The real

surprise had come some weeks

previously when Jonny was

working on erecting the last of a

series of forty wind turbines in

Cornwall.

HIDE AND SEEK‘The phone rang and it was

my girlfriend Gaynor, I wasn’t

expecting anything other than

an update because we’d had the

all clear for a scan the previous

week, the baby was healthy,’ he

said. ‘The second baby must have

been hiding behind, I was working

on the crane pad and shouted

out “ twins” and the whole crew

shouted back. It was a never-to-

be-forgotten moment.’

Jonny appeared in eSea 18 when

he took the gamble of selling

his pride and joy, ‘his wheel’ to

downsize and he used the surplus

cash to pay for some specialist

training in an entirely new field

for him, wind turbines.

He’s an ideal barometer for the

wind turbine industry. He works

for Global Wind Service on a

fulltime contract. This means

working 6/2 weeks rotations and

traveling around the UK to fast

erect EWT Direct Drive turbines,

on land. ‘I think I was put on the

project as part of my learning

curve and I still have a lot to learn

but fell I have come a long way,’

says Jonny.

Jonny would like to work

offshore, even although the

winter season is by necessity

quieter. ‘Hopefully one day I get to

work on the famous Brave Tern &

Bold Tern Offshore Wind Carriers

which are owned by the Fred.

Olsen Group and Global Wind

Service. These vessels are used

on Global Wind Service offshore

installations,’ he says.

THAT CROSS-OVER MOMENTThe life of an installer is pretty

busy at this point of the industry’s

history, but there’s a downside.

You have to take the work when

it comes and where it is. The shift

pattern is tolerable for a bachelor

but for a young father of identical

twin boys there are other

priorities which now need to be

taken into account.

‘I’ll have to see what can be

arranged. There’s a huge offshore

project coming up and I’d love to

be involved, but I also have to see

what works best for the family,’ he

says.

The early arrival of Jaxon and

Jonah already disrupted his work

commitment and in the freelance

world, leave is often at a cost to

the individual.

Meanwhile the third J, Jonny,

continued to drive home, thinking

of how much life had changed

since the day he decided to gamble

his much loved car as a trade-in

against a lesser model and some

specialist training. ‘I think I’ll

have to go for something bigger

this time,’ he ruefully remarked. ●

Downsize Upsize JonnyWinds of change for technician who took a chance

23

Hamburgefintsiv

It’s the Mid-West’s contribution to the American Dream, the customised pick-up truck.

One of its latest carnations is

the Super Duty, designed and

built by Ford at great expense

to tackle the toughest jobs,

but for some that simply isn’t

enough. They take a car out of

the showroom for $30,000 and

immediately take it round to Paul

Dishaw’s offroad/performance

workshop and spend up to

$25,000 on it. When it comes out

of Paul’s place after its make-over

there is no need for a number

plate to find it in the parking lot.

Customizing, or to me more

accurate individualizing, is a

strangely American phenomena

Tyred not Tired‘Sometimes it is an element of competition and sometimes it is their personal style in that they don’t want to be like anyone elseInstructor’s other life supplies the American Dream

24

25

and Paul couldn’t put his finger

on just why it is such a part of the

Texan psych.

‘Sometimes it is an element of

competition and sometimes it is

their personal style in that they

don’t want to be like anyone else’

THAT CROSS-OVER MOMENTThere are basically three types

of customization. The paint job,

body job and the performance

job. Many of Paul’s customers

opt for all three. The first part

is done on a computer where

Paul and his team try to come

up with something to match the

customer’s desired requirements.

It’s a process called rendering

and is not just a matter of

PhotoShopping the original

vehicle. Many hours are spent

trying to create a like-for-like

experience so that the vehicle

owner can accurately see what

they are going to get. It is a classic

case of expectation management.

‘Rendering helps make your

dream come true,’ says Paul who

added that by seeing it on a screen

any errors in taste can be easily

adjusted before the expensive

part of the process starts. ‘It’s

a pretty tedious task and costs

hundreds of dollars but the aim is

to make it look as real as possible.

In the end it pays of itself.’

There are guidelines of taste

largely driven by sponsorship.

There are shows where the cars

come together and the supplying

companies for paint, wheels, tires,

suspension, brakes, engine parts,

interior, audio . . . all cut deals so

that their products feature. It is

here where there are unwritten

guidelines of what is acceptable

or not.

LIVIN’ THE DREAMHaving your own style on four

large wheels is wonderful, whilst

the car is ‘the apple of your eye’,

but as Paul pointed out being

individual can make it hard to

sell. ‘Sometimes you have to

hold on to it longer than you first

anticipated, but there are other

times when you might find people

who want something different,

but don’t want to put the money

into it up front and they are happy

with what you’ve done.’

Twenty-eight year old Paul’s life

is split in two, he works fulltime

as a crane instructor in the new

Houston operation of Maersk

Training and then does 40 plus

hours a week in the workshop.

He’s been running the workshop

for just over a year. When you are

young and doing something you

love, you don’t tire – ‘I’ve been

working on trucks since before I

could drive, so I’m just living the

dream,’ he says. ●

‘I’ve been working on trucks since before I could drive, so I’m just living the dream,’

Not to stereotype, but put a group of politicians into a room in a crisis situation and they might be tempted to draw up an agenda, have a meeting, argue and then delegate, and then meet again to discuss what went wrong.

Not the elected members of

Esbjerg Commune – they

opted out of a normal family

weekend to insure that when an

incident happens they will not

be on-lookers with their hands

in their pockets. Party politics

were left in the council office as

they took part in a one-day First

Aid course at Maersk Training in

Esbjerg.

For some, like Venstre’s Alex

Sørensen, the day was more than

a memory jogger. ‘I was glad to

take part in First Aid training for

the second time in my life. The last

time was 28 years ago, so I needed

to freshen up – I recognise that a

lot has changed over that period.’

Bente Bendix of the Liberal

Alliance was a little surprised

at how demanding it was to give

heart massage. ‘Now I know I

am much more certain I will be

able to help someone in despair.’

Henrik Andersen of Venstre also

felt that it was a good lesson well

learnt and fellow party member

Jakob Lose, a veteran of several

First Aid courses put it in the

top bracket for new knowledge

and the enthusiastic way it was

delivered.

Alex wanted to take the benefit of

the course outside of the council

offices, ‘I think every citizen in the

community should learn how to

give First Aid.’

It’s a party policy Maersk

Training would be happy to help

implement, but with the ideal

course being a day long with eight

participants and the city having

71,618 people, if instructor Henrik

Jensen were to start tomorrow

he’d finish in late July 2039. ●

Electing to HelpPutting people before politics26

Hamburgefintsiv 27

Electing to Help

Left to right

Henrik Jensen (instructor),

Alex Sørensen (Venstre),

Bente Bendix (Lib Alliance),

Annemette Knudsen (Venstre),

Jakob Lose (Venstre)

Søren Abildtrup (Kommune Chief)

& Hendrik Andersen (Venstre).

‘Everyone should do this’

‘Heart massage is very physically

demanding’

‘He’s very enthusiastic’

‘This is so important’

27

Hamburgefintsiv 28

Apart from the length, breadth and depth of the pain barrier, Andy Suthern’s abiding memory of a 12 kilometre run uphill, downhill, across rivers, through pipes and mud and then more Yorkshire mud, is of teamwork.

He took part in one of the Total

Warrior exercises, billed as

the ultimate challenge to mind,

soul and body. You’ve got your

marathons and your triathlons,

but the Warrior experience,

although considerably shorter,

is more intense and because it is

difficult to gain a rhythm, perhaps

more demanding.

Mud Glory

28

Hamburgefintsiv 29

‘You can start off as an individual

but unless you are aiming for a

personal best against the clock,

you will find yourself drawn into

stopping and helping others.

That’s what happened to me,’ says

Andy. ‘The mud was the worst and

after you’ve been helped out by a

stranger you find yourself doing

it for others. It was hard but there

was tremendous camaraderie.’

Andy and five mates were part

of a team, but the challenge to

him started one morning on

the bathroom scales. ‘In my last

job I was a fireman and pretty

active,’ says 39 year-old Andy,

‘now, training people in rescue

and emergency response, I was

staying in hotels, eating the

wrong things at the wrong times

and putting on weight. I just had

to do something.’

For most signing on to a gym,

going seven times in three weeks

and then three times in seven

months, is enough to satisfy

the conscience. Not Andy. He

trained for the 12km, 30 obstacle

challenge and went down from

16½ to 13½ stone; for those

who don’t speak pounds, that’s

a reduction of 14½ kilos. He lost

almost two kilos during the race

alone.

After a beer and the pain

subsiding, it was time to reflect

and make the only decision that

seemed sensible – ‘it was good, I’m

going to do it again.’ ●

29

Hamburgefintsiv 30

7 Up – and down, up and downHow well do you know your workmates? Well enough to

spend 24 hours bobbing up and down on the edge of the North

Sea in an inflatable life raft?

Memories, Misery, Money & Motion-sickness

30

31

That’s what seven men

from Maersk Training in

Newcastle did in order to raise

funds for those who volunteer to

risk their lives to save those in

peril in the waters around the UK.

The Royal National Lifeboat

Association we’re being called out

to save this seven, they too were

volunteers. The one stipulation

they stuck to was to enter the life

raft in an ‘abandon ship’ mode

– no sweets, treats, iPads or hip

flasks, just what was available

in the survival pack on board. It

was to be as realistic as possible.

Luckily it contained a pack of

water-proof playing cards.

The experience started sweetly

enough, but after an hour it rained

and continued to rain for the next

six or seven and the water on

board made things a bit miserable.

‘I’m not sure I could have stuck

it out for days at sea,’ survivor

Sam Nicholson admitted. In that

scenario Sam said that he would

probably be first course on the

ultimate survival menu – ‘well, I

was the largest,’ he said.

‘I’ve known some of the guys

a long time, some hardly at all,

but all those hours together we

got down close and personal,’

said Sam. Considering the most

common ailment in the world

affects one in three of us, motion

sickness, the seven got off light,

only one person fed the fish. ●

7 Up – and down, up and down

‘I’ve known some of the guys a long time, some hardly at all, but all those hours together we got down close and personal,’

‘I’m not sure I could have stuck it out for days at sea’

31

This is a particularly hard

topic to put into words, yet

it is all about words – basically

it ain’t what you say, it is the

way that you say it. To get you

in the mood, have you seen the

classic language school video of

the German coastguard radio

operator? He responds to the

‘mayday screaming’ yachtsman,

with ‘so vad are you sinking?’ You

see it doesn’t work in words.

The inspiration for this look at the

joys of mispronunciation came

from the group of guys at Maersk

Training’s Delight restaurant in

Svendborg. Food there has never

been just normal fare; venison and

deer that have broken free of the

forest occasionally appear on the

menu. So there’s this one night, an

orderly queue by the craved meat

section and someone asking the

assistant chef . . . . I’ll get back to it,

let it savour.

There are numerous incidents

where a slip of the tongue, or

mind, has sent out flutters of

concern. Like recently on live

television when the presenter

picked up the pecorino cheese and

told the demonstrating Italian

chef how much she loved it. Only

problem was she said ‘pecorina’.

The chef blushed; she carried

on in innocence with every

Italian watching wondering why

she should admit on national

Whale Meat Again – don’t know where, don’t know when

32 Poopdeck

Poopdeck 33

television to enjoying a particular

sexual activity.

The swapping of one vowel for

another was embarrassing, but

not disastrous, especially if you

don’t like Italian cheese. The Royal

Navy could sense that someday

something would go wrong if

they continued navigating with

Starboard and Larboard. In

1844 with creditable foresight,

long before crackly radios, they

changed the left side of a ship to

port to avoid confusion.

CONFUSED? READ ON . . .Starboard and Larboard

incidentally have a long history.

From the beginnings of time man

has preferred his right hand, it’s

basically why the Brits drive on

the left; most primitive seafarers

in their first canoes paddled on

the right hand side, that practice

was developed by the Vikings,

who placed their permanent

steering paddle on the side they

called the side of the stars. All

boats consequently protected the

steering when loading, loading on

the load-side, larboard. And where

do you do this loading, in port.

When it comes to geographical

names the mispronunciation

game becomes mega. My elder

brother loves winding my sister

up with the way he says things.

Recently he visited Skagen in

northern Denmark. Locally, and

beyond, the ‘g’ is as silent as nun

in a bodega, but he loves saying it

Ska-GAN. He then mentioned that

he was going on a cruise, stopping

in Nice, N-EEce he said, not N-Ice.

How might he, and you, get on

with these? Can you recognise

ee-ROCK, Du-BAY, and the one

most Americans struggle with

Wusta-sheer. This is the official

pronunciation, honestly. Answers

but no prizes at bottom.

YOU SAY IXTOMATIMuch of how we say things

depends on the ear of the first

person who came across it. It

took 35 centuries to shape the

isolated community on Viti, but

only a moment for some tone-deaf

Englishman to decide the locals

were saying Fiji. The Aztecs where

unhappy with the ‘poisonous’

ixtomati before the Spanish

realised that it could be eaten

and forever enlighten their entire

cuisine as a tomato.

So all this was triggered by a little

mishearing and mispronunciation

in the restaurant. We’re back at

the buffet. The guys had looked

at the main dish and asked what

it was. ‘Veal meat’ was the reply.

‘how exciting, I’ve never had

whale meat’ the head of the queue

said without the chef picking

up the confusion. They party

sat down and discussed how

whale was different from what

they expected, but debated if it

was socially acceptable to eat it.

Clearly they were not Faroese. ●

World Pronunciation Test

WRONG RIGHT WHERE

BANG-kok Bahng-Gawk Bangkok

Bay-zhhhing Bey-Jing Beijing

Wor-chester-shyr Wusta-sheer Worcestershire

Co-LUM-bee-a Co-LOM-bee-a Columbia

Doo-BYE Du-BAY Dubai

EYE-rack ee-ROCK Iraq

RAKE-ja-vik REY-kya-vik Reykjavik

Mel-BORN Melb’n Melbourne

MON-tree-ALL MUN-tree-all Montreal

Des Moines De Moine Des Moines

Hamburgefintsiv 34

ContactEditorial issues and suggestions:Richard Lightbody - esea@maersktraining.com

Names and emails of those able and eager to help with specific enquiries arising out of this issue

Sales enquiries Aberdeen (UK): aberdeen@maersktraining.com

Sales enquiries Brazil:riodejaneiro@maersktraining.com

Sales enquiries Esbjerg (DK): esbjerg@maersktraining.com

Sales enquiries India:chennai@maersktraining.com

Sales enquiries Middle East:dubai@maersktraining.com

Sales enquiries Newcastle (UK):newcastle@maersktraining.com

Sales enquiries Nigeriaportharcourt@maersktraining.com

Sales enquiries Norway: stavanger@maersktraining.com

Sales enquiries Svendborg (DK):svendborg@maersktraining.com

Sales enquiries United Stateshouston@maersktraining.com

Or visit our website www.maersktraining.com