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Spirit of Discovery blog
Barbados
20th March, 2023
Today we arrived into the sunny but breezy port of Bridgetown, Barbados.
Staff Captain Andrew Makinson was given the opportunity to manoeuvre the vessel into harbour, and alongside Berth 2. It looks like a relatively simple manoeuvre, turning ninety degrees to starboard and driving up towards the berth, but it definitely isn’t when the wind is blowing 25kts, with gusts into the 30’s from the beam as soon as the vessel starts its turn through to the narrow basin, through to coming alongside the quay. However, Spirit of Discovery has plenty of power to hold up into the wind and allowed us to approach the berth at a safe speed, with lots of fine adjustments required to maintain the balance of the vessel in the gusty conditions, and with a tanker just ahead of us.
The wind continued throughout the day, so we used the thrusters and one pod to keep the vessel safely alongside the quay, and even walked our port anchor down to the bottom to help secure the movement of the bow with a moderate swell in the port.
Kind Regards
Captain Darin Bowland, MSc
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