Today is the 20th birthday of my niece, Rachel. As I remembered that today, it occurred to me that another landmark had slipped by unnoticed. Rachel was born during my second trip offshore. My first trip offshore started on the 6th April 1983, so last month was the completion of 20 years in the off-shore industry. (Have I [i]NO [/i]sense?) As I realised that, I found myself having a bit of reflection on the last 20 years. 2 companies (though with a total of 5 different company names!) UDI, Marconi UDI, Rockwater, Halliburton Subsea, Subsea7 3 Seabed Trenching machines (the last of which I helped design, build and write software for) 1 Towed Plough 3 Types of ROV A variety of cable lay equipment A multitude of other equipment, like remote tool deployment systems And ships?, well, 13 that I can remember at the moment Star Arcturus, Balder Davis (later UDI Rimmfohn), Northern Installer, Lowland Cavalier, Northern Fortress, Rockwater 1, Rockwater 2, Bar Protector, Pacific Constructor, Adams Challenge, Maxita, Toisa Perseus, Subsea Viking Plus 10 Semi-submersibles: Uncle John, Amethyst, Semi 1, Semi 2, Regalia, Dan Countess, Benvrackie, John Shaw, Santa Fe 135, Borgny Dolphin. I’m sure there was an eleventh, the sister to the Benvrackie, who’s name escapes me right now. Countries I’ve visited through work: Norway, Denmark, Germany, Holland, India, Australia, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Philippines, United States and Brazil. So, despite how much of those 20 years have been wasted, “Waiting on Weather”, I guess I’ve still managed to get some interesting stuff in, so I shouldn’t complain about it being boring!
