There are few people who can make their work look so easy, even though in reality it may not be quite so easy. Michael Andreasen is one of them, and he even brings humor to his work as skipper on Nysted Offshore Wind Farm's crew transport vessel (CTV), "Wind Supporter" while keeping track of the screens, the waters, radio communications and a landing at a wind turbine.
- I always send pictures to my friends and write: Wow, how hard I work, where I sit with a coffee cup in my hand, says Michael Andreasen, but makes one thing very clear:
- I really enjoy my work.
He works 14 days at a time during the day, after which he has 14 days off. There are two skippers and two mates attached to the boat. The skippers work staggered by the mates, so that each skipper works with both mates during his two working weeks.
"Wind Supporter" was built especially for Nysted in 2007, but it is owned by Northern Offshore Services NOS, where the sailors are also employed. Michael Andreasen started his working life as an apprentice ship carpenter, where after his apprenticeship he began working as a fisherman with his father in Hirtshals.
Then came the skipper's exam and coastal skipper. He still lives in Hirtshals, although he has since worked for Esvagt based in Esbjerg, and now since 2016 his employer has been NOS based in Gedser, and there are quite a few offshore wind farms that he has sailed on.
- I have worked on Borkum Riffgrund 1 and 2 in Germany, Gode Wind 1 and 2 and Gemini in the Netherlands. Here at Nysted there are several advantages. Here you can sail 290 days a year, while on Gemini you only have 180 days a year when the weather is good, explains the skipper.
A calm sea
There is also another advantage.
- Here we have a concrete foundation to dock at, so we can dock from all sides of the mill. If it is a transition piece (TP) – then there is only the possibility of approaching from the south or most often from the east, as Michael Andreasen tells us just before a wind turbine technician comes up the stairs to the wheelhouse.
- The approach was absolutely perfect before, we could actually hardly notice it before, says the satisfied technician, before he quickly disappears back onto the wind turbine.
The working days can be long for the crew on CTVs, but it is especially good at Nysted.
- We come ashore here every day, and I live in an apartment 14 km away from Gedser, so I can go for a bike ride in the evening. Now I have almost seen every corner of Falster, laughs Michael Andreasen.
Before the skipper turns to the development from Nysted was built. A screen shows the position of the "Wind Supporter" between Nysted's turbines on a screen.
- Here you can see how the turbines are located in straight rows. But then it was found that they shade each other. That's why the turbines were placed in an arc here on Rødsand 2, so that they don't shade each other, explains Michael Andreasen, before setting course back towards Gedser.
The screen on the "Wind Supporter" clearly shows how the development has been from the location of the Nysted turbines in, which was put into operation in 2003. In 2010 when Rødsand 2 was put into operation, it was known better how the turbines should be placed to make optimal use of the wind. Photo: Jesper Ernlund Lassen/ DOI.dk.
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