Pilot boats, as ever, are at the forefront of smaller vessel design, construction and equipment. The breed seems to continue to become faster, safer, more economical, more comfortable and more environmentally compatible.
They tend to be designed and built by specialised companies based in many parts of the world. However, while still quite innovative in most respects, they are becoming more uniform in size, speed, equipment, handling characteristics, construction materials and fit out.
Pilots, of course, are very demanding customers. They know a lot about boats and the sea and, as their lives very much depend upon their boats, they have very strong ideas about how those boats should be designed, built and equipped. Thus, their specialised designers and builders usually have and maintain strong personal ties with them.
While, over a year, our Pilotage Weeks feature a number of builders and designers in a range of countries, this week we look at them from three countries with two of the vessels reviewed being intended for export. So, as usual in Baird Maritime's feature weeks, we have very multi-national coverage. As with maritime security vessels, also featured this week, all our pilot boats are constructed of aluminium or FRP, or composites of both. That is now the way of the world.
Polaris III from Norlund Boats in Tacoma, Washington is almost the "quintessential" contemporary pilot boat. It was designed by the local Tim Nolan Design Group. At 19 metres LOA, built of FRP and with Caterpillar diesels powering Hamilton waterjets, it is a self-righting, 25-knot boat designed to provide 40 years of service to her owner Jacobsen Pilot Services of Long Beach, California.
Also, from a little island off Split in Croatia, we have a very interesting smaller and all-aluminium pilot and multi-purpose boat for a very experienced Ecuadorean company, Trading Neptune. Very sleekly and stylishly built by the Colinaro family company, the boat is 13 metres in LOA and cruises at 25 knots. In addition to performing pilotage work, it can be quickly and easily adapted for medevac, surveillance and patrol operations.
So, ever more multinational and ever more interesting and innovative vessels. I trust these excellent craft give our readers plenty of ideas for their own future boats.
– "The process for safe navigation remains the same but every ship has its specific needs which we have to prepare for."
"What none of us wanted was to turn into an ageing ship's officer who…was as bitter and twisted a shipmate as one might meet."
– by Michael Grey, former long-term editor of Lloyd's List
"After all, if there is an incident it is highly likely that the master will be held liable anyway."
– by Mike Wall, marine surveyor and consultant
– "The Moksong sailed the next day for Korea with a full load of sugar, and the captain seemed quite normal and never said a thing about the incident."
– Alex Lang
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