A real port, at true scale
Southampton Water, buoy for buoy: the Thorn Channel, the Bramble turn,
the six-knot limit off Hythe Pier, and the dredged water you'd better
stay inside. Charted depths are real. So is the tide — the biggest
ships only move on the flood.
Six ships, six problems
A 330 m cruise ship with azipods and every assist money buys. A coaster
that walks to port going astern. A double-ended ferry that crabs flat.
A harbour tug with 80 tonnes of bollard pull. A 400 m container ship
that answers in minutes and stops in miles. A laden crude tanker with
no bow thruster and no excuses.
The radio is the game
Fully voiced VHF: check in with Vessel Traffic Services, dispatch real
tugs and con them by radio, call the pilot, and share the channel with
a working harbour — including the sailing yacht who says he's moving
and hasn't. Every transmission is captioned.
Weather you can't skip
Berth at night by the buoy lights and the sodium glare of the quay.
Feel your way in through fog with a quarter-mile of visibility, a path
predictor, and nerve. Watch the wind lean on ten thousand square metres
of superstructure.
Learn the trade
Twenty missions across the fleet, act by act: your first alongside,
crosswind landings, tug school, escort duty, squat and under-keel
clearance, and a fog capstone worthy of the licence.