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The pleasures of Hogmany have finally ended, time to travel back to my place of work, the NBW ( see here ) Offshore Denmark. It,s always a bit of a drag leaving the wife and kids but the bills have to be paid i keep telling myself. The journey, Edinburgh through Amsterdam then Billund and final destination at Esbjerg is never straight forward, there always seems to be delays with some farcical scenes at check in with the general public being humilitated. Imagine this "father carrying young kid sleeping over his shoulder is asked to remove his belt, hey presto gravity takes effect, say no more" Do the authorities really think they will identify some terroist by following these procedures, I think not. Anyway, now that i have got that of my chest, on arrival at rig site it was a pleasant surprise to find that i had won some prizes in the Xmas raffle, Westminster 44 piece cutlery set in gift box, a top notch Regatta all weather jacket, perfect for the hillwalking and a pair of cracking sun glasses, you know the ones those football blokey,s at Man"U" wear. Talking of the best "fitba" team in the World. Giggsy the pocket rocket, who has proved over many years to be a true profesional has been recognised in the art world (see here) portrait displayed in the National Library of Wales @ Aberystwyth, fame at long last, but i think Peter Edwards the artist has used a bit to much Grecian 2000
The Energy Endeavour, jack-up type drilling unit under tight tow to stand off position at new location Halfdan Charlie in the Danish sector of the North Sea. The rig personnel jack down the legs to pin spudcans - to seabed. Then, the tugs run anchors to enable the Tow Master to maneuver the unit into final position alongside the unmanned satelite platform - when the spudcans are over the desired foot print, the legs are jacked down once again to make contact with the seabed and raise the hull out of the water until they have +/- 3 meter air gap. The rig is then loaded up with pre-load ( seawater ) pumped into tanks - this weights up the legs evenly to establish if the spudcans / footings are stable with minimal penetration. When the OIM / Tow Master are satisfied that all is well - the pre-load is dumped and the hull structure is jacked up to final elevation. To enable a rig to be move from one location to another the weather conditions have to be favourable, minimal sea swell and wind - over a period we call a weather window. Rig moving is regarded as a "High Risk" operation - many units have been lost because of changing weather conditions or failing to remain water tight throughout the voyage. As you can see from the picture the legs are extended to maximum height to reduce drag through the water but this also makes the unit more susceptible to listing and possible turn over. See title link for disasters over the years. Before & After shot below is the Adriatic IV jack-up and the Temsah ( TheTamshee ) gas platform off the Egyptain coast in August 2004 
