Nautical Terms: “In Irons” Some of you that were with us on Friday night would have experienced this. Team Victory would like to apologize for your late arrival back to CT-2. “In Irons” is a ship maneuvering phenomenon that occurs, in simple terms when the power of the wind overcomes the power of the ship to turn. This only occurs when you are in close quarters (Harbor) and cannot use the full power of the ships engines due to the restricted room to maneuver. This occurred to us on Friday night…as we came into the harbor and started to make our turn back into the wind to return to our dock. We proceeded through half our turn…once the 30kt wind got at a right angle to the ship the ship could not complete the turn in the space that was available. (we were in Irons)
Waiting for the tug to arrive is what caused the delay.
The Captain must always consider the safety the passengers, crew and ship first so he stopped the turn and called for a tug to assist. This is always the proper decision to make based on professional training and company procedures. Victory has a standing contract with the local tug company to handle this type of situation. We are currently exploring ways to shorten the tug response time during the overnight hours.
Again we apologize for the delay of our arrival Friday night. As the Captain of the ship, and in the best interest of our guests, employees and company I must always demand…SAFETY FIRST at VICTORY!
Capt Tim
