NORWEGIAN SHIPS' PILOTS + LINDBLAD

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By Ben Lyons

For most of the time I’m working as Chief Officer of the National Geographic Explorer, I stand watch on the bridge only with my lookout and helmsman. But when we’re sailing down the indented Norwegian coast, skirting close by skerries and lighthouses and finding our way deep into narrow fjords, we are also assisted by two Norwegian pilots. They work in shifts supplementing our bridge team, offering invaluable local knowledge on this very demanding itinerary.

In addition to being friendly colleagues to work with, they can offer us some invaluable bits of knowledge. For instance, on our northbound trip from Bergen to Svalbard this year, one evening we visited a small island community well offshore, and well off the beaten track. I asked our Expedition Leader Bud Lehnhausen how, many years ago, had we ever found such a destination in the first place?

Bud said he asked a pilot once, “You’ve been sailing this coast for 20 years—where is the one place you’ve always wanted to go to but never been able to reach?” And when the pilot mentioned this particular island, they simply took the ship there when they had a few extra hours in the schedule. Finding the community to be well worth visiting and completely unique, we started calling there every year…

And while we definitely enjoy having the pilots on the bridge with us, we’re pretty certain they enjoy working on our ships, too. Rather than just meeting the ship’s officers as they do on a larger ship, they get a chance to meet many of our guests on the bridge, and have conversations about local communities and give their own perspective of life in Norway.

And from a professional standpoint, the experience of piloting a small, friendly ship like the National Geographic Explorer versus the larger megaships is more hands-on and certainly more interesting. Instead of calling at the same ports and taking the same routes frequented by the larger ships every day, they get to visit more remote areas they otherwise miss.

On both our trips along the Norwegian coast this year, as we cruised down one particularly stunning and sinuous fjord that reached almost to the Swedish border, I asked the pilot, “How often do you come here?

His response: “Oh, only once a year—only when the Lindblad ships are here!”

And, of course, we encourage them to have a bit of fun, just like our guests. Once safely anchored, the pilots occasionally will go ashore for a hike, or try their hand paddling a kayak beneath one of the tumbling waterfalls. I’m sure that in addition to enjoying the moment while it lasts, they must also wonder what they can do to be selected for duty on the National Geographic Explorer next year…

 

Comments

 
By: Dieter Killinger
On: 09/26/2009 09:53:06
Very much enjoyed your presentation Sept.25 given to World Ship Society of New York. I formerly worked for Abercrombie & Kent and prior,for Society Expeditions. Traveled many times on the little red ship. Favorite trips were Antarctica and Pitcairn and Easter Islands. You gave an excellent insight into adventure cruising as compared to large ship travel on QM2 which I have also experienced. Super job, Benjamin!
 
By: Ben
On: 09/28/2009 08:33:14
Thanks for coming to the talk and I'm glad you enjoyed it! I ended up spending the very next day onboard Queen Victoria and was reminded- very vividly- just how totally different the two experiences are... Of course, I love big ships and think they are great, too, but this weekend reinforced that the only thing expedition ships and mega ships have in common is that they both need water...

 

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