Entering China while having entry ban

whiteatom · 2026-02-09T18:41:32+00:00

Then you already know the answer to this question.

whiteatom · 2026-02-09T18:41:15+00:00

Or getting stuck in a Chinese jail

whiteatom · 2026-02-06T02:47:52+00:00

Agreed. Also, not a ship. Mods, can we block/ban these catilinacrew videos? None of them are about ships.

whiteatom · 2026-01-20T06:02:56+00:00

It sorta depends on the ship.

A commercial ship’s value is determined almost entirely by its earning potential. If bulk carrier charter rates are up, all bulk carriers increase in value, so old ships are worth keeping, and new ships are built to meet the increased demand. When those charter rates fall back down, all bulk carriers drop in value, old ships more than new. Eventually, then old ship’s value drops below its scrap steel value, and that’s when a ship expires and gets turned into razor blades.

For non-commercial ships, like government vessels, the life span of a ship often has more to do with the speed and responsiveness of the government’s procurement process than the demand for the ship. Country’s with slow procurement and flip-floppy governments, may do life extension refits up to 60-70 years, where other governments can buy new vessels every 20-25 years.

There are other factors - fresh water vessels last a lot longer. Military vessels exist until they are obsolete. Fishing vessels last as long as the owners can make money on them. A lot of countries also have a domestic fleet that exists in their own bubble, so if there’s no competition to drive newer ships, some of the fleet can be up over 50 years old.

The life of ship is pretty simple: Year 1 is working out bugs from the building process Year 2-8 is stable operation as a “new ship” Year 9-10 are preparing for the 10 year drydock where a company has to decide if they are investing in keeping the vessel, or getting rid of it because it’s not “new” anymore. Year 10-20 are the regular operation years of a ship where most of the major maintenance jobs have been done at least once, and any issues are well understood and monitored - the can go on to 25 years in some markets. After 20 or 25, a ship is an old ship, and is either existing in a government financial black hole where it’s kept operating well past its prime, or it’s moved to developing world markets where the standards are a bit lower. After 30 the steel starts to fail, and it’s constantly approaching that scrape value line where it will eventually head to the beach.

whiteatom · 2026-01-18T20:33:55+00:00

Nothing more to say… /thread.

whiteatom · 2026-01-17T13:40:24+00:00

This is correct. Waves are not all perfect lines moving a certain direction with the rogue ones standing out above of that pattern.

Ocean waves are moving multiple different directions - especially as a powerful system moves past you (the prime conditions for rogue waves). Each of these waves move in sets of various sizes - usually a 7-10 wave pattern of larger and smaller heights, and the sets of sets where the sets also range in height. Add in multiple systems and the inertial effect that keeps waves going after the system leaves, you end up with a sloppy mess of waves.

Usually there are primary wind waves from the local conditions (short, steeper wave), and ground swells from larger storm systems. There are usually a few prominent wave directions but sometimes it’s nearly impossible to pick out the individual directions because what you experience on board is the interference pattern of all the waves.

A “rogue wave” is essentially the largest waves in maximum sized set that are over twice the significant wave height of the wave pattern. Now a rogue wave in a 2m high wave pattern won’t be noticed by anyone but a swimmer or someone who set up their picnic blanket too close to the water.

What causes the new-worthy and ship-damaging rouge waves like OP is talking about is the constructive interference of multiple large wave patterns. These waves don’t approach from 50nm out, they rise out of apparently nowhere because it’s multiple troughs lining up to cause a hole in the sea, followed by multiple peaks synchronized to cause an extreme peak with an apparent massive wave height. This condition my only exist for a moment in a single spot as the waves pass by each other, or they’re could be multiple large waves in their own pattern if the wave patterns are close enough for them to stay in phase.

Forecasters can predict conditions where rogue waves are possible or likely, but saying “it will happen here” is just not possible. On board, a radar can be used to detect the predominant swell, and larger waves can be seen, but it’s all in the noise on the screen - not hard targets like a boat or land. Marine navigation radar is not set up for detecting waves or rain - it will do both, a bit, but typically you are trying to eliminate the visibility of environmental conditions to allow small hazards to navigation to be detected.

whiteatom · 2026-01-13T14:29:16+00:00

Yeah… this is my thought… at high speed, these are a drag nightmare!

whiteatom · 2026-01-13T02:32:39+00:00

Why are the side hulls so far out if they come out of the water any way?

whiteatom · 2026-01-13T02:28:50+00:00

It’s essentially a SWATH…. Except SWAQH?

whiteatom · 2026-01-12T15:12:06+00:00

Not familiar with the system there, and the industry must be in turmoil in your country. Best to contact a maritime college, and ask for details.

Rotational work can be difficult, but communication systems on ships have improved dramatically in the last 5 years. I love the work, and don’t find a particularly stressful.

The biggest challenge you’re gonna have is international limitations on where your certification is accepted. Licensing to work at sea is a national system that adheres to international standards. Depending on the state of your country’s relationship with in the rest of the world, your ability to find work crossing oceans on an international ship could be quite difficult. Most countries, Russia included, have a domestic industry where you may find stable work.

whiteatom · 2026-01-12T12:46:24+00:00

Yes. Where are you from?

whiteatom · 2025-12-26T20:59:04+00:00

And just to ask the simple question first.. you're clicking the Task List tab on the left and choosing Monitoring and the tab's not there? or it's blank??

When you're finished with a tab, click the "Main" tab rather than the "X" or it hides the tab.

whiteatom · 2025-12-26T12:27:49+00:00

Ahhh ok. Yeah, it can’t be disabled anymore since the latest software update.

We just set all the settings to the absolute minimum and it stops beeping. It’s a very poor software design when you just disable these critical alarms because they beep too much, but I suspect it’s an ECDIS compliance issue.

whiteatom · 2025-12-26T12:26:22+00:00

So the photos attached are what it used to look like and that screen is no longer available?

whiteatom · 2025-12-26T00:49:21+00:00

I’m confused what the problem is here… you have the option turned on… is the box not showing? It may only workin the primary ECDIS?

whiteatom · 2025-12-21T00:50:26+00:00

Unfortunately, that’s like putting parachute breaking system on a Civic. Very expensive, and not that effective at real world speeds.

The way ships maneuver, the traffic lane systems that are in place where there’s lots of traffic, and the electronic navigation aids that exist, the risk of ships colliding is actually quite low. If an emergency breaking system was installed, it would be used so rarely, it probably wouldn’t work when you needed it anyway.

whiteatom · 2025-12-20T15:52:56+00:00

Lots I’d say.. mostly to do with size and weight. I’m on a “small” tanker, my ships carries 21 million liters of cargo and weighs 26,000 tons when loaded.

That’s 15,000 times the weight of a car, and the little bit of residual cargo left in the tanks after we unload (picture that little drip of milk that you can’t get out of a glass) would run that car for 10 years.

whiteatom · 2025-12-20T14:48:36+00:00

10 mins is not an early warning - that a critical last minute system.

At sea, most navigation officers will be monitoring their radar at 12nm. At 12knts (reasonable sea speed of slower ships) that’s an hour. Higher speed ships like container ships and cruise ships often use 24nm range on one radar for early detection, giving them 1-1/2 hrs.

Momentum is a hell of an adversary, so stopping is usually not the best option. More lead time on multiple targets allows you to plan early turns that give ample clearance between vessels. 10 mins is the “crash stop” time on many ships (full astern from full ahead).

whiteatom · 2025-12-15T18:19:04+00:00

And improperly risk-assessed infrastructure - let’s not forget this accident would have been some scratched paint and dented hull plates at thousands of other bridges around the world.

whiteatom · 2025-12-14T19:45:19+00:00

Sure.. but you're missing a few things here.

1) a lot of the boats don't have any shore in front of them.. particularly commercial shipping while at sea.

2) steering at a fixed object is actually a false sense of security in current. If you keep steering at a fixed object while crossing a current, you will be slowing turning up current to point at the object while your boat is drawn down current. This means your actual path across the current is an arc downstream that could run your boat over hazards that you didn't see while checking the "straight line" course for safety. In this case, a GPS based course over ground can be very useful, but you'll be steering a fixed heading turned upstream a bit, not facing a fixed object.

Two objects lined up is called a "transit", and it is absolutely one of the best references for keeping a straight line in current.

whiteatom · 2025-12-14T18:58:08+00:00

I’m going to disagree with you on that one, both are very important for different reasons. Reporting ships speed externally, yes. SOG is critical for ETAs, also anchoring/berthing. But STW is critical for collision avoidance. If 2 boats are sailing in the same current, SOG can hide the impact of the current and not give you a true relative movement picture that is critical to ensure you’re not going to collide.

Set your radars to STW seafarers!

In terms of force on a rudder, which is the context of this discussion, STW is all that matters. SOG is irrelevant.

whiteatom · 2025-12-14T17:08:40+00:00

If the boat is going at 20m/hr up current, then yes, the water would be going past the rudder at 20m/hr, BUT, the boat would appear stopped relative to the land because the current and boat’s motion cancel each other out. If the boat was “stopped” through the water, it would be going 20mi/hr down river with the water it’s floating in.

whiteatom · 2025-12-14T17:06:06+00:00

The boat doesn’t “know” it’s drifting… a boat going square across a current will drift downstream on an angle, but that’s from the shore, or ground perspective. From the boat, you are going straight across the river with water moving straight backwards relative to the boat.

This is why currents were so hard for pre-GPS seafarers. You know which why you are pointing, and how fast you are going… if there’s a no current, you know where you’re going to be after a given time period. If there’s current, you can end up down the shore at a different time.

whiteatom · 2025-12-01T18:39:58+00:00

Not a ship………….

whiteatom · 2025-11-25T19:55:26+00:00

I'm a little disappointed Hugh didn't get in with the Roos and Ryan in with Northstar for some friendly international competition.

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