One of the more interesting aspects of a marine pilot’s role is meeting and working closely with Captains from all around the world.
Captain Jones recently piloted the vehicle carrier MV ‘Guardian Leader’ into H berth in the Fremantle Inner Harbour. The ship was built in 2008 in a shipyard near Gdansk in Poland and has an LOA (Length Overall) of 199m. These high sided vehicle carriers can be particularly difficult to pilot as most of the vessel is above the waterline. This means the ‘windage’ on the side of the ship can impact quickly on how the ship manoeuvres, particularly when winds get above 20 knots. Pilots often remark that the high sides of vehicle carriers act like a sail which results in considerable added complexity and difficulty to the manoeuvre.
On the safe completion of the berthing operation, Captain Igor Tkachuk let it slip that he enjoyed weightlifting and was in fact a 5 time Ukrainian power lifting champion and 2 time World Champion for over 50’s (see attached photos as proof). It is fair to say that Captain Jones has never met a Captain with those credentials! It was also discovered that they shared a birthday. As can be seen in the photo, this is where the similarities between the two men end!
Captain Tkachuk is from the Ukrainian port city of Odessa on the Black Sea and began his sea career as an ordinary seaman as a 17 year old. He worked his way through the ranks before becoming Master in 2014. He has been Captain on the ‘Guardian leader’ for 10 years, which has allowed him to set up a great gym to keep up his weight training – but only in calm weather! His favourite national dishes are borscht and Ukrainian barbecue. Captain Tkachuk is enjoying the warm Australian weather as it is still in the depths of a cold winter back home in Ukraine.
Welcome to Fremantle Captain Tkachuk and the crew of the ‘Guardian Leader’!
