Hello Ribnet

[Al Baker]

* Hello Ribnet,
I just joined your forum today so I thought I should introduce myself.
I've been driving, maintaining, crewing and teaching in ribs for the last 20 years.
Mostly during that time my work has been with Greenpeace where I worked internationally on Direct action logistics and training. I was a key person in the implementation of their standard RIB trainings and worked internationally on bringing drivers from every office and ship up to intermediate and advanced levels of RIB handling including everything from course plotting to Assertive handling as well as planning RIB logistics both land and ship based. I've experienced working in all manner of conditions, inland, high seas, land sea interface, driving for film crews and diving ops. I've been pursued by Navy, police and coastguards the world over and learned to deal with all manner of emergency situations. I've also been involved in Rib outfitting, layout and repairs. Work with RIBs outside Greenpeace has involved tourist industry, diving and various other bits and pieces. I've received training from MRI in Stonehaven, scotland I hold all levels of RYA powerboat certificates including international, I also hold a commercial powerboat ticket and VHF license.
I hope that becoming a member here might further my knowledge of RIBs, also that I might share some of my knowledge and last but not least have a finger on the pulse of the commercial rib world.
Hopefully all 3.
Pleased to meet you.


Al.

[jezza2011]

Hi AL and welcome .

[Ribstore]

Hello Al

[HUMBER P4VWL]

Welcome, your knowledge may well be of use to some of us.....

...though I hope you hadn't helped with that infamous you tube footage of Greenpeace launching the RIB whilst underway that went beam, rolled and threw everyone out.

...or was it whale wars, i forget. Welcome anyway, have fun!

[Al Baker]

Hi Paul,
I'm familiar with that footage, you're thinking of Sea Shepherd, whale wars.
Thanks for the welcome
Al.

Originally Posted by HUMBER P4VWL

Welcome, your knowledge may well be of use to some of us.....

...though I hope you hadn't helped with that infamous you tube footage of Greenpeace launching the RIB whilst underway that went beam, rolled and threw everyone out.

...or was it whale wars, i forget. Welcome anyway, have fun!

[Gilles]

hello and welcome

[Dhf]

Respect and welcome to you Al, you must have encountered some interesting situations during your work with Greenpeace, look forward to reading your tales from the high seas.

[Al Baker]

Thank you Dragonhawk,
Many very interesting situations indeed and yes, expect some tales will come to light through my postings

Originally Posted by Dragonhawk ficht

Respect and welcome to you Al, you must have encountered some interesting situations during your work with Greenpeace, look forward to reading your tales from the high seas.

[C2 RIBS]

Nice CV, welcome, would be good to see some pics from your time with Greenpeace actions.

[Al Baker]

Originally Posted by C2 RIBS

Nice CV, welcome, would be good to see some pics from your time with Greenpeace actions.

Thanks,
I have about a terabyte of pics lurking on various discs and hard drives.
I posted a handful in my album here already. I'll post more when I have time. Cheers, Al.

[Al Baker]

Originally Posted by Dragonhawk ficht

Respect and welcome to you Al, you must have encountered some interesting situations during your work with Greenpeace, look forward to reading your tales from the high seas.

Hey being from Milford Haven, maybe you remember the Sea Empress oil spill from February 1996?
I did weeks of Ribbing there rescuing oiled birds from the slicks.
That involved a lot of very interesting rocky land sea interface driving and swimming in oily conditions with hands full of sticky birds that try to peck your eyes out.

[clydeoutboards]

welcome to the forum and as others have said interesting CV. so where in scotland are you now hiding?

Dave

[Al Baker]

Hello Dave and thanks for the welcome. I'm "hiding" about 100 miles due North of you.

Originally Posted by clydeoutboards

welcome to the forum and as others have said interesting CV. so where in scotland are you now hiding?

Dave

[Andre]

Hi Al

welcome to the crazy world of RibNet

Last year Greenpeace snapped up my demo rib all Black Parker 650 diesel. Last I knew of her she was on Artic Sunrise. Would be nice to know how she was and she is being looked after well . Perhaps you came across her?

[Dhf]

Originally Posted by Al Baker

Hey being from Milford Haven, maybe you remember the Sea Empress oil spill from February 1996?
I did weeks of Ribbing there rescuing oiled birds from the slicks.
That involved a lot of very interesting rocky land sea interface driving and swimming in oily conditions with hands full of sticky birds that try to peck your eyes out.

Hi Al,
I must say you've got some awesome pics in your album, I love that one with the boat high up in the trees, and that one with someone being thrown overboard in hot pursuit by the looks of it, training exercise i'm guessing.
As for the Sea Empress what a total disaster that was, which could have been totally avoided btw, If it weren't for certain fat cats putting the pressure on. whilst one of our UK power hubs was running low on reserves, I could say more but........
It was a hearbreaking disgrace to see so much wildlife being killed by man made error. and appalling how they couldn't contain the spillage/disaster, did you know they could have pulled that vessel away sooner, further out to sea and then place muti booms around her. but they didn't they just left her to long spewing crude everywhere..... grrr!!! I could rant all night over this disaster........
Fortunatly due to the weather and tides round here, things got back to nearly normal quicker than expected, with wildlife counts remaining as normal in many cases. Mainly due to good work like yourself and others gave by helping with the clean up operation.
Many thanks to yourself and others who helped

[Al Baker]

Hi Andre, the Parker is still on board. I was driving her in the Russian Arctic this summer. Before I arrived she was missing 2 rear seats which had been ripped off by the lifting strops while recovering in heavy weather. Aside from that she's well looked after.
She runs very smoothly but the wireless throttle thing......I've hated wireless throttles since the first time I met one so a bit biased there. Being black and very very quiet has it's advantages. I have a pic or two of her from August if you like. In fact there's already one in my album here: http://www.rib.net/forum/members/152...cture3177.html

[Andre]

Originally Posted by Al Baker

Hi Andre, the Parker is still on board. I was driving her in the Russian Arctic this summer. Before I arrived she was missing 2 rear seats which had been ripped off by the lifting strops while recovering in heavy weather. Aside from that she's well looked after.
She runs very smoothly but the wireless throttle thing......I've hated wireless throttles since the first time I met one so a bit biased there. Being black and very very quiet has it's advantages. I have a pic or two of her from August if you like. In fact there's already one in my album here: http://www.rib.net/forum/members/152...cture3177.html

Hi Al, many thanks. I heard about the seats and Scotseats did a super job in replacing them.
Nice picture. The DTS throttle is great but we all have our likes and dislikes.

Regards
Andre

[Wesley]

"I've been pursued by Navy, police and coastguards the world over and learned to deal with all manner of emergency situations."

Do you mean pursued as in they wanted you to train/work with them.. or pursued as in they wanted to arrest you ?? haha

Thanks for the intro' I am very new RIB user having just bought one a few weeks ago so it's good to know people like you as a newbie.. I did take my boat out for a trial run last week and found some of it's behavior in slightly choppy sea hard to understand..

A friend and I set out in perfect flat conditions and everything was fine but on the way back the clouds rolled in as did the wind the sea became quite choppy, I soon noticed once the waves picked up a bit that the boat kept slowing down even if the throttle was fully open the boat would suddenly slow down and even in one case to an almost complete halt and the engine cut out (my friend and I had a sudden white look on our faces) but luckily the engine started again on first attempt, but as it would slow down it would then for some reason pick up speed as normal again, then a minute later, without any adjustment to the throttle, slow right down, I played around with adjusting the tilt of the engine and it some cases it seemed to make a difference but others not at all.. This maybe a very rookie complaint Im sure but I couldn't work out what was happening or how to resolve it and keep the boat at a constant speed.. One thing that I thought might have contributed to this behavior when I got the boat out of the water the Hull was full of water as since I discovered a crack in the hull that is now being repaired.

Do you know why it will have behaved like this? Perhaps due to currents under the water or the wind or waves..?? All of the above?? Whats the best way to handle a rib in choppy seas?? Perhaps by this point the hull was so heavy with water it made it impossible for boat to maintain speed? But as mentioned it would suddenly gather up speed again almost at random it seemed..

Very perplexing for a layman like me and a bit scary to be honest when you dont know whats happening or why...


Thanks for any advise you can give

[Chris]

Originally Posted by Wesley

"I've been pursued by Navy, police and coastguards the world over and learned to deal with all manner of emergency situations."

Do you mean pursued as in they wanted you to train/work with them.. or pursued as in they wanted to arrest you ?? haha

Thanks for the intro' I am very new RIB user having just bought one a few weeks ago so it's good to know people like you as a newbie.. I did take my boat out for a trial run last week and found some of it's behavior in slightly choppy sea hard to understand..

A friend and I set out in perfect flat conditions and everything was fine but on the way back the clouds rolled in as did the wind the sea became quite choppy, I soon noticed once the waves picked up a bit that the boat kept slowing down even if the throttle was fully open the boat would suddenly slow down and even in one case to an almost complete halt and the engine cut out (my friend and I had a sudden white look on our faces) but luckily the engine started again on first attempt, but as it would slow down it would then for some reason pick up speed as normal again, then a minute later, without any adjustment to the throttle, slow right down, I played around with adjusting the tilt of the engine and it some cases it seemed to make a difference but others not at all.. This maybe a very rookie complaint Im sure but I couldn't work out what was happening or how to resolve it and keep the boat at a constant speed.. One thing that I thought might have contributed to this behavior when I got the boat out of the water the Hull was full of water as since I discovered a crack in the hull that is now being repaired.

Do you know why it will have behaved like this? Perhaps due to currents under the water or the wind or waves..?? All of the above?? Whats the best way to handle a rib in choppy seas?? Perhaps by this point the hull was so heavy with water it made it impossible for boat to maintain speed? But as mentioned it would suddenly gather up speed again almost at random it seemed..

Very perplexing for a layman like me and a bit scary to be honest when you dont know whats happening or why...

Thanks for any advise you can give

Welcome to Ribnet AL ;-)

[Al Baker]

Thank for the welcome Chris.
Wesley, it sounds like you we're very lucky. Driving in waves at any sort of speed requires constant throttle adjustment and split second timing. If you drive with the throttle fully down. I'm not going to attempt to explain how in here. If you want to fly me down there then I could get you up to speed in wave driving fairly swiftly. Before Darwin spots you driving it.