- 53
year old Master Mariner. I started work in the Merchant Navy straight
from leaving school in 1970. My first 8 years were spent deep-sea with
BP Tankers as Deck Cadet, Third Mate and finally Second Mate.The next
12 years or so were spent on supply vessels / anchor-handlers / tugs
/ dive vessels as Mate and Captain (with a couple of years at college).
From 1990 I worked offshore on both semi-submersible and jack-up drilling
and accommodation rigs working my way up from Control Room Operator
/ Ballast Control Operator via Stability Section Leader / Stability
Technician / Barge Engineer to Barge Master / Offshore Installation
Manager. Between 2002 & early 2005 I returned to working on
ships - for various reasons. (Less hassle for almost the same take-home
money mostly, as on ships I can usually claim the tax back - as long
as I'm not in the UK for too long.) At present I'm working on a self-propelled
jack-up barge again - offshore Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
- For
more detailed information on my career see my CV
pages - with pictures of the ships and rigs I have worked on. (A
couple of photos still to find.)
- I
was born and bred in a small market town in Aberdeenshire called Huntly,
but lived in the big city of Aberdeen from 1980 until 2004, when myself
and my better half Ingrid moved out to the countryside at East
Cammachmore (between Portlethen & Newtonhill - just off the
A90 south of Aberdeen).
- I
try to keep myself reasonably fit by getting into the Scottish
mountains as often as I can. My Munro count is creeping up slowly
- the latest new one was Meall Ghaordaidh on 17th June 2004 (taking
my count up to 96 and my girlfriend Ingrid's count up to 48). We've
been doing 'repeats' since then. The latest 'repeat' was Dreish with Steve & Clare on 2nd January 2006. Visit the Munro
magic web-site to see what it's all about. We've also done some
mountains in Wales and the Lake
District.
- We
also do a fair amount of mountain-biking. (Not quite so much since we moved to
East Cammachmore & got our two
hounds. More time dog-walking & less time cycling now!)
- Holidays
are usually activities. Follow the link for pictures from our latest
ski holiday in Austria (Jan-2006).
- I've
been an Open University
student for the last 15 years. I gained a BSc (Open) in a mix of Science,
Maths and Computing subjects in 1999 - finishing off with a course in
Oceanography. I'm now 65% of the way towards a second BSc - a named
degree this time - in IT & Computing. 2003's course was M301
- Software Systems & their Development - with a Pass 2 result. In
2004 I studied T305 - Digital Communications - but pulled out half-way
through as moving house was coinciding with the course conclusion and
exam preparation time - not good! Haven't got myself back into the studying
yet - but I will....
- My
part of a group project for one of the OU courses
I did in 2000. (T171 - on Computers & the Net)
- Our
group's TMA04 project for 2002's OU course.(T209
- Information and Communication Technologies)
- My
latest Volvo - my 5th since 1990 - and the best so far. (Wish I'd
had it in Austria instead of the hired Ford Mondeo estate we kept getting
stuck in the snow with!!!)
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