running (or is it sailing?) away

i'm pondering running away on one of these. that big one in the foreground actually had a sign saying, "ask the crew if you want to ride along to bergen." of course, if i'm running away, i'm not really going to say where i'm going, as that's surely half the fun.

but since life is actually pretty good and i don't really have a very good reason for running away, i think i'll only do so if i get to wear one of these hats. aren't they awesome?

if i'm honest, this boat is probably more my speed, but first, we gotta get rid of that wanker that's onboard. how much of a tosser does he appear to be?

what about you, do you sometimes consider running away?

wherein i am envious of husband's workplace

last monday, i took a little jaunt with husband down to the harbor in esbjerg, where he works on a daily basis. he had a day off, but needed to pick up some wood he'd bought. wanting my year-end day at the beach, i rode along.

esbjerg is the port to the danish sector of the north sea. there are oil platforms out there on the horizon and quite a lot of offshore wind farms going up, so there are some exciting vessels in the harbor on a regular basis. like the sea fox 5, a wind installation vessel. and a floating hotel for all those wind farm workers to stay in.

and there was the old maersk frontier, a platform supply vessel (PSV) that must have been taking on supplies for one of the platforms. it used to be my job to make sure all those guys onboard had the proper training to do their jobs safely.

but my favorite one in port on monday was the pacific osprey. it's a huge wind installation vessel owned by swire. it was built at samsung heavy industries in korea (i've been there!), but finished and named in denmark (which sounds a little unusual). i have to admit that seeing such a ship makes my heart beat a little faster.

it has an enormous 1200 ton main crane. it has six jack-up legs, which can lift it out of the water and hold it in place for stability as the enormous wind turbine components are lifted into place.

these are just the bow thrusters, which help maneuver it into place. you can see it was jacked up on its legs there in the harbor.

here's another shot that shows the legs a bit more. they are 105 meters long, so they can lift the ship up, even in fairly deep water.

and husband is invited to a meeting onboard next week! he was a little hesitant to tell me, because he knew i'd be dead jealous. i think i'll just send my camera with him. i did tell him that he has to make more effort to appreciate that he gets to look out his window and see such things on a daily basis.

scenes from esbjerg harbor :: part 1 :: the cranes

husband says when they move these, they "walk" them across the quay. i gotta see that.

cranes on the atlantic esbjerg jack-up

cranes on the jack-up from another angle

cranes on an offshore wind farm support vessel

the cranes from the first photo and a gantry crane

lifting blades with a crane

another gantry crane and several for lifting wind turbine parts on an offshore construction vessel

offshore wind farm construction vessel - check out the blades

cranes and plane trails and that offshore windfarm construction vessel

a fetching crane against the sunset

in january, husband started a new job at the port in esbjerg on the west coast of denmark. it's a port that largely serves the oil industry, but a lot of activities surrounding offshore wind farms happen there as well. i paid a little visit the other day and i'll be sharing more photos the next few days. it was very good to be in the presence of ships again. i've got to do something about getting me some more of that. 

* * *

absolutely fascinated by artist kate skjerning's work. 

what she does with gauze and dandelions is breathtaking.

and under en sort sol (under a black sun) that was at the rundtårn in copenhagen - wow.