November 17, 2025 • 44 mins
A Danish marine engineer joins us to explain the real work behind keeping a cargo ship alive: maintenance rhythms, critical failures, and the calm discipline that keeps risk low when the sea won’t cooperate. We compare corporate pressure to maritime responsibility, from Starlink limits to piracy protocols and the freedom of true time off.
• why a mechanic chose marine engineering
• cadet training, sea time, and certification
• daily engine room workflow and maintenance logs
• critical equipment, alarms, and failure triage
• autonomy versus corporate-style pressure
• Starlink connectivity, manuals, and troubleshooting
• contracts, rotations, and promotion pathways
• legal rest hours and safety culture
• multicultural crews and English as working language
• piracy risk, ship hardening, and safe rooms
• storms, medical support, and diversions
• life aboard: food, gym, games, and welfare funds
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
Good sign.
Good sign.
Feels like the ground dogs day.
It it really does.
And I I I don't know why.
Uh but you know what I do know?
Clark?
Welcome back to Cover StrategyPodcast.
I'm Bruce.
And I'm Clark.
And we have a very special guestwith us today, who is joining us
(00:24):
for the very first time on thispod.
Very good friend of mine.
Welcome to the show.
Michael.
Michael, would you mind uhintroducing yourself and giving
us a little background on whoyou are, where you're from, and
what you do.
SPEAKER_00 (00:40):
Thank you for having me.
Well, uh, my name is I said thatmy my name is Michael.
Uh I'm a marine engineer.
I am from Denmark, so most ofwhat I'm you know be talking
about is uh based around uh howwe run things in Denmark on
ships and stuff like that.
Uh I've been a marine engineerfor 11 years now, close to love
(01:04):
it.
SPEAKER_01 (01:04):
And uh I do have to apologize to Michael because we
actually, this is the secondtime we're recording this.
We've had this entire set ofconversation once before, and uh
Craig and G-Arc are recordingrobots betrayed us.
So thank you for putting up withus and being patient and doing
this again.
But the conversation was so goodI don't mind having it twice
(01:25):
because it was superinteresting.
So I I'm gonna kick us off witha question, which is why marine
engineer?
SPEAKER_00 (01:36):
Um well I started out as a mechanic, and then when
I was uh starting to finish upuh my schooling for that, I
realized I would I didn't wantto be a mechanic for the rest of
my life.
So I started to look like what Icould use my uh mechanic skills
or my mechanical education otherthan a car mechanic, and um
(02:00):
there wasn't a lot.
And then I saw something calleda motorman, uh which said it
works on ships.
And I quickly found out that uhDanish Danish seafarers do not
work as uh motormen, so it wasengineer, and then I said okay,
then I will be an engineer.
So I th I and I've I've when Iread the like the what the
(02:24):
education and the job specified,it sounded very interesting to
me.
So that's why I took uh andbecame a marine engineer.
SPEAKER_02 (02:34):
That's awesome.
Yeah, it's it's so funny, and wetalked about this a little bit
on the uh recording that we haduh to scrap, but you know, our
main audience is mainlycorporate professionals, you
know, largely nine to five, alot of those folks in the
technology industry.
So what you do is so almostotherworldly compared to what we
do and what our day-to-days looklike.
(02:56):
Um and it's interesting becauseyou know, you you actually had
to go through, if I rememberright, an apprenticeship where
you kind of learned how to be amechanic and you decided, you
know, hey, is this not only didyou learn a lot of skills, but
um you actually were able tofigure out if that's something
you wanted to do.
And is that what kind of guidedyou to say, hey, maybe being an
(03:17):
actual mechanic isn't what Iwant to do because of what you
learned as being an apprentice?
SPEAKER_00 (03:21):
Uh it was more like the way the work was.
Uh, it didn't feel like uh thework, the the salary was
compensatory for for the workbecause we had like every day
was um overtime, uh we felt likeit was running to everything,
and uh like there was um how tosay uh you wear out your body
(03:44):
doing it.
So it I was like I I don't wantto do this for the rest of my
life, and like I remember like alot of the people I went because
the way it works is you have uhapprenticeship and then you have
like schooling time, so it'slike uh split up with uh uh
working as an apprentice in alike in a shop, and then you go
to school for like a month andthen back to the shop and then
(04:09):
school, and a lot of the peopleI went were in the school with,
they said like they couldn't seethemselves working long time uh
as a mechanic either.
SPEAKER_01 (04:17):
So did you Yeah, it is interesting, and you know
something I just realized wedidn't talk about last time.
Was the first time you went onone of these large ships?
That that was like your firstday on the job, right?
Like, did you ever get uhapprenticeship on the boat?
I guess I can't call it a boat,on the ship itself, or was it
(04:39):
just like, all right, you're onboard, let's go, you're an
engineer now.
SPEAKER_00 (04:42):
No, uh so in order to you have you have to get a
certificate uh to be anengineer.
And in order to get thecertificate, first you have to
get your education, but then youneed six months uh effective
sailing time before you can getyour certificate.
Um what a lot of people do, uhbecause you can get become what
(05:03):
is called a cadet, and then youwhen you're in school, you will
have uh one internship at thebeginning of the schooling, and
then one at the end, and thenyou are like a cadet, and then
you can get your saling timewhen you're doing that, and then
as soon as you're finished withyour education, you can actually
sign on as an engineer.
SPEAKER_03 (05:23):
Very interesting.
SPEAKER_04 (05:24):
Yeah, that's super cool.
SPEAKER_02 (05:26):
Oh well, I was wondering, okay, so I think you
gave us a little bit ofbackground um about your parents
last time, and you know, uh Ithink I remember, was it your
mom or your dad actually hadsome experience?
Like maybe not as a marineengineer, but on these types of
ships.
SPEAKER_00 (05:41):
Yeah, my mom she was uh a waiter and she worked on uh
the ferries between uh Denmarkand uh England.
SPEAKER_02 (05:48):
Got it.
So it wasn't too unfamiliar toyou of like what this type of
job was, and what was it yourfirst time on a boat or I guess
a ship?
SPEAKER_00 (05:56):
Uh no, I've been on ships before, uh but they like
ferries, uh, but not like uh uhtrend uh transport ships.
SPEAKER_02 (06:07):
Yeah, okay, got it.
So talk to us a little bit aboutum a day in the life, like paint
us a picture for how how yourjob is, what it is that you do.
And I know we said ship becauseit is a massive, massive ship.
So you can help uh can you helpus visualize like what that job
looks like and what the aday-to-day might look like for
you?
SPEAKER_00 (06:26):
Yeah, so uh in the morning we will have uh a
morning meeting, and not now I'mjust talking uh specifically for
the engine department.
We will have a morning meeting,and uh as second engineer, it's
my job to uh delegate the jobsfor the day.
So we have uh a maintenancesystem uh where every day it
will give some jobs that have tobe uh done today.
(06:50):
A lot of them are like minorjobs, just checking equipment,
like uh checking a pump, thepressure, and the amps and stuff
like that from the end.
So you have a list of the jobs,some of them are delegated to a
specific person.
Uh most of them are put on uhthe second engineer, and then
it's basically my job todelegate them out to uh to the
(07:12):
other people.
And then we make the plan.
Um then there's some paperwork,have to fill out.
We have uh what's called an uhengine room logbook.
Uh you have to fill out everyday.
It's like all the we have totake um parameters of the main
engine if it's running and stufflike that.
And then we basically start uhthe the work for the day, and
then when we finish a job, wehave to go into the we uh the
(07:36):
system and sign off the job andwrite like what we found, uh, if
we changed anything, stuff likethat.
And then it's a normaleight-hour day, I will say.
Depending.
It's very dependent.
But like we have a normaleight-hour day, and then if I
have the watch, then uh in theevening I have to take uh night
(07:56):
rounds, check everything, it'sokay, no problems.
And then uh I have the alarmduring the nighttime.
So if there is a problem, I'llget the alarm in my cabin, uh
and then I'll have to go downand solve it.
SPEAKER_04 (08:10):
I don't know.
SPEAKER_02 (08:10):
What is the first is your head just going in a
straight?
Like I don't know about you, butI'm like software development.
I've got Jira, I'm going to mydaily stand-up or signing out
tasks.
I'm picking up one of thosetasks, I'm going through the
day, I'm updating it after youknow I get the work done or the
progress that I've made, andthen I'm signing off and doing
it the same the next day.
Is that what your head went?
SPEAKER_01 (08:31):
No, it it it does.
It's so funny hearing Michaeltalk about his sort of
day-to-day, because for me, thatsounds therapeutic.
It sounds lovely, it almostsounds like a vacation, but it
doesn't sound like work.
Like it if I was trained and Iwas able to do this job, I feel
like it'd be a lot of fun and itwouldn't be a lot of the rat
(08:52):
race and the grind and thestress and the hassle of
corporate, which we love so muchin this pod.
Am I wrong for saying that,Michael?
SPEAKER_00 (09:03):
Uh no, most of the time, like uh you don't you
don't get somebody uh after youuh with uh we have to finish
this right now.
It has to be finished, we haveto finish it now.
We don't really get thatinternally on the ship.
It can come from like thecompany.
They can be pushing a lot, butlike internally not that much,
(09:24):
depending on the equipment.
We have something, uh we havecertain equipment that is called
critical equipment, and that hasto be operational at all times.
So if like if you're working onthat one, then you have a little
bit of a a push, but otherwiseit's not there's not that much
uh push, but then something bigbreaks down, and then uh then
(09:45):
suddenly you are running.
SPEAKER_01 (09:49):
Well, is okay, so what does a day look like?
SPEAKER_02 (09:52):
Yeah, I always curious about the same thing.
Like, what is a what is a toughday in in your life that you're
like, oh this day was miserablefor me?
SPEAKER_00 (10:01):
Usually have to do with uh equipment breaks down.
Uh and depending on on the typeof equipment we're talking
about, um I can give you anexample.
Uh when I was a third engineer,in the middle of the night time,
I got an alarm on uh our boilersthat uh and then I went down and
(10:23):
I tried to solve it, and I triedto solve it, and it didn't work,
and it didn't work, and itdidn't work, and then I had to
call like the chief engineer andsay, like, I need assistance.
And like I think worked allmorning, still no problem.
So we like everybody's tired.
And then finally we find aproblem.
But like it's the whole day withthis problem, and you're
(10:47):
completely uh busted by the endof the day because you up the
middle of the night and have touh solve this problem because it
was a problem we had to solve.
It wasn't something we couldsay, okay, we'll just leave it
for later.
SPEAKER_02 (11:03):
I my head just goes to Bruce.
You and I have both been throughthis many times.
If like one of our criticalsystems is down there for the
day, we're like, all right,we'll see you guys later.
Like, I hope someone figuresthat out or it comes back up.
Like, we have it so so cushy inour world compared to this.
SPEAKER_01 (11:20):
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
It's uh a bad day does not soundgood in in this environment.
SPEAKER_00 (11:27):
Absolutely.
One thing I will say is likeafter the day, then it's like,
oh, that was actuallyinteresting.
It was or fun uh to figure out,but like when you're in the
shit, then it's like oh fuckingthis sucked, this sucks, this
sucks so much.
And then afterwards, you'relike, oh, that actually was it
was interesting uh to find outthe what the problem was.
SPEAKER_02 (11:50):
Yeah.
Yeah, I think in our world,unlike yours, you know, if
something goes down, it's notusually not the end of the
world, and a lot of the timesyou can't do anything about it.
In your world, it's a littlemore mission critical because if
something's not functioning, thewhole ship isn't moving.
And yeah, it's it's very, verymission critical.
I think the nice thing that umcame to mind for me, you guys
have a lot of autonomy in howyou do your work because the
(12:13):
team is kind of tight.
So you you kind of meet to planout your work, but then you just
use your skill and your masteryto go get the work done.
And it's nice because no one isnecessarily like over your back,
like in our world, like a scrummaster would be over your back
and be like, hey, is this taskdone yet?
Like, is there any update here?
And like you don't have any ofthat, which is really, really
(12:34):
nice.
So you don't have a projectmanager who's kind of holding
you accountable to that.
Of course, you know, youmentioned you have kind of the
people who run the ships thatmight be doing a little bit of
that, but they can't do whatyou're doing.
SPEAKER_00 (12:45):
No, like so it's actually my job to be be that
guy uh with the other guys, butuh I'm I'm pretty like as long
as they do the job properly, Idon't really care how much how
long it takes.
Uh and the the most big push weget is from the uh the head
office uh with uh stuff uh theywant to know or uh want an
(13:11):
update or something.
SPEAKER_01 (13:15):
So okay, that's that that's something that uh I want
to kind of revisit that wetalked about last time.
You get updates, but theinternet connectivity, the Wi-Fi
on board is not what Clark and Iare dealing with every day.
So, how do comms work?
And what about outboundcommunications, inbound, you
(13:37):
know, surfing Reddit?
What what is that like on a bigship?
SPEAKER_00 (13:41):
So uh actually we uh was it last year?
We got Starlink, so that waspretty nice.
Uh it's pretty fast.
But so like you have um like thecompany internet and then you
have your private internet, sothe company internet is fast
enough so you can send email andstuff like that, and uh yeah,
(14:03):
that's pretty much it.
And you can surf like theinternet and search for things
on Google, and that's about it.
And then private with uhStarlink, so you have limited uh
gigabytes uh per week you canuse.
SPEAKER_03 (14:20):
And and it's it's also interesting too, kind of
building on that.
SPEAKER_02 (14:24):
It's not something like for your job, for our jobs,
like if we run into a problem,we Google search it, or now we
use AI and be like, hey, youknow, help me solve this issue.
Here's like the parametersaround it, and especially with
coding and development, it'seasier than ever to find
solutions to your problems.
But for you, you don't have thatresource.
So you have, I think you talkedabout last time we were talking,
(14:45):
you have a manual, maybe, uh,but a lot of it is just kind of
on you to troubleshoot andfigure out.
And if you can't figure out, youhave maybe just one or two
people you've got to work withto hopefully find somebody who
can help figure it out, or youguys just pound your head
against it all night and helpyou fix it.
SPEAKER_00 (15:02):
Yeah, like I I will say the manuals we have are
pretty good at uh uh if you readthrough them, then they will
give you a lot of lot of help.
Uh but it requires that you readthrough them, uh, which is not
everybody who likes to do that.
SPEAKER_02 (15:21):
I don't remember the last time I actually read
through a manual, and my becauseI just have instant
gratification and availabilityof all information, I am so lazy
now.
Like if I get a 20-page manual,I'm probably like taking a
picture, sending it to ChatGPTand being like, hey, tell me
where I can find the issue forthis.
I'm so lazy, it's so bad.
Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_01 (15:42):
I y'all, you're nuts because if I buy a new product
that actually comes with amanual, I'm jumping for joy.
Because it's not like scan thisQR code and set this thing up.
It's ooh, paper instructionsthat I know are gonna take me
through this entire processbecause they have to, as opposed
to a link to something that hasbeen updated because the product
(16:03):
is you know shady.
I'll I love I love me a goodmanual.
Where do you where do you fallon that scale, Michael?
Do you do you read the manual oryou can do that?
SPEAKER_00 (16:10):
I read the manual.
I read the manual every time.
Like I remember like the when Igot the new ship, um they had a
lot of manuals for physical, andthen they had a lot of the
manuals who were digital uh onthe hard drive.
And I had to do a job on a pieceof equipment, and then I I just
(16:32):
took uh the digital manual and Iwas looking, and then I was
after the dismantled apart, Iwas looking, this doesn't look
like the manual.
So I was running to the manualand I was looking, okay.
I was looking out on theequipment.
It's not that it doesn't lookthe same, and I was look I was
going more and more crazy, andthen finally I said, Okay, now
I'm taking the physical manual.
Then I found out the digitalmanual we had was uh for a
(16:54):
different uh different model.
So I should just have writtenthe hard uh hard uh manual to
begin with.
Yep.
SPEAKER_02 (17:02):
Wow, yeah, always read the manual.
I feel so I kind of feel dirtyfor what I just said out loud in
the public.
Now everybody knows how lazy Iam when it comes to manuals.
And maybe I need to get better.
I'll go back to my roots.
SPEAKER_00 (17:16):
Yeah, but like like a lot of the when we dismantle
equipment, it it is uh you haveto do it in a certain order, or
it's when you're tightening, ithas to be a talk, or you risk uh
destroying uh equipment.
So it's it's important you knowuh how to uh how to dismantle
and assemble the equipment.
SPEAKER_02 (17:35):
Yeah.
Yeah, it's uh something that Ithink is interesting to people
too, that we talked about lasttime is how is your employment
different?
So, you know, for us, we youknow, maybe get a contract, you
know, contact a job six monthsto a year, or you just have a
permanent job that you work nineto five, you get your normal
holidays and vacation time.
(17:56):
What does your employment looklike um as a marine engineer?
SPEAKER_00 (18:00):
Uh so this is just for for day and seafarers.
We have a uh a contract with thethe company, and that one runs
uh until you let you uh quit orthey fire you.
Um and then uh every time yousign onto the ship, you sign a
specific contract for theduration of the that stay.
SPEAKER_02 (18:26):
Got it.
So you kind of have this periodof time that you know you're
going to be working.
And but for you, I think it'snot it's not like every day
you're on this ship, it's justfor that contracted period,
right?
And then you kind of have abreak after after that contract
is over.
SPEAKER_00 (18:41):
Yeah, so the for Danish E first, the the contract
is what we call uh one-to-one.
So uh yeah, every one day onboard you earn one free day uh
ashore, and then you are likeit's two months, and then uh you
have two months off.
Two months, ten, ten weeks.
It depends uh how it's set upand the agreement you have with
(19:04):
your reliever.
SPEAKER_02 (19:06):
Love that.
Yeah, that's really nice.
So effectively you end upworking, you know, these periods
of two months or ten weeks orwhatever it is, but it's it's
like half the year.
So half the year you're working,half the year you're not.
SPEAKER_00 (19:15):
Yeah, although it can be uh, I will say, with
that's uh truth with withmodifications, because like you
can have one year where you havelike uh eight months on board,
and then you can have one yearwhere you have uh five or five
or four months on board.
It depends like whateverhappens.
(19:36):
Usually, in my experience, it'snever four weeks on board or
four months on board, it'salways uh eight months on board
or something like that in ayear.
SPEAKER_01 (19:46):
And you're not you mentioned in the beginning that
you you do your eight hours ofwork a day, and then if you're
on call, you might get thatlittle red light at night.
But what is the what is thedowntime on the ship look like?
SPEAKER_00 (20:00):
Uh so it's actually regulated uh downtime downtime,
uh, because we have uh resthours we need to uh we need to
keep up with.
Uh so it is in a 24 period, youneed uh is it uh ten hours of
(20:21):
rest where six hours has to bein a continuous uh period.
So and um but like normally wesay uh we do eight hours of work
and then uh if you get uh have amaneuvering where you have to go
to port or there's uh somethingspecific, then you have to try
(20:43):
and plan for uh your re yourwork hours according to that you
will be up that time.
SPEAKER_02 (20:51):
It's almost like a pilot or something like that.
It's almost like you only canhave so much air time before it
could get dangerous, you know,if if you are you know getting
sleepy or you know, if you'renot operating at the highest
capacity, because it could bedangerous, you know, if you're
operating that way for yourselfand also for the people that are
around you.
SPEAKER_00 (21:12):
Yeah.
Uh and that's why because therest hours that's regulated by
by law.
So you have to uh you can likedeviate from it if for a short
time or stuff like that, ifsomething happens, but like uh
you will be checked on the yourrest hours, and if they are uh
in the red, because we have tofill them out every day, the
(21:33):
your rest hours.
Uh and if they are not incompliance, then uh you will get
a fine and the company will geta fine.
SPEAKER_02 (21:41):
Can somebody rest hours for me?
Because I think my email getsmuch, much worse at the end of
the day or late at night when Iprobably shouldn't be emailing
and I'm emailing.
Someone needs to regulate myhours.
I want to log my sleep and resthours to make sure that somebody
holds me accountable.
SPEAKER_01 (21:58):
I love that.
That's great.
Um, are you allowed to like runup and down the ship?
You know, if you want to take ajog, you running around the the
top of the what is it, the thedeck?
Are you running on the deck orlike what what what are the
rules for ship exploration?
SPEAKER_00 (22:14):
Uh you can go wherever you want.
Uh there's depending on whereyou are.
Uh so we have something calledenclosed spaces.
Uh and they're differentcategories.
Uh and there you need to toadvise people uh where gas
detectors and stuff like that.
So there's like limits, but uhotherwise you can go wherever
(22:35):
you want.
SPEAKER_03 (22:38):
Love that.
Yeah, that's great.
SPEAKER_02 (22:40):
I I know one thing that a lot of people will be
curious about.
You know, what's your favoritepart of the job?
What's your least favorite partof your job?
SPEAKER_00 (22:50):
Uh exactly the same thing.
I like I love the the theproblems and the way we have to
solve them.
And I hate it hate uh theproblems and the way we have to
solve them.
Uh because when you're in theshit it can be it can be really
the shit.
Uh but then afterwards you youyou uh it's it's interesting and
(23:14):
you get some good stories out ofit and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_01 (23:19):
And you work on a very uh sort of multicultural
crew, right?
And you know, obviously you'refrom Denmark, but you speak
English.
What is the uh what is thenatural language of the ship and
what is the makeup of yourco-workers?
SPEAKER_00 (23:33):
So most ships will have a working language though
of English.
Um the make of the ship is uh amix between uh European crew, uh
Danish, Swedish, uh EasternEuropean, and then uh Filipinos.
For for the company I I was I'min.
(23:54):
Uh otherwise a lot of there's alot of Indians, uh Eastern
Europeans, uh Filipinosgenerally speaking.
Uh I have heard that uh theChinese are starting to come in,
but I don't know how much.
Uh I don't have any experiencewith them.
SPEAKER_01 (24:11):
And they all have to speak English on board.
SPEAKER_03 (24:14):
Yeah.
Very interesting.
SPEAKER_02 (24:19):
One thing um I'm curious about, you know, we all
have kind of our work horrorstories or hazards of the job or
things that um make the jobunique in a lot of ways.
I think you you have a couplescenarios, you know, given
you're you know on a ship withpeople's lives at stake, and you
know, you're responsible for alot of things.
(24:40):
What is kind of the the scariestpart of the job for you?
SPEAKER_00 (24:45):
Uh I want to say there shouldn't be any parts of
the job that's scary.
Uh because you should prepareeverything uh when you do a job
so uh there's no risk uhassociated with it.
But like the weather is uh itwill do its own thing, so you
(25:09):
always have to uh keep that incount.
Then I hate heights.
I absolutely so uh heights isgonna be a big one for me.
SPEAKER_01 (25:21):
Does does that actually impact you in any way
when you're on the ship?
Like if you look over the the Idon't know what the word it the
railing on the deck and you'relike oh the ocean's kind of far,
I'd rather not see that rightnow.
SPEAKER_00 (25:35):
No, mostly it's because if you have to uh go up
the mast to do repairs orsomething like that.
Yeah.
So I usually uh delegate that tosomebody else.
SPEAKER_02 (25:46):
That's the way to do it.
Hey, I'm gonna delegate it tothis guy because I do not want
to go up there.
I love that.
I love that.
That's awesome.
One thing we talk about a lot isis corporate ladder.
Like for us, you know, it's kindof climbing the corporate ladder
and getting to that next role.
And you know, it's sometimes inour world, unfortunately, like
(26:07):
very gray.
Like what I need to do, whatskills I need to learn, what
things I need to do in order toget a promotion or climb the
ladder.
What does it look like for youfrom like a growth perspective?
SPEAKER_00 (26:20):
So um basically, if you're a marine engineer, you
start as a junior engineer,that's either a fourth or third
engineer, and then to be able tobe promoted, you actually need
to uh it's uh you have to haveuh what's called sale time, uh
so effective sales time.
(26:42):
Uh I think it's uh one yeareffective.
Uh then you can get thecertificate for the next rank
up, and it's like this.
Um the maximum you can be onboard as a chief engineer.
And the getting the promotion isuh if you're going for chief
engineer or junior engineer touh second engineer, it's usually
(27:07):
just recommendations from uh thecrew you've been sailing with,
and then uh it's pretty prettystraightforward.
Then uh it takes a lot, it takesa more to from uh second
engineer to chief engineer tokeep get promoted.
Uh of course you need to get therecommendation from the uh crew
you've been sailing with, um andthen uh the office has to uh
(27:29):
approve you.
SPEAKER_03 (27:34):
Got it.
SPEAKER_02 (27:34):
So make sure experience plus you know that
list you have to go through,make sure you're kind of meeting
all the qualifications, and thenthere is kind of somebody who
has to approve it at the end ofthe day.
SPEAKER_01 (27:45):
Yeah.
So and and that's that's curiousto me too, because I know that
there's a uh you know, we uhwhen you get higher up in the
ranks, you're on the shiplonger, correct?
Right?
Like your your lower levelstaff, they're swapping out and
you're not seeing them over andover again.
But the higher level staff, youmight see them multiple times.
SPEAKER_00 (28:07):
Is that right?
Uh yeah, but uh actually thelower level staff, because they
usually feel Pinos, they have alonger contract with us, but uh
the uh you won't be on the sameship all the time.
Uh but they would they wouldpref they the companies
generally prefer that they havewhat's called top four, which is
uh second engineer, chiefengineer, chief officer, and
(28:31):
captain.
They would like them to stay onthe same ship for for a period
of time, like two, three years,where you are you are still
you're not going home, but forthat period of time you will be
on the same ship, you'll go backto the same ship.
And they will like they likethat because then you know the
ship, so you can solve theproblems that are, and you have
like you ownership, if youunderstand what I mean, over the
(28:52):
ship.
So you don't just like okay,just have to to stay until uh
this just needs to hold until Igo home, and then uh it's not my
problem anymore.
Which I I have seen a lot withthe the the people who uh who
just change ships every time,then when they get to the end of
the contract, it's like okay,now I just need to this needs
just need to hold until I uhleave, and then uh it's not my
(29:15):
problem anymore.
SPEAKER_01 (29:19):
That uh that hits a little close to home because I
think uh Clark and I have beenin that same exact situation in
corporate jobs, just get thisover the line, and then it's
someone else's problem.
So good to know some thingsnever change.
SPEAKER_02 (29:35):
Oh man.
Yeah, it's it's true.
What's um I'm curious, Michael,what is something that the
average person might not knowabout you know what you do, or
maybe being on a on a boat, likeit that you think is just not
common knowledge?
Because I think we can all kindof conceptualize it.
I don't think we have the rightwords and all that, but what's
(29:57):
like something unique that mightbe surprising to?
SPEAKER_03 (30:04):
Probably uh lack of sleep.
SPEAKER_00 (30:10):
Uh because or the way the the sea is sometimes you
can have like a period of timewhere you won't sleep or won't
get proper sleep for for acouple of days.
Really?
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (30:22):
Do you get do you get seasick?
SPEAKER_00 (30:25):
I get uh when I just come on board if we go straight
into like a storm or something,then I get uh a little seasick.
Uh but after that I'm used toit.
SPEAKER_02 (30:35):
Wow.
Oh man, that's terrible.
Yeah, I I've never been seasick,but I get vertigo occasionally
with my cushy job and staying athome.
And I think I think that's bad.
I can't even imagine, you know,being in a bad storm on a ship
of that size.
How long have you been a marineengineer?
SPEAKER_00 (30:54):
Uh 11 years.
11 years.
SPEAKER_02 (30:57):
Gotcha.
And is that something you thinklike is is that uh the rest of
your life you want to keep thatas your career path?
You don't anticipate changinganything?
SPEAKER_00 (31:06):
No, I I don't think I uh I I like the the way uh
everything is set up too much,like the fact that when I'm
home, I'm home.
I don't have to think about uhwork.
That uh that's uh I don't thinkI can uh go back to uh or try a
regular job again.
SPEAKER_01 (31:26):
Yeah so hypothetical for you, you listen to the
podcast, you know what Clark andI do.
If you were offered a 30% raise,would you take one of our jobs
or keep your current job?
SPEAKER_00 (31:39):
I would keep my current job.
SPEAKER_02 (31:43):
Wow.
Okay, I love it.
Raise the stakes, raise thestakes 50% raise.
SPEAKER_00 (31:52):
Nah, I'm glad.
Still can't.
SPEAKER_01 (31:57):
I love that answer so much because I would probably
take a 50% pay cut if I was assmart as you and could do your
job.
SPEAKER_02 (32:05):
I was gonna do the same thing.
I'm like, yeah, you know what?
I would I would happily do thatjob for for less money, I think.
I think I won't know until I doit, but I think.
SPEAKER_01 (32:15):
One thing we didn't talk about this time, we we did
on the the failed recording,Clark, is people on the boat
fish.
And I know once you heard that,uh you were sold on the on the
job and the the the potentialcareer path of it.
What else do folks do on theboat for Fun Michael?
SPEAKER_00 (32:32):
Yeah.
Well we have we have uh thecompany has to uh every month
they have to put a certainamount into an account that's
called like the welfare countaccount.
Uh for the ship screw they canuse money.
So sometimes uh we buy pricesfor bingo.
Uh uh there is a gym on board uhthat I like I play a lot of
(33:00):
video games, so uh I play uhplay video games.
SPEAKER_03 (33:03):
Uh love it.
And you're you're on a gaminglaptop, right?
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (33:11):
Yeah.
Yeah, I was gonna say youprobably don't stream games
though, right?
You probably have to downloadthem and then you just play them
probably local.
SPEAKER_00 (33:21):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (33:22):
Yeah.
That's still super cool though.
So a lot of the conveniences oflike home are available because
you have the gym, you can youknow go up and to the top of the
ship, people can fish, uh, youhave a gaming laptop, so like
there are some conveniences.
It's not like you're just in a ametal box with a cot at night.
It's actually prettycomfortable, it sounds like.
SPEAKER_04 (33:43):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (33:45):
Uh you have to get used to it.
Like that there's more noisethan you you will have in the uh
usual uh home.
SPEAKER_02 (33:52):
Yeah.
Do you have like temperatureregulation in your rooms?
SPEAKER_00 (33:56):
Uh depending on the ship, but you uh all ships have
uh air con systems uh andheating systems.
It depends because some s someships they have like where you
can control uh in every cabin,although others it's like uh
everybody gets the sametemperature.
SPEAKER_02 (34:13):
What is what is uh like lunchtime or dinner time
look like?
Like is it a whole a whole crewendeavor that you guys you know
all are able to you know enjoylunch at the same time or have a
cafeteria room service, maybe?
SPEAKER_00 (34:27):
Uh no room service.
Uh but uh we have we have uh amess room.
Uh depending on the ship, it canbe split up between officer mess
and crew mess, or it can beeverybody together.
And uh all the ships they have auh uh cook who uh who makes the
food for us.
SPEAKER_03 (34:47):
That's nice.
SPEAKER_02 (34:48):
Yeah, that is nice.
Is is the food really good?
Or would you say it's eh, youknow, it's alright?
Maybe school cafeteria level.
SPEAKER_00 (34:57):
Very, very dependent on the cook.
I have had some really bad cooksand some really good cooks, so
it is super dependent on thecook you get.
SPEAKER_02 (35:07):
I feel like that would be my contract question.
Who's the chef on the ship?
Will I take this contract ornot?
SPEAKER_01 (35:15):
Well, so what happens if someone gets sick?
And I, you know, do do peopleget like airborne viruses when
you're all confined to a shipfor weeks on end?
Does that actually happen?
SPEAKER_00 (35:26):
It has happened, it's not that often because uh
uh depending where you are, youdon't have that much much
interaction with uh people fromnot on a ship.
But like I have been sickbefore.
Uh I remember one time uh wewent RIDOC, and me and the chief
engineer both got COVID.
So we uh we were sent to ahotel, so I got to spend uh two
(35:48):
weeks in a hotel in uh RikaLatvia, it was super super fun.
SPEAKER_01 (35:55):
That's a that is an interesting outcome for that
scenario.
So it does happen, which iswhich is strange.
If if someone gets injured orsick on board, I'm guessing
there's uh a medical person thatcan help you out.
SPEAKER_00 (36:06):
Uh no.
Uh there's uh the tech officershave uh um training and medical
help, and then uh there issomething called uh radio
medical, which is uh you pick upthe phone and you call, and you
in when they ship it's uh youcall a hospital in Denmark, and
(36:26):
there is a doctor who will uhtalk you through what you need,
and we have medicine on board,uh and we can only give out the
medicine after talking with thedoctor.
Uh and then uh depending on howbad it is, uh we may have to
divert to get people uh ashore.
SPEAKER_02 (36:47):
Wow.
Interesting.
I I thought there had to be amedic.
I was probably right there withyou, Bruce.
I'm like, how do you go on aship for that long and not have
someone who's like a medic ormedically trained at least?
SPEAKER_01 (36:59):
I mean, I'm dropping a wrench on my big toe.
I'm just telling you right now,it my big toe is gonna be
swollen, the fingernail is gonnaturn black.
You already know me.
This is gonna happen.
SPEAKER_02 (37:10):
I think Michael would probably tell you, yeah,
suck it up.
You gotta get to work.
Get your task done.
Yeah, pretty much.
Well, in hearing what we do,what's the thing that you're
like, that's that soundsterrible.
Is it just having to justconstantly be on all the time
and not really being able tostep away?
SPEAKER_00 (37:31):
Yeah, 100% that.
Like uh I remember I had a salewith a guy, and he told he had a
friend who was uh who used tosail, but then he started
working ashore, and he told methat he was at a party with him,
and like his friend spent allthe party in the corner on his
phone with his laptop.
And that sounds like the worstway to spend my life.
SPEAKER_02 (37:55):
I love that.
Yeah, I love that.
It does sound it sounds awful.
I'm so happy I'm not doing thatfrom time to time.
SPEAKER_01 (38:06):
Uh okay, so important question because this
this is real and this happens.
We've talked about this before,but tell us about the pirate
situation.
SPEAKER_00 (38:15):
Yeah.
Um well we have, I think there'sthree places with pirates.
Like we have West Africa, thenyou have East Africa near
Somalia, and then you have theMalaga Strait, I think.
Uh and I've been mostly on WestAfrica.
Uh when I was down in WestAfrica, a lot a lot uh they were
(38:37):
just shifting from uh onlyrobbing you to also kidnapping
you.
So uh that was fun.
SPEAKER_01 (38:44):
That's terrifying.
SPEAKER_03 (38:45):
That is absolutely terrifying.
SPEAKER_01 (38:48):
Yeah.
Don't like that.
Um so you're you're obviouslytrained and you have a a
protocol around if somethinglike that happens.
What is the what is the setupprocess if you hear there are
pirates in the area?
SPEAKER_00 (39:04):
So before we enter uh what's called a high risk
area, we do uh what's calledship hardening.
And that means we are racer wireall around the ship, uh on the
railings.
So uh they we are the leasttempting target.
Um and then if you are attacked,then there is you have a a
(39:25):
button on board, when you pressthat one, it goes straight to
the for the Danish ship, it'sstraight for the Danish Navy,
which tells them this ship isunder attack now.
And then everybody goes down towhat we call the sit still.
It's a sh it's a uh room that wecan lock, uh keep safe, and then
we can uh somewhat control theship from there, and then we
(39:48):
have radios down there andwater, so we can stay there for
a bit.
SPEAKER_01 (39:53):
Love that.
I mean it seems like you reallythought through, and and the the
folks on the ship, your securityhas really thought through this
process.
So I'm glad there is safety andcomfort uh in that situation.
What about a weather event?
Like if you're in a really badstorm, what do you do?
SPEAKER_00 (40:10):
Stuck it up and hope uh hope everything works.
SPEAKER_01 (40:13):
Uh this answer is being thrown out too much on
this.
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (40:19):
Uh there's just nothing like I've been in some
pretty sh pretty bad storms, andlike if you get into it, you're
just in it.
Like because you can sail fast,so you you just have to weather
the storm.
There's nothing like you cansail from it or something.
Uh so just have to uh suck itup.
SPEAKER_01 (40:36):
Yeah.
I get it though.
It's it's the one thing youcan't control.
SPEAKER_03 (40:41):
Yeah.
Oh my goodness.
Well, any any closing questionsfrom you, Clark?
SPEAKER_02 (40:53):
I think I'm all good.
Michael, it was an absolutepleasure to have you on.
Not once, but twice.
First in the unreleased episodeand second in the real episode
that's going to go out now thatwe got the G-Arc and Craig thing
figured out.
So thank you so much for comingon again, just to go through
this and just you know entertainour questions.
(41:13):
My brain was just spinning lasttime after we had our
conversation.
So I got a chance to ask evenmore questions this time, and I
really appreciate it.
SPEAKER_01 (41:21):
This is by far the better recording.
Of course, thank you.
Thank you.
And this is by far the betterrecording.
So uh, you know what?
It all works out in the end.
So thank you.
I also have to uh sadly informour listeners that we did force
Michael to play uh Is It AI?
And I I'm I am happy to reportthat both Michael and I guessed
(41:44):
the correct water cooler.
So even though he's on a ship,he knows what a corporate water
cooler looks like and he knowswhat an AI looks like.
So props to Michael for gettingit right and uh apologies for
for missing out on the fun ofthat last time.
Hey, and if you want to play uhIs It AI, you can join our
(42:04):
Discord.
And you can do that by goinginto your show notes, clicking
the the link tree in there.
You can you can give us a uhshout out on the various
platforms that we're on.
If you want to give us a review,we'd appreciate that.
But more importantly, if youwant to join the Discord, just
click join the Discord.
You can buy us a coffee andsupport the show.
Another thing we mentioned onthe lost recording is the fact
(42:26):
that we had a couple of coffeesbought for us from some very
nice people, one of which is aguest on this very pod today.
So apologies for not giving youthe shout-out for for giving us
that uh that support on theshow.
We were also supported by, uh,and this is true, quote,
NordVPN.
So thank you to whomever you arethat used NordVPN as the sponsor
(42:52):
through Buy Us a Coffee.
You're very clever.
We appreciate the joke.
Unless you actually are NordVPN,in which case I guess we're
sponsored now, so thank you.
But uh you can buy us a coffeeand support the show.
It is a completely host-fundedprogram, except for those
coffees that you buy us.
So thank you for that.
And if you'd like to purchasesome swag, you can do that on
the link tree as well.
And am I missing anything,Clark?
(43:13):
Do we cover it?
SPEAKER_02 (43:14):
No, I think you got it.
Like, share, subscribe.
And if you want to ask morequestions to Michael, you can
come to the Discord and ask.
I'm sure he'd be happy to youknow relay how miserable our
lives are compared to his.
SPEAKER_00 (43:27):
Yeah, I'm uh more than happy to answer any
questions.
SPEAKER_01 (43:30):
That's right.
If you have questions, Michaelis in our Discord.
Feel free to drop them in thatcorporate strategy channel, and
he will be happy to answer themfor you.
Thank you again for joining ustoday.
Super, super appreciative oftaking two hours of your time
now for the pod.
And uh, I would love to have youback again in the future to hear
(43:50):
more stories of adventure andseafaring expeditions.
So thanks again, Michael.
SPEAKER_00 (43:56):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
And I would be happy to come onagain.
SPEAKER_01 (44:00):
And we'd love to have you.
Uh and that does it for anotherepisode.
Uh, as always, thanks to ourlisteners for for tuning in.
Do check out that link tree anddo all the things we just said
beforehand.
Uh, and if we don't get you,until the next time, I'm Bruce.
And I'm Clark.
SPEAKER_03 (44:18):
And you're on mute.
We will see you next week.
Good sign.
Good sign.
Feels like the ground dogs day.
It it really does.
And I I I don't know why.
Uh but you know what I do know?
Clark?
Welcome back to Cover StrategyPodcast.
I'm Bruce.
And I'm Clark.
And we have a very special guestwith us today, who is joining us
(00:24):
for the very first time on thispod.
Very good friend of mine.
Welcome to the show.
Michael.
Michael, would you mind uhintroducing yourself and giving
us a little background on whoyou are, where you're from, and
what you do.
SPEAKER_00 (00:40):
Thank you for having me.
Well, uh, my name is I said thatmy my name is Michael.
Uh I'm a marine engineer.
I am from Denmark, so most ofwhat I'm you know be talking
about is uh based around uh howwe run things in Denmark on
ships and stuff like that.
Uh I've been a marine engineerfor 11 years now, close to love
(01:04):
it.
SPEAKER_01 (01:04):
And uh I do have to apologize to Michael because we
actually, this is the secondtime we're recording this.
We've had this entire set ofconversation once before, and uh
Craig and G-Arc are recordingrobots betrayed us.
So thank you for putting up withus and being patient and doing
this again.
But the conversation was so goodI don't mind having it twice
(01:25):
because it was superinteresting.
So I I'm gonna kick us off witha question, which is why marine
engineer?
SPEAKER_00 (01:36):
Um well I started out as a mechanic, and then when
I was uh starting to finish upuh my schooling for that, I
realized I would I didn't wantto be a mechanic for the rest of
my life.
So I started to look like what Icould use my uh mechanic skills
or my mechanical education otherthan a car mechanic, and um
(02:00):
there wasn't a lot.
And then I saw something calleda motorman, uh which said it
works on ships.
And I quickly found out that uhDanish Danish seafarers do not
work as uh motormen, so it wasengineer, and then I said okay,
then I will be an engineer.
So I th I and I've I've when Iread the like the what the
(02:24):
education and the job specified,it sounded very interesting to
me.
So that's why I took uh andbecame a marine engineer.
SPEAKER_02 (02:34):
That's awesome.
Yeah, it's it's so funny, and wetalked about this a little bit
on the uh recording that we haduh to scrap, but you know, our
main audience is mainlycorporate professionals, you
know, largely nine to five, alot of those folks in the
technology industry.
So what you do is so almostotherworldly compared to what we
do and what our day-to-days looklike.
(02:56):
Um and it's interesting becauseyou know, you you actually had
to go through, if I rememberright, an apprenticeship where
you kind of learned how to be amechanic and you decided, you
know, hey, is this not only didyou learn a lot of skills, but
um you actually were able tofigure out if that's something
you wanted to do.
And is that what kind of guidedyou to say, hey, maybe being an
(03:17):
actual mechanic isn't what Iwant to do because of what you
learned as being an apprentice?
SPEAKER_00 (03:21):
Uh it was more like the way the work was.
Uh, it didn't feel like uh thework, the the salary was
compensatory for for the workbecause we had like every day
was um overtime, uh we felt likeit was running to everything,
and uh like there was um how tosay uh you wear out your body
(03:44):
doing it.
So it I was like I I don't wantto do this for the rest of my
life, and like I remember like alot of the people I went because
the way it works is you have uhapprenticeship and then you have
like schooling time, so it'slike uh split up with uh uh
working as an apprentice in alike in a shop, and then you go
to school for like a month andthen back to the shop and then
(04:09):
school, and a lot of the peopleI went were in the school with,
they said like they couldn't seethemselves working long time uh
as a mechanic either.
SPEAKER_01 (04:17):
So did you Yeah, it is interesting, and you know
something I just realized wedidn't talk about last time.
Was the first time you went onone of these large ships?
That that was like your firstday on the job, right?
Like, did you ever get uhapprenticeship on the boat?
I guess I can't call it a boat,on the ship itself, or was it
(04:39):
just like, all right, you're onboard, let's go, you're an
engineer now.
SPEAKER_00 (04:42):
No, uh so in order to you have you have to get a
certificate uh to be anengineer.
And in order to get thecertificate, first you have to
get your education, but then youneed six months uh effective
sailing time before you can getyour certificate.
Um what a lot of people do, uhbecause you can get become what
(05:03):
is called a cadet, and then youwhen you're in school, you will
have uh one internship at thebeginning of the schooling, and
then one at the end, and thenyou are like a cadet, and then
you can get your saling timewhen you're doing that, and then
as soon as you're finished withyour education, you can actually
sign on as an engineer.
SPEAKER_03 (05:23):
Very interesting.
SPEAKER_04 (05:24):
Yeah, that's super cool.
SPEAKER_02 (05:26):
Oh well, I was wondering, okay, so I think you
gave us a little bit ofbackground um about your parents
last time, and you know, uh Ithink I remember, was it your
mom or your dad actually hadsome experience?
Like maybe not as a marineengineer, but on these types of
ships.
SPEAKER_00 (05:41):
Yeah, my mom she was uh a waiter and she worked on uh
the ferries between uh Denmarkand uh England.
SPEAKER_02 (05:48):
Got it.
So it wasn't too unfamiliar toyou of like what this type of
job was, and what was it yourfirst time on a boat or I guess
a ship?
SPEAKER_00 (05:56):
Uh no, I've been on ships before, uh but they like
ferries, uh, but not like uh uhtrend uh transport ships.
SPEAKER_02 (06:07):
Yeah, okay, got it.
So talk to us a little bit aboutum a day in the life, like paint
us a picture for how how yourjob is, what it is that you do.
And I know we said ship becauseit is a massive, massive ship.
So you can help uh can you helpus visualize like what that job
looks like and what the aday-to-day might look like for
you?
SPEAKER_00 (06:26):
Yeah, so uh in the morning we will have uh a
morning meeting, and not now I'mjust talking uh specifically for
the engine department.
We will have a morning meeting,and uh as second engineer, it's
my job to uh delegate the jobsfor the day.
So we have uh a maintenancesystem uh where every day it
will give some jobs that have tobe uh done today.
(06:50):
A lot of them are like minorjobs, just checking equipment,
like uh checking a pump, thepressure, and the amps and stuff
like that from the end.
So you have a list of the jobs,some of them are delegated to a
specific person.
Uh most of them are put on uhthe second engineer, and then
it's basically my job todelegate them out to uh to the
(07:12):
other people.
And then we make the plan.
Um then there's some paperwork,have to fill out.
We have uh what's called an uhengine room logbook.
Uh you have to fill out everyday.
It's like all the we have totake um parameters of the main
engine if it's running and stufflike that.
And then we basically start uhthe the work for the day, and
then when we finish a job, wehave to go into the we uh the
(07:36):
system and sign off the job andwrite like what we found, uh, if
we changed anything, stuff likethat.
And then it's a normaleight-hour day, I will say.
Depending.
It's very dependent.
But like we have a normaleight-hour day, and then if I
have the watch, then uh in theevening I have to take uh night
(07:56):
rounds, check everything, it'sokay, no problems.
And then uh I have the alarmduring the nighttime.
So if there is a problem, I'llget the alarm in my cabin, uh
and then I'll have to go downand solve it.
SPEAKER_04 (08:10):
I don't know.
SPEAKER_02 (08:10):
What is the first is your head just going in a
straight?
Like I don't know about you, butI'm like software development.
I've got Jira, I'm going to mydaily stand-up or signing out
tasks.
I'm picking up one of thosetasks, I'm going through the
day, I'm updating it after youknow I get the work done or the
progress that I've made, andthen I'm signing off and doing
it the same the next day.
Is that what your head went?
SPEAKER_01 (08:31):
No, it it it does.
It's so funny hearing Michaeltalk about his sort of
day-to-day, because for me, thatsounds therapeutic.
It sounds lovely, it almostsounds like a vacation, but it
doesn't sound like work.
Like it if I was trained and Iwas able to do this job, I feel
like it'd be a lot of fun and itwouldn't be a lot of the rat
(08:52):
race and the grind and thestress and the hassle of
corporate, which we love so muchin this pod.
Am I wrong for saying that,Michael?
SPEAKER_00 (09:03):
Uh no, most of the time, like uh you don't you
don't get somebody uh after youuh with uh we have to finish
this right now.
It has to be finished, we haveto finish it now.
We don't really get thatinternally on the ship.
It can come from like thecompany.
They can be pushing a lot, butlike internally not that much,
(09:24):
depending on the equipment.
We have something, uh we havecertain equipment that is called
critical equipment, and that hasto be operational at all times.
So if like if you're working onthat one, then you have a little
bit of a a push, but otherwiseit's not there's not that much
uh push, but then something bigbreaks down, and then uh then
(09:45):
suddenly you are running.
SPEAKER_01 (09:49):
Well, is okay, so what does a day look like?
SPEAKER_02 (09:52):
Yeah, I always curious about the same thing.
Like, what is a what is a toughday in in your life that you're
like, oh this day was miserablefor me?
SPEAKER_00 (10:01):
Usually have to do with uh equipment breaks down.
Uh and depending on on the typeof equipment we're talking
about, um I can give you anexample.
Uh when I was a third engineer,in the middle of the night time,
I got an alarm on uh our boilersthat uh and then I went down and
(10:23):
I tried to solve it, and I triedto solve it, and it didn't work,
and it didn't work, and itdidn't work, and then I had to
call like the chief engineer andsay, like, I need assistance.
And like I think worked allmorning, still no problem.
So we like everybody's tired.
And then finally we find aproblem.
But like it's the whole day withthis problem, and you're
(10:47):
completely uh busted by the endof the day because you up the
middle of the night and have touh solve this problem because it
was a problem we had to solve.
It wasn't something we couldsay, okay, we'll just leave it
for later.
SPEAKER_02 (11:03):
I my head just goes to Bruce.
You and I have both been throughthis many times.
If like one of our criticalsystems is down there for the
day, we're like, all right,we'll see you guys later.
Like, I hope someone figuresthat out or it comes back up.
Like, we have it so so cushy inour world compared to this.
SPEAKER_01 (11:20):
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
It's uh a bad day does not soundgood in in this environment.
SPEAKER_00 (11:27):
Absolutely.
One thing I will say is likeafter the day, then it's like,
oh, that was actuallyinteresting.
It was or fun uh to figure out,but like when you're in the
shit, then it's like oh fuckingthis sucked, this sucks, this
sucks so much.
And then afterwards, you'relike, oh, that actually was it
was interesting uh to find outthe what the problem was.
SPEAKER_02 (11:50):
Yeah.
Yeah, I think in our world,unlike yours, you know, if
something goes down, it's notusually not the end of the
world, and a lot of the timesyou can't do anything about it.
In your world, it's a littlemore mission critical because if
something's not functioning, thewhole ship isn't moving.
And yeah, it's it's very, verymission critical.
I think the nice thing that umcame to mind for me, you guys
have a lot of autonomy in howyou do your work because the
(12:13):
team is kind of tight.
So you you kind of meet to planout your work, but then you just
use your skill and your masteryto go get the work done.
And it's nice because no one isnecessarily like over your back,
like in our world, like a scrummaster would be over your back
and be like, hey, is this taskdone yet?
Like, is there any update here?
And like you don't have any ofthat, which is really, really
(12:34):
nice.
So you don't have a projectmanager who's kind of holding
you accountable to that.
Of course, you know, youmentioned you have kind of the
people who run the ships thatmight be doing a little bit of
that, but they can't do whatyou're doing.
SPEAKER_00 (12:45):
No, like so it's actually my job to be be that
guy uh with the other guys, butuh I'm I'm pretty like as long
as they do the job properly, Idon't really care how much how
long it takes.
Uh and the the most big push weget is from the uh the head
office uh with uh stuff uh theywant to know or uh want an
(13:11):
update or something.
SPEAKER_01 (13:15):
So okay, that's that that's something that uh I want
to kind of revisit that wetalked about last time.
You get updates, but theinternet connectivity, the Wi-Fi
on board is not what Clark and Iare dealing with every day.
So, how do comms work?
And what about outboundcommunications, inbound, you
(13:37):
know, surfing Reddit?
What what is that like on a bigship?
SPEAKER_00 (13:41):
So uh actually we uh was it last year?
We got Starlink, so that waspretty nice.
Uh it's pretty fast.
But so like you have um like thecompany internet and then you
have your private internet, sothe company internet is fast
enough so you can send email andstuff like that, and uh yeah,
(14:03):
that's pretty much it.
And you can surf like theinternet and search for things
on Google, and that's about it.
And then private with uhStarlink, so you have limited uh
gigabytes uh per week you canuse.
SPEAKER_03 (14:20):
And and it's it's also interesting too, kind of
building on that.
SPEAKER_02 (14:24):
It's not something like for your job, for our jobs,
like if we run into a problem,we Google search it, or now we
use AI and be like, hey, youknow, help me solve this issue.
Here's like the parametersaround it, and especially with
coding and development, it'seasier than ever to find
solutions to your problems.
But for you, you don't have thatresource.
So you have, I think you talkedabout last time we were talking,
(14:45):
you have a manual, maybe, uh,but a lot of it is just kind of
on you to troubleshoot andfigure out.
And if you can't figure out, youhave maybe just one or two
people you've got to work withto hopefully find somebody who
can help figure it out, or youguys just pound your head
against it all night and helpyou fix it.
SPEAKER_00 (15:02):
Yeah, like I I will say the manuals we have are
pretty good at uh uh if you readthrough them, then they will
give you a lot of lot of help.
Uh but it requires that you readthrough them, uh, which is not
everybody who likes to do that.
SPEAKER_02 (15:21):
I don't remember the last time I actually read
through a manual, and my becauseI just have instant
gratification and availabilityof all information, I am so lazy
now.
Like if I get a 20-page manual,I'm probably like taking a
picture, sending it to ChatGPTand being like, hey, tell me
where I can find the issue forthis.
I'm so lazy, it's so bad.
Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_01 (15:42):
I y'all, you're nuts because if I buy a new product
that actually comes with amanual, I'm jumping for joy.
Because it's not like scan thisQR code and set this thing up.
It's ooh, paper instructionsthat I know are gonna take me
through this entire processbecause they have to, as opposed
to a link to something that hasbeen updated because the product
(16:03):
is you know shady.
I'll I love I love me a goodmanual.
Where do you where do you fallon that scale, Michael?
Do you do you read the manual oryou can do that?
SPEAKER_00 (16:10):
I read the manual.
I read the manual every time.
Like I remember like the when Igot the new ship, um they had a
lot of manuals for physical, andthen they had a lot of the
manuals who were digital uh onthe hard drive.
And I had to do a job on a pieceof equipment, and then I I just
(16:32):
took uh the digital manual and Iwas looking, and then I was
after the dismantled apart, Iwas looking, this doesn't look
like the manual.
So I was running to the manualand I was looking, okay.
I was looking out on theequipment.
It's not that it doesn't lookthe same, and I was look I was
going more and more crazy, andthen finally I said, Okay, now
I'm taking the physical manual.
Then I found out the digitalmanual we had was uh for a
(16:54):
different uh different model.
So I should just have writtenthe hard uh hard uh manual to
begin with.
Yep.
SPEAKER_02 (17:02):
Wow, yeah, always read the manual.
I feel so I kind of feel dirtyfor what I just said out loud in
the public.
Now everybody knows how lazy Iam when it comes to manuals.
And maybe I need to get better.
I'll go back to my roots.
SPEAKER_00 (17:16):
Yeah, but like like a lot of the when we dismantle
equipment, it it is uh you haveto do it in a certain order, or
it's when you're tightening, ithas to be a talk, or you risk uh
destroying uh equipment.
So it's it's important you knowuh how to uh how to dismantle
and assemble the equipment.
SPEAKER_02 (17:35):
Yeah.
Yeah, it's uh something that Ithink is interesting to people
too, that we talked about lasttime is how is your employment
different?
So, you know, for us, we youknow, maybe get a contract, you
know, contact a job six monthsto a year, or you just have a
permanent job that you work nineto five, you get your normal
holidays and vacation time.
(17:56):
What does your employment looklike um as a marine engineer?
SPEAKER_00 (18:00):
Uh so this is just for for day and seafarers.
We have a uh a contract with thethe company, and that one runs
uh until you let you uh quit orthey fire you.
Um and then uh every time yousign onto the ship, you sign a
specific contract for theduration of the that stay.
SPEAKER_02 (18:26):
Got it.
So you kind of have this periodof time that you know you're
going to be working.
And but for you, I think it'snot it's not like every day
you're on this ship, it's justfor that contracted period,
right?
And then you kind of have abreak after after that contract
is over.
SPEAKER_00 (18:41):
Yeah, so the for Danish E first, the the contract
is what we call uh one-to-one.
So uh yeah, every one day onboard you earn one free day uh
ashore, and then you are likeit's two months, and then uh you
have two months off.
Two months, ten, ten weeks.
It depends uh how it's set upand the agreement you have with
(19:04):
your reliever.
SPEAKER_02 (19:06):
Love that.
Yeah, that's really nice.
So effectively you end upworking, you know, these periods
of two months or ten weeks orwhatever it is, but it's it's
like half the year.
So half the year you're working,half the year you're not.
SPEAKER_00 (19:15):
Yeah, although it can be uh, I will say, with
that's uh truth with withmodifications, because like you
can have one year where you havelike uh eight months on board,
and then you can have one yearwhere you have uh five or five
or four months on board.
It depends like whateverhappens.
(19:36):
Usually, in my experience, it'snever four weeks on board or
four months on board, it'salways uh eight months on board
or something like that in ayear.
SPEAKER_01 (19:46):
And you're not you mentioned in the beginning that
you you do your eight hours ofwork a day, and then if you're
on call, you might get thatlittle red light at night.
But what is the what is thedowntime on the ship look like?
SPEAKER_00 (20:00):
Uh so it's actually regulated uh downtime downtime,
uh, because we have uh resthours we need to uh we need to
keep up with.
Uh so it is in a 24 period, youneed uh is it uh ten hours of
(20:21):
rest where six hours has to bein a continuous uh period.
So and um but like normally wesay uh we do eight hours of work
and then uh if you get uh have amaneuvering where you have to go
to port or there's uh somethingspecific, then you have to try
(20:43):
and plan for uh your re yourwork hours according to that you
will be up that time.
SPEAKER_02 (20:51):
It's almost like a pilot or something like that.
It's almost like you only canhave so much air time before it
could get dangerous, you know,if if you are you know getting
sleepy or you know, if you'renot operating at the highest
capacity, because it could bedangerous, you know, if you're
operating that way for yourselfand also for the people that are
around you.
SPEAKER_00 (21:12):
Yeah.
Uh and that's why because therest hours that's regulated by
by law.
So you have to uh you can likedeviate from it if for a short
time or stuff like that, ifsomething happens, but like uh
you will be checked on the yourrest hours, and if they are uh
in the red, because we have tofill them out every day, the
(21:33):
your rest hours.
Uh and if they are not incompliance, then uh you will get
a fine and the company will geta fine.
SPEAKER_02 (21:41):
Can somebody rest hours for me?
Because I think my email getsmuch, much worse at the end of
the day or late at night when Iprobably shouldn't be emailing
and I'm emailing.
Someone needs to regulate myhours.
I want to log my sleep and resthours to make sure that somebody
holds me accountable.
SPEAKER_01 (21:58):
I love that.
That's great.
Um, are you allowed to like runup and down the ship?
You know, if you want to take ajog, you running around the the
top of the what is it, the thedeck?
Are you running on the deck orlike what what what are the
rules for ship exploration?
SPEAKER_00 (22:14):
Uh you can go wherever you want.
Uh there's depending on whereyou are.
Uh so we have something calledenclosed spaces.
Uh and they're differentcategories.
Uh and there you need to toadvise people uh where gas
detectors and stuff like that.
So there's like limits, but uhotherwise you can go wherever
(22:35):
you want.
SPEAKER_03 (22:38):
Love that.
Yeah, that's great.
SPEAKER_02 (22:40):
I I know one thing that a lot of people will be
curious about.
You know, what's your favoritepart of the job?
What's your least favorite partof your job?
SPEAKER_00 (22:50):
Uh exactly the same thing.
I like I love the the theproblems and the way we have to
solve them.
And I hate it hate uh theproblems and the way we have to
solve them.
Uh because when you're in theshit it can be it can be really
the shit.
Uh but then afterwards you youyou uh it's it's interesting and
(23:14):
you get some good stories out ofit and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_01 (23:19):
And you work on a very uh sort of multicultural
crew, right?
And you know, obviously you'refrom Denmark, but you speak
English.
What is the uh what is thenatural language of the ship and
what is the makeup of yourco-workers?
SPEAKER_00 (23:33):
So most ships will have a working language though
of English.
Um the make of the ship is uh amix between uh European crew, uh
Danish, Swedish, uh EasternEuropean, and then uh Filipinos.
For for the company I I was I'min.
(23:54):
Uh otherwise a lot of there's alot of Indians, uh Eastern
Europeans, uh Filipinosgenerally speaking.
Uh I have heard that uh theChinese are starting to come in,
but I don't know how much.
Uh I don't have any experiencewith them.
SPEAKER_01 (24:11):
And they all have to speak English on board.
SPEAKER_03 (24:14):
Yeah.
Very interesting.
SPEAKER_02 (24:19):
One thing um I'm curious about, you know, we all
have kind of our work horrorstories or hazards of the job or
things that um make the jobunique in a lot of ways.
I think you you have a couplescenarios, you know, given
you're you know on a ship withpeople's lives at stake, and you
know, you're responsible for alot of things.
(24:40):
What is kind of the the scariestpart of the job for you?
SPEAKER_00 (24:45):
Uh I want to say there shouldn't be any parts of
the job that's scary.
Uh because you should prepareeverything uh when you do a job
so uh there's no risk uhassociated with it.
But like the weather is uh itwill do its own thing, so you
(25:09):
always have to uh keep that incount.
Then I hate heights.
I absolutely so uh heights isgonna be a big one for me.
SPEAKER_01 (25:21):
Does does that actually impact you in any way
when you're on the ship?
Like if you look over the the Idon't know what the word it the
railing on the deck and you'relike oh the ocean's kind of far,
I'd rather not see that rightnow.
SPEAKER_00 (25:35):
No, mostly it's because if you have to uh go up
the mast to do repairs orsomething like that.
Yeah.
So I usually uh delegate that tosomebody else.
SPEAKER_02 (25:46):
That's the way to do it.
Hey, I'm gonna delegate it tothis guy because I do not want
to go up there.
I love that.
I love that.
That's awesome.
One thing we talk about a lot isis corporate ladder.
Like for us, you know, it's kindof climbing the corporate ladder
and getting to that next role.
And you know, it's sometimes inour world, unfortunately, like
(26:07):
very gray.
Like what I need to do, whatskills I need to learn, what
things I need to do in order toget a promotion or climb the
ladder.
What does it look like for youfrom like a growth perspective?
SPEAKER_00 (26:20):
So um basically, if you're a marine engineer, you
start as a junior engineer,that's either a fourth or third
engineer, and then to be able tobe promoted, you actually need
to uh it's uh you have to haveuh what's called sale time, uh
so effective sales time.
(26:42):
Uh I think it's uh one yeareffective.
Uh then you can get thecertificate for the next rank
up, and it's like this.
Um the maximum you can be onboard as a chief engineer.
And the getting the promotion isuh if you're going for chief
engineer or junior engineer touh second engineer, it's usually
(27:07):
just recommendations from uh thecrew you've been sailing with,
and then uh it's pretty prettystraightforward.
Then uh it takes a lot, it takesa more to from uh second
engineer to chief engineer tokeep get promoted.
Uh of course you need to get therecommendation from the uh crew
you've been sailing with, um andthen uh the office has to uh
(27:29):
approve you.
SPEAKER_03 (27:34):
Got it.
SPEAKER_02 (27:34):
So make sure experience plus you know that
list you have to go through,make sure you're kind of meeting
all the qualifications, and thenthere is kind of somebody who
has to approve it at the end ofthe day.
SPEAKER_01 (27:45):
Yeah.
So and and that's that's curiousto me too, because I know that
there's a uh you know, we uhwhen you get higher up in the
ranks, you're on the shiplonger, correct?
Right?
Like your your lower levelstaff, they're swapping out and
you're not seeing them over andover again.
But the higher level staff, youmight see them multiple times.
SPEAKER_00 (28:07):
Is that right?
Uh yeah, but uh actually thelower level staff, because they
usually feel Pinos, they have alonger contract with us, but uh
the uh you won't be on the sameship all the time.
Uh but they would they wouldpref they the companies
generally prefer that they havewhat's called top four, which is
uh second engineer, chiefengineer, chief officer, and
(28:31):
captain.
They would like them to stay onthe same ship for for a period
of time, like two, three years,where you are you are still
you're not going home, but forthat period of time you will be
on the same ship, you'll go backto the same ship.
And they will like they likethat because then you know the
ship, so you can solve theproblems that are, and you have
like you ownership, if youunderstand what I mean, over the
(28:52):
ship.
So you don't just like okay,just have to to stay until uh
this just needs to hold until Igo home, and then uh it's not my
problem anymore.
Which I I have seen a lot withthe the the people who uh who
just change ships every time,then when they get to the end of
the contract, it's like okay,now I just need to this needs
just need to hold until I uhleave, and then uh it's not my
(29:15):
problem anymore.
SPEAKER_01 (29:19):
That uh that hits a little close to home because I
think uh Clark and I have beenin that same exact situation in
corporate jobs, just get thisover the line, and then it's
someone else's problem.
So good to know some thingsnever change.
SPEAKER_02 (29:35):
Oh man.
Yeah, it's it's true.
What's um I'm curious, Michael,what is something that the
average person might not knowabout you know what you do, or
maybe being on a on a boat, likeit that you think is just not
common knowledge?
Because I think we can all kindof conceptualize it.
I don't think we have the rightwords and all that, but what's
(29:57):
like something unique that mightbe surprising to?
SPEAKER_03 (30:04):
Probably uh lack of sleep.
SPEAKER_00 (30:10):
Uh because or the way the the sea is sometimes you
can have like a period of timewhere you won't sleep or won't
get proper sleep for for acouple of days.
Really?
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (30:22):
Do you get do you get seasick?
SPEAKER_00 (30:25):
I get uh when I just come on board if we go straight
into like a storm or something,then I get uh a little seasick.
Uh but after that I'm used toit.
SPEAKER_02 (30:35):
Wow.
Oh man, that's terrible.
Yeah, I I've never been seasick,but I get vertigo occasionally
with my cushy job and staying athome.
And I think I think that's bad.
I can't even imagine, you know,being in a bad storm on a ship
of that size.
How long have you been a marineengineer?
SPEAKER_00 (30:54):
Uh 11 years.
11 years.
SPEAKER_02 (30:57):
Gotcha.
And is that something you thinklike is is that uh the rest of
your life you want to keep thatas your career path?
You don't anticipate changinganything?
SPEAKER_00 (31:06):
No, I I don't think I uh I I like the the way uh
everything is set up too much,like the fact that when I'm
home, I'm home.
I don't have to think about uhwork.
That uh that's uh I don't thinkI can uh go back to uh or try a
regular job again.
SPEAKER_01 (31:26):
Yeah so hypothetical for you, you listen to the
podcast, you know what Clark andI do.
If you were offered a 30% raise,would you take one of our jobs
or keep your current job?
SPEAKER_00 (31:39):
I would keep my current job.
SPEAKER_02 (31:43):
Wow.
Okay, I love it.
Raise the stakes, raise thestakes 50% raise.
SPEAKER_00 (31:52):
Nah, I'm glad.
Still can't.
SPEAKER_01 (31:57):
I love that answer so much because I would probably
take a 50% pay cut if I was assmart as you and could do your
job.
SPEAKER_02 (32:05):
I was gonna do the same thing.
I'm like, yeah, you know what?
I would I would happily do thatjob for for less money, I think.
I think I won't know until I doit, but I think.
SPEAKER_01 (32:15):
One thing we didn't talk about this time, we we did
on the the failed recording,Clark, is people on the boat
fish.
And I know once you heard that,uh you were sold on the on the
job and the the the potentialcareer path of it.
What else do folks do on theboat for Fun Michael?
SPEAKER_00 (32:32):
Yeah.
Well we have we have uh thecompany has to uh every month
they have to put a certainamount into an account that's
called like the welfare countaccount.
Uh for the ship screw they canuse money.
So sometimes uh we buy pricesfor bingo.
Uh uh there is a gym on board uhthat I like I play a lot of
(33:00):
video games, so uh I play uhplay video games.
SPEAKER_03 (33:03):
Uh love it.
And you're you're on a gaminglaptop, right?
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (33:11):
Yeah.
Yeah, I was gonna say youprobably don't stream games
though, right?
You probably have to downloadthem and then you just play them
probably local.
SPEAKER_00 (33:21):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (33:22):
Yeah.
That's still super cool though.
So a lot of the conveniences oflike home are available because
you have the gym, you can youknow go up and to the top of the
ship, people can fish, uh, youhave a gaming laptop, so like
there are some conveniences.
It's not like you're just in a ametal box with a cot at night.
It's actually prettycomfortable, it sounds like.
SPEAKER_04 (33:43):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (33:45):
Uh you have to get used to it.
Like that there's more noisethan you you will have in the uh
usual uh home.
SPEAKER_02 (33:52):
Yeah.
Do you have like temperatureregulation in your rooms?
SPEAKER_00 (33:56):
Uh depending on the ship, but you uh all ships have
uh air con systems uh andheating systems.
It depends because some s someships they have like where you
can control uh in every cabin,although others it's like uh
everybody gets the sametemperature.
SPEAKER_02 (34:13):
What is what is uh like lunchtime or dinner time
look like?
Like is it a whole a whole crewendeavor that you guys you know
all are able to you know enjoylunch at the same time or have a
cafeteria room service, maybe?
SPEAKER_00 (34:27):
Uh no room service.
Uh but uh we have we have uh amess room.
Uh depending on the ship, it canbe split up between officer mess
and crew mess, or it can beeverybody together.
And uh all the ships they have auh uh cook who uh who makes the
food for us.
SPEAKER_03 (34:47):
That's nice.
SPEAKER_02 (34:48):
Yeah, that is nice.
Is is the food really good?
Or would you say it's eh, youknow, it's alright?
Maybe school cafeteria level.
SPEAKER_00 (34:57):
Very, very dependent on the cook.
I have had some really bad cooksand some really good cooks, so
it is super dependent on thecook you get.
SPEAKER_02 (35:07):
I feel like that would be my contract question.
Who's the chef on the ship?
Will I take this contract ornot?
SPEAKER_01 (35:15):
Well, so what happens if someone gets sick?
And I, you know, do do peopleget like airborne viruses when
you're all confined to a shipfor weeks on end?
Does that actually happen?
SPEAKER_00 (35:26):
It has happened, it's not that often because uh
uh depending where you are, youdon't have that much much
interaction with uh people fromnot on a ship.
But like I have been sickbefore.
Uh I remember one time uh wewent RIDOC, and me and the chief
engineer both got COVID.
So we uh we were sent to ahotel, so I got to spend uh two
(35:48):
weeks in a hotel in uh RikaLatvia, it was super super fun.
SPEAKER_01 (35:55):
That's a that is an interesting outcome for that
scenario.
So it does happen, which iswhich is strange.
If if someone gets injured orsick on board, I'm guessing
there's uh a medical person thatcan help you out.
SPEAKER_00 (36:06):
Uh no.
Uh there's uh the tech officershave uh um training and medical
help, and then uh there issomething called uh radio
medical, which is uh you pick upthe phone and you call, and you
in when they ship it's uh youcall a hospital in Denmark, and
(36:26):
there is a doctor who will uhtalk you through what you need,
and we have medicine on board,uh and we can only give out the
medicine after talking with thedoctor.
Uh and then uh depending on howbad it is, uh we may have to
divert to get people uh ashore.
SPEAKER_02 (36:47):
Wow.
Interesting.
I I thought there had to be amedic.
I was probably right there withyou, Bruce.
I'm like, how do you go on aship for that long and not have
someone who's like a medic ormedically trained at least?
SPEAKER_01 (36:59):
I mean, I'm dropping a wrench on my big toe.
I'm just telling you right now,it my big toe is gonna be
swollen, the fingernail is gonnaturn black.
You already know me.
This is gonna happen.
SPEAKER_02 (37:10):
I think Michael would probably tell you, yeah,
suck it up.
You gotta get to work.
Get your task done.
Yeah, pretty much.
Well, in hearing what we do,what's the thing that you're
like, that's that soundsterrible.
Is it just having to justconstantly be on all the time
and not really being able tostep away?
SPEAKER_00 (37:31):
Yeah, 100% that.
Like uh I remember I had a salewith a guy, and he told he had a
friend who was uh who used tosail, but then he started
working ashore, and he told methat he was at a party with him,
and like his friend spent allthe party in the corner on his
phone with his laptop.
And that sounds like the worstway to spend my life.
SPEAKER_02 (37:55):
I love that.
Yeah, I love that.
It does sound it sounds awful.
I'm so happy I'm not doing thatfrom time to time.
SPEAKER_01 (38:06):
Uh okay, so important question because this
this is real and this happens.
We've talked about this before,but tell us about the pirate
situation.
SPEAKER_00 (38:15):
Yeah.
Um well we have, I think there'sthree places with pirates.
Like we have West Africa, thenyou have East Africa near
Somalia, and then you have theMalaga Strait, I think.
Uh and I've been mostly on WestAfrica.
Uh when I was down in WestAfrica, a lot a lot uh they were
(38:37):
just shifting from uh onlyrobbing you to also kidnapping
you.
So uh that was fun.
SPEAKER_01 (38:44):
That's terrifying.
SPEAKER_03 (38:45):
That is absolutely terrifying.
SPEAKER_01 (38:48):
Yeah.
Don't like that.
Um so you're you're obviouslytrained and you have a a
protocol around if somethinglike that happens.
What is the what is the setupprocess if you hear there are
pirates in the area?
SPEAKER_00 (39:04):
So before we enter uh what's called a high risk
area, we do uh what's calledship hardening.
And that means we are racer wireall around the ship, uh on the
railings.
So uh they we are the leasttempting target.
Um and then if you are attacked,then there is you have a a
(39:25):
button on board, when you pressthat one, it goes straight to
the for the Danish ship, it'sstraight for the Danish Navy,
which tells them this ship isunder attack now.
And then everybody goes down towhat we call the sit still.
It's a sh it's a uh room that wecan lock, uh keep safe, and then
we can uh somewhat control theship from there, and then we
(39:48):
have radios down there andwater, so we can stay there for
a bit.
SPEAKER_01 (39:53):
Love that.
I mean it seems like you reallythought through, and and the the
folks on the ship, your securityhas really thought through this
process.
So I'm glad there is safety andcomfort uh in that situation.
What about a weather event?
Like if you're in a really badstorm, what do you do?
SPEAKER_00 (40:10):
Stuck it up and hope uh hope everything works.
SPEAKER_01 (40:13):
Uh this answer is being thrown out too much on
this.
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (40:19):
Uh there's just nothing like I've been in some
pretty sh pretty bad storms, andlike if you get into it, you're
just in it.
Like because you can sail fast,so you you just have to weather
the storm.
There's nothing like you cansail from it or something.
Uh so just have to uh suck itup.
SPEAKER_01 (40:36):
Yeah.
I get it though.
It's it's the one thing youcan't control.
SPEAKER_03 (40:41):
Yeah.
Oh my goodness.
Well, any any closing questionsfrom you, Clark?
SPEAKER_02 (40:53):
I think I'm all good.
Michael, it was an absolutepleasure to have you on.
Not once, but twice.
First in the unreleased episodeand second in the real episode
that's going to go out now thatwe got the G-Arc and Craig thing
figured out.
So thank you so much for comingon again, just to go through
this and just you know entertainour questions.
(41:13):
My brain was just spinning lasttime after we had our
conversation.
So I got a chance to ask evenmore questions this time, and I
really appreciate it.
SPEAKER_01 (41:21):
This is by far the better recording.
Of course, thank you.
Thank you.
And this is by far the betterrecording.
So uh, you know what?
It all works out in the end.
So thank you.
I also have to uh sadly informour listeners that we did force
Michael to play uh Is It AI?
And I I'm I am happy to reportthat both Michael and I guessed
(41:44):
the correct water cooler.
So even though he's on a ship,he knows what a corporate water
cooler looks like and he knowswhat an AI looks like.
So props to Michael for gettingit right and uh apologies for
for missing out on the fun ofthat last time.
Hey, and if you want to play uhIs It AI, you can join our
(42:04):
Discord.
And you can do that by goinginto your show notes, clicking
the the link tree in there.
You can you can give us a uhshout out on the various
platforms that we're on.
If you want to give us a review,we'd appreciate that.
But more importantly, if youwant to join the Discord, just
click join the Discord.
You can buy us a coffee andsupport the show.
Another thing we mentioned onthe lost recording is the fact
(42:26):
that we had a couple of coffeesbought for us from some very
nice people, one of which is aguest on this very pod today.
So apologies for not giving youthe shout-out for for giving us
that uh that support on theshow.
We were also supported by, uh,and this is true, quote,
NordVPN.
So thank you to whomever you arethat used NordVPN as the sponsor
(42:52):
through Buy Us a Coffee.
You're very clever.
We appreciate the joke.
Unless you actually are NordVPN,in which case I guess we're
sponsored now, so thank you.
But uh you can buy us a coffeeand support the show.
It is a completely host-fundedprogram, except for those
coffees that you buy us.
So thank you for that.
And if you'd like to purchasesome swag, you can do that on
the link tree as well.
And am I missing anything,Clark?
(43:13):
Do we cover it?
SPEAKER_02 (43:14):
No, I think you got it.
Like, share, subscribe.
And if you want to ask morequestions to Michael, you can
come to the Discord and ask.
I'm sure he'd be happy to youknow relay how miserable our
lives are compared to his.
SPEAKER_00 (43:27):
Yeah, I'm uh more than happy to answer any
questions.
SPEAKER_01 (43:30):
That's right.
If you have questions, Michaelis in our Discord.
Feel free to drop them in thatcorporate strategy channel, and
he will be happy to answer themfor you.
Thank you again for joining ustoday.
Super, super appreciative oftaking two hours of your time
now for the pod.
And uh, I would love to have youback again in the future to hear
(43:50):
more stories of adventure andseafaring expeditions.
So thanks again, Michael.
SPEAKER_00 (43:56):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
And I would be happy to come onagain.
SPEAKER_01 (44:00):
And we'd love to have you.
Uh and that does it for anotherepisode.
Uh, as always, thanks to ourlisteners for for tuning in.
Do check out that link tree anddo all the things we just said
beforehand.
Uh, and if we don't get you,until the next time, I'm Bruce.
And I'm Clark.
SPEAKER_03 (44:18):
And you're on mute.
We will see you next week.
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