For twenty years from 1975 to 1995 my job was to place large engineering structures, such as oil platforms, at sea.
I became involved with this as a consequence of my training as a Radio Officer in the U.K. Merchant Navy. In the mid 1970's the Merchant fleet was reducing fast due to the Oil crises and the growth of low cost Greek and Liberian fleets, so I was fortunate to be invited to join a specialist group using innovative acoustic techniques - similar to echosounders - to position the research vessels then working to explore the North Sea Oil Fields.
In those pioneer days, GPS had never been thought of so we used land based Radio wave systems which had been adapted from WWII bombing aids, accurate to only about 200 metres, at best. However in the early 70's a very clever man called John Partridge designed a way of using echo sounders to locate "beacons" on the seabed with an accuracy of about one metre. We used the radio systems to lay networks of these seabed beacons and these were then adjusted to give very accurate results for oil drilling platforms. It was exciting "leading edge" stuff, and made us feel pretty cocky.
Most of the early North Sea work was geological sampling using core samplers and sediment grabs. The geologists used sensors to sniff for oily gas in the mud. We young blades learned a lot of this tehnology which stood us in good stead as the UK oil industry grew and carried us with it on a wave of investment capital. After the testing came the drilling, and we steered the "Rigs" onto location with our magical techniques. Good money, great food and very little time off!
Once the oil was discovered we learned about the construction of, and positioning of the huge production platforms which sit on the seabed rather than floating - more new ideas, invention and excitement. My contributions (and I will defend this) were the Underwater Gyrocompass and the electronic azimuth sensor, both devices which helped steer vessels and connect pipelines. My landmark moment was being on the team which positioned the 200.000 ton Ninian Central platform. This concrete monster was floated out from Loch Kishorn in Scotland to a site between Scotland and Norway. The circular base had a diameter equivalent to Trafalgar Square, and we placed it within three metres, and orientated less than 1.5 degrees from the design specs. A proud, but sweaty moment.
Over the next few years as these solid objects such as oil platforms created new "landmarks" we established radio beacons on them and soon the satellite age arrived and suddenly we had another tool. Satellites helped us confirm the thousands of points we had established out in the North Sea on platforms, however this brought it's own problems. The "Median Line between countries states who owns the oil below, and one of our tasks was to inform the Oil comapnies that we'd found a 200 metre error in the line. Long Story Short - it cost an American Oil Company about 200 million dollars in potential revenue when we moved the line!
In 1981 I moved to Spain where some oil work was taking place off Tarragona. Although I was then considered "old" by industry standards (I was 30) I soon managed to wangle my way back to operational status, out of the office and back onto "the Rigs". The routine was to set up a network of radio beacons on shore and fly a team, by helicopter, to the rig which would be under tow to the site, usually with three tugs. The equipment on board would compute the position, then the "towmaster" could use that information to bring the rig to the desired point where previously, seismic vessels (using the same positioning network) had detected a subsea structure which might contain oil.
By 1985 Oil prices had fallen to about $12 barrel so the industry was looking weak. I bought out the Spanish company along with a partner and good Friend, Victor Valck and kept it running while looking for new markets. We soon discovered the Telephone Cable business. British Telecom was in contact with the Spanish "Telefonica" company who planned to lay a network of the new fibre optic cables between the U.K. , U.S.A. , Africa and the Canary and Balearic Isles. This was perfect as we had both the positioning technology, and the local knowledge to provide diving and support services to the "beachmasters" who arrange the jointing of the cables at the landing points. there followed a series of dream jobs in Asturias (North Spain) the Canaries, Morocco, France, Majorca, Menorca, Lisbon and Madeira, then one day someone in STC laboratories in England discovered a way to multiply the number of phone calls through a hair thick fibre optic cable (the technology is staggering!) from 100,000 to 10 million! End of cable laying, end of market.
Onwards and Upwards. At this point Victor decided to quit so we parted on good terms and he went on to live with his wife in Tenerife while I chased new horizons. Those included the gas pipeline over the strait of Gibraltar to Morocco, and the Electrical cable in the same area and eventually a series of dredging surveys for ports and beaches all around the coast of Spain, however in 2005 even these markets had dried up. There are now no private Oceanographic survey companies in Spain. Consultants from Holland do most of the work so I finally decided to quit and concentrate on my other businesses. It was sad parting company with my small boat, and selling off equipment which had cost, in its day, as much as five large Mercedes cars but now was worth nothing - such is progress in technology.
Whatever, I still have the memories of these marvellous pioneer days, those wonderful beaches, Rigs, Cable ships, long stormy nights in the North Sea on pipelaying barges, great food, good comrades and being immersed in non-stop technology growth and opportunity. Now I have new opportunities in other directions and I still have my zest for discovery!
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Onward and Upward, or sideways.
Since I had a BUPA medical two years ago, and the medic told me to get out and walk a bit, i've taken him seriously and got into bipedal perambulation in a biggish way.
It's not that I had a serious problem. I'd just let middle age overtake me, enjoyed the beer and crisps too much and built myself a spare tyre, along with a "marginal high blood pressure and cholesterol level" to use the medical terms...In other words I was becoming a fat lazy bastard.
I've always enjoyed my own company (how vain is that?) and of recent years i've had some interesting work (see attached blog item entitled "put it there") which allowed me to travel and keep myself fit and solvent, but this has sadly gone and been replaced with a more sedentary lifestyle which led me to the standard family shape of - a bit pudgy round the middle.
After a slow start, I got into the old phrase "early to bed early to rise, makes a man tired, cranky but slightly thinner"....and went out to walk our local beach each day at sunrise. It's a three kilometer march and was a dawdle as I wasn't THAT unfit. I started to like it, and one day broke into a trot, then after 100 metres found I was totally out of puff, so decided I needed to do this a stage at a time. I kept setting targets - end of the beach and back as far as the tree with the scabby warts - for a week, then if I felt like it, as far as the portaloo they've built for the workers on the new pavement project..etc, until after a year I was running the whole beach.
When the first winter came round I saw a programme on Spanish TV about something called the "Vias Verdes". This showed happy, mostly elderly or severely enthsiastic sport nuts on bikes, travelling on flat, paved converted railways. It looked great, so I investigated and found that Spain has 1600 kilometers of rural railways which have been converted to walking and cycling tracks. This was just what i'd been after...great scenery, flat paved routes and above all well away from Salou so I could get a bit of a change of scene. The neares Via Verede to us is the "Baix Ebre" or Low Ebro River Valley which measures 26 kilometers. It's a bit of a drive to the start point but I went there and did a notable 22 kilometers from Tortosa to Xerta and back on the first day. That was a bit of a fast learning curve as I found that my trainers, from Decathlon, were actually a tiny bit too small and i'd bruised my toes, however I learned fast, got myself some nice soft impact trainers plus a pair of fell boots, some shorts and socks.
Within three months i'd not only done the "Baix Ebre" out and back in stages, but found the extension of that trail which ges west. called the "Terra Alta", another 30 kilometers and done that too.
Since then i've discovered a marvellous site operated by the regional government the "Generalitat de Catalunya" www.gencat.cat/palaurobert which gives routes for walking, cycling and driving...on a well organised and easy to use site. Ive taken myself off most Sundays to a valley, mountain or forest and trekked around getting wet, sweaty, scratched, stung and completely exhausted and VERY happy. Een the wife and several friends have become enthused, so ive started to store some of the less strenuous and more interesting routes so I can take them along.
So my exercise routine now consists of weekday morning walk/run events lasting 30 minutes. Sunday specials - either one of the local Fun Run routes - 10 kilometer power walk, or a hill somewhere , usually half an hours drive away. End result I am now far more motivated, a good deal slimmer and much fitter than I was, plus it's keeping my eyes open to what's around in Catalunya.
It's not that I had a serious problem. I'd just let middle age overtake me, enjoyed the beer and crisps too much and built myself a spare tyre, along with a "marginal high blood pressure and cholesterol level" to use the medical terms...In other words I was becoming a fat lazy bastard.
I've always enjoyed my own company (how vain is that?) and of recent years i've had some interesting work (see attached blog item entitled "put it there") which allowed me to travel and keep myself fit and solvent, but this has sadly gone and been replaced with a more sedentary lifestyle which led me to the standard family shape of - a bit pudgy round the middle.
After a slow start, I got into the old phrase "early to bed early to rise, makes a man tired, cranky but slightly thinner"....and went out to walk our local beach each day at sunrise. It's a three kilometer march and was a dawdle as I wasn't THAT unfit. I started to like it, and one day broke into a trot, then after 100 metres found I was totally out of puff, so decided I needed to do this a stage at a time. I kept setting targets - end of the beach and back as far as the tree with the scabby warts - for a week, then if I felt like it, as far as the portaloo they've built for the workers on the new pavement project..etc, until after a year I was running the whole beach.
When the first winter came round I saw a programme on Spanish TV about something called the "Vias Verdes". This showed happy, mostly elderly or severely enthsiastic sport nuts on bikes, travelling on flat, paved converted railways. It looked great, so I investigated and found that Spain has 1600 kilometers of rural railways which have been converted to walking and cycling tracks. This was just what i'd been after...great scenery, flat paved routes and above all well away from Salou so I could get a bit of a change of scene. The neares Via Verede to us is the "Baix Ebre" or Low Ebro River Valley which measures 26 kilometers. It's a bit of a drive to the start point but I went there and did a notable 22 kilometers from Tortosa to Xerta and back on the first day. That was a bit of a fast learning curve as I found that my trainers, from Decathlon, were actually a tiny bit too small and i'd bruised my toes, however I learned fast, got myself some nice soft impact trainers plus a pair of fell boots, some shorts and socks.
Within three months i'd not only done the "Baix Ebre" out and back in stages, but found the extension of that trail which ges west. called the "Terra Alta", another 30 kilometers and done that too.
Since then i've discovered a marvellous site operated by the regional government the "Generalitat de Catalunya" www.gencat.cat/palaurobert which gives routes for walking, cycling and driving...on a well organised and easy to use site. Ive taken myself off most Sundays to a valley, mountain or forest and trekked around getting wet, sweaty, scratched, stung and completely exhausted and VERY happy. Een the wife and several friends have become enthused, so ive started to store some of the less strenuous and more interesting routes so I can take them along.
So my exercise routine now consists of weekday morning walk/run events lasting 30 minutes. Sunday specials - either one of the local Fun Run routes - 10 kilometer power walk, or a hill somewhere , usually half an hours drive away. End result I am now far more motivated, a good deal slimmer and much fitter than I was, plus it's keeping my eyes open to what's around in Catalunya.
Who Knows where the time goes?
When I was young, i.e from seventeen to about 25 years old, I was very fond of Folk music. At that time, in the late 1960's and early 1970's there was a revival of English Folk music, embodied for me in the recordings of Fairport Convention. There was a nice anarchic situation around "Fairport" with musicians coming and going, and many great names such as Dave Swarbrick and Sandy Denny were regulars, however the group as an entity survived many years and produced some magical albums before the "Folk Rock" movement - perhaps best represented by Tim Hart and Maddy Prior made the Genre more commercial with their band "Steeleye Span". I shared a flat in Edinburgh with a guy called Dave Tulloch who played with "5 Hand Reel" an Irish - Scottish Folk Rock band, popular in Germany, Holland and Belgium. Their music was both original - good remakes of traditional sad songs, and exciting - riotous jigs and reels for cheering yourself up.
My hobby while at School and College was Theatre Lighting and effects, and living in Edinburgh I had the pleasure and opportuity, during the Edinburgh Festivals to work with what were then, Big Names. I have lit concerts by Barbara Dickson, Billy Connoly, Planxty, JSD Band, Hawkwind, I can hear you say WHO??? Great days! Lots of beer and nookie.
My hobby while at School and College was Theatre Lighting and effects, and living in Edinburgh I had the pleasure and opportuity, during the Edinburgh Festivals to work with what were then, Big Names. I have lit concerts by Barbara Dickson, Billy Connoly, Planxty, JSD Band, Hawkwind, I can hear you say WHO??? Great days! Lots of beer and nookie.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
