FRB 15C is - finally - SOLAS approved It has taken a year, but now ESVAGT’s latest version of the FRB is finally approved according to SOLAS' newest regulations.

Nobody knows exactly how long time 'ages' is. A good guess is that it is about as much time as it takes to get an FRB SOLAS approved.

That is certainly the feeling in ESVAGT after - finally – having received the approval of ESVAGT’s rescue boat, FRB 15C, approved according to SOLAS regulations:

- It has taken almost a year and it has been a long and challenging time, says Ole Ditlev Nielsen, COO of ESVAGT.

SOLAS is an international regulatory framework, which sets minimum require-ments for the machines, workplaces and envi-

ronments that people must work in. The rules are OK, and ESVAGT is fine with that. But:

- The requirements are very specific and strict, but they are not all relevant to us. For example, there is a fire test in which the hull must be able to handle a direct flame for 40 seconds without it burning or bubbling up and we could only cope with 38.4 seconds.

One can then discuss the relevance of just that test in a boat that is used in water - but that is how it is, says Ole Ditlev Nielsen.

Not only are requirements specific. Many of them are also so new that The Danish Insti-tute of Fire Technology e.g. first had to find out how to conduct the test. California sun! Meanwhile, ESVAGT’s FRB had to go to the solarium:

- Prior to the fire test the hull should be exposed to what is compared to California sunlight for 90 days. Sunlight has a destruc-tive effect on materials, which is why we had to carry out that test, says Ole Ditlev Nielsen.

Continues page 2.

With the SOLAS approval, ESVAGT is now able to use the FRB as man-over-board boat for own employees.

NO. 1. 2010. SAFETY & SUPPORT AT SEA

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Continued from page 1. You put the hull under lamps, similar to

California's sun, for 90 days. Then the test is carried out:

- And since we had problems with the fire-retardant materials, we had to do many experiments. This meant that we ran out of hull samples and had to spend another three months to get sun on some new hull samples. And it is 90 days each time. In this way, another three months are quickly spent, says Ole Ditlev Nielsen. Replaces MOB boat It has taken ESVAGT a year to get through, but now we have a boat that is fully SOLAS approved for 15 people according to the lat-est regulations.

The vessel fulfils the latest adjustments in weight from 75 kg to 82.5 kg. It is further dis-cussed if we should adjust the weight to approx. 98 kg which some helicopter compa-nies do as they cannot fly with “theoretical

values”. This possible adjustment will not be a problem because the new boat is designed with an SWL on the lifting arrangement of 10 (three times the normal SWL).

What the approval should be used for is a little complicated to explain. But in simple terms it means that ESVAGT no longer has to bring a small, traditional dinghy as 'man over board' boat to the benefit of the employees. We are allowed to use the rescue boat now.

- It implies that apart from using the FRB as a rescue boat – to save people - we can also use it to save our own crew should they fall into the water. It may seem a little odd that we were required to have a small dinghy with an outboard motor when we are working to provide safety at sea, but that is how the rules are, says Ole Ditlev Nielsen.

SOLAS approval is an advantage to ESVAGT because instead of using space for a small dinghy which is approved, but poorly suited to rescue people, we can now use the

space for the two larger boats, which are far better for the primary task - safe rescue in adverse weather.

- Now we can put two of our own ESVAGT boats onboard. And that is fine. We build our own FRBs because we believe our FRBs are better than anyone we can buy. So now we get two of the best boats on board, says Ole Ditlev Nielsen. n

That a boat is SOLAS approved says nothing about the boat's ability to work in adverse weather, for example. So SOLAS approval is by no means an object to ESVAGT, but rather a purpose to pro-ceed. ESVAGT’s own requirements to the FRB are so much harder to comply with than SOLAS requirements.

FACTS:

”ESVAGT new building team”

Editorial A new starting point. It was fun to work in the offshore industry in 2007 and 2008, but of course that state could not go on, and in 2009 we all woke up to a new and more realistic everyday life. It was hard because all our costs which had increased due to the development had to be adjusted to the new reality.

Thanks to competent, flexible and engaged employees onshore as well as off-

shore, we succeeded in adapting costs to var-ying employment and a new everyday life with a lower earning potential.

Only a few contractors have not been able to adapt their costs to the new market situa-tion, and we will contact these contractors when they are competitive again.

For our part of business, we think that we have now touched bottom and that during

2011 there will be balance between supply and demand.

It is though good news that demand for quality tonnage and shipping companies being able to deliver a high service level has resulted in many term-contracts during the first quarter of 2010. n

Ovin H. Carlsson

3

A nice and fruitful collaboration with ASL

"Esvagt Carpathia" was the first one, and since the vessel was delivered from the ASL Ship-yard in 2007, the good cooperation between ESVAGT and the shipyard in Singapore just went better and better.

When TBN 930 is taken over by ESVAGT, it will be the end of a series of ten vessels:

- It is definitely a potential future partner for construction of that type of ship. They have done a great job, says Viggo Hvidberg, Project Manager in ESVAGT.

He praises ASL to have entered into a very good working relationship where there has been a positive response towards ESVAGT’s wishes for changes and adjustments:

- We have got a good sister-ship effect where we get the errors corrected in the process. It is also important that we have had site rep-resentatives present for well over one and a half year that followed the process closely. It means a lot to have personnel on the spot. But ASL must be commended for being good at following up on things. They have shown great willingness to do that, says Viggo Hvid-berg.

ASL has been very keen on living up to European standards where requirements for both the finish and the technical side - espe-cially with regard to electricity - are a lot strict-er than what you see elsewhere.

- They have really worked hard, and they have even managed to deliver ahead of schedule several times, which we certainly are not used to. On the latest ships there have been few and minor delays which were ok. And for all ships, they have done the trip home just fine, says Viggo Hvidberg.

Proven design The design of the ships was developed by ESVAGT and developed over many years:

- We took over the "Esvagt Corona" and "Esvagt Capella" from Spain in 2004 and ships from ASL are a further development of these ships, which in turn were a further develop-

TBN 930 is the last of the ten newbuildings from ASL shipyard in Singapore bound for ESVAGT.

ment of the earlier ships. It is a process that has been going on for ten years, so we have really good grip on it. From "Esvagt Carpathia" to TBN 930 only a few technical things have been changed. Some fractured switchboards and other minor changes. That must be proof that we have worked a lot with it initially. Today the ships are just as we want them, says Viggo Hvidberg.

All the ten ships that ASL has built to ESVAGT have been thoroughly tested on the long trip to Esbjerg. The first five ships sailed to Esbjerg through the Suez Canal, but the last five headed south to Africa because of piracy in the Gulf of Aden which made the short route too dangerous. The route south of Africa is three weeks longer than the shortcut, and the last five ships have been between 54-56 days to sail to Esbjerg. n

ASL ships delivered to ESVAGT"Esvagt Carpathia" was the first newbuil-ding ESVAGT got from ASL. It was taken over in 2007. Then came "Esvagt Cassio-peia", "Esvagt Carina", "Esvagt Contender" and "Esvagt Champion", which all were built in 2007; "Esvagt Caroline" came in 2008, and "Esvagt Cobra" and "Esvagt Castor" in 2009 . This year ESVAGT has taken over "Esvagt Capri" and - shortly - TBN 930.

FACTS:

NO. 1. 2010. SAFETY & SUPPORT AT SEA

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ESVAGT makes a good first impression

“Esvagt Charlie” assisted “Maersk Neptune”

It sounds like a video type from before the DVDs, but FPAL is really very topical, recog-nized and contemporary.

FPAL is an abbreviation for First Point Assessment Limited, and it is a system used to identify, qualify and monitor potential part-ners for FPAL's customers.

If a company seeks a business partner or supplier, the company can use FPAL to check if the supplier meets the requirements of the company. One can also see how scores are achieved.

It is the company, Achilles, which runs FPAL. ESVAGT was thoroughly checked and received an average that HSEQ Manager Stef-fen Rudbech calls 'satisfactory':

- We scored 9.1 out of 10 on Health and Safety, 8.8 on Environment and 8.8 on Com-petences and Training. In 2006 we scored 8.9 on Health and Safety and 8.2 on Environment, so there has been a continuous improvement, which we are satisfied with, says Steffen Rud-bech.

Keep the scoreA rule of thumb is that a level between 8

and 9 is the current requirement to succeed in the industry, and ESVAGT is rated in this scale. In comparison, there have never been higher scores than 9.4 what ESVAGT is aware of.

- When you have to improve at that rate where we are, it is hard. There is very little to change when you are highly rated. But we

strive, and we also got credit for that when auditors from FPAL visited us. We have raised score by 0.6 on Environment which is very good, says Steffen Rudbech.

He also notes that a high FPAL-score is not static, and that one cannot maintain the level doing nothing.

- You can compare it with an escalator running down. When you score, you are already going down, and you must move upward to keep level. And you have to work hard to increase further. But it is the constant effort that keeps us going, says Steffen Rudbech. n

An engine failure is always annoying.And an engine failure far away is even

more annoying.On 18 March, “Maersk Neptune” suffered

an engine failure in the North Sea.But luckily the tanker was close to the Dan

Field where “Esvagt Charlie” is working as a service vessel for the Dan Fox.

“Esvagt Charlie” was located approx. 2 hours from “Maersk Neptune”, and the team onboard “Esvagt Charlie” headed by Master Jan Schmidt transferred a repair team of eight people onboard the tanker. The repair team was transferred by use of an FRB – and at the same time an equipment container was load-ed onboard “Maersk Neptune”.

According to a satisfied deck supervisor onboard Dan Fox, the jobs were performed by

“Esvagt Charlie” with the usual routine. n

When customers and possible customers look at ESVAGT, they can - using the FPAL - see that ESVAGT is highly rated.

“Maersk Neptune” suffered an engine failure on a “lucky location” - close to the Dan Field where “Esvagt Charlie” is working.

5

From August and the next five years “Esvagt Supporter” will be working in the English Channel. ESVAGT has signed an agreement with Vestas that operates the wind turbine farm Bligh Bank Offshore Wind Farm 46 km offshore from the Belgian city of Zeebrugge.

“Esvagt Supporter” will act as hotel ship for the crews working at the mills and will there-fore be converted, says Thomas Fauerby, Assistant Chartering Manager in ESVAGT:

- Currently “Esvagt Supporter” has facilities for the standby/rescue functions that the ship has performed so far. But these facilities will be removed so there is more room for more people onboard, says Thomas Fauerby.

”Esvagt Supporter” in regular employment for Vestas in Belgium

“Esvagt Supporter” will be converted and fitted for jobs in the English Channel.

“Esvagt Supporter’s” hospital and rescue room will be removed which is expensive, but it is still a good business, says Thomas Fauer-by:

- Vestas sells wind turbines to Belwind N.V. including a five-year service agreement. So it is first of all good work for us, then it is an investment in an area that we hopefully are going to see more of. Interest in offshore wind farms is increasing, says Thomas Fauerby.

The wind farm industry is not yet as regu-lated with regard to safe as the oil industry. But it will change and here ESVAGT comes in:

- In the oil industry safety is always in focus, which also applies in the wind farm industry.

Serious partners, who can demonstrate a high level of safety, are always interesting and other changes will take place, too, says Thomas Fauerby. n

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The first months of 2010 ESVAGT has entered into several long-term contracts, and Charter-ing Manager Ib Hansen looks at 2010 with confidence:

- Definitely. The contracts we have entered into in the beginning of 2010 are good, says Ib Hansen.

Several of the contracts have been long time underway, but it means less when the contract is of a considerable length:

- The new contracts cover us well in the short term and also - partly – long-term-wise. It offers good prospect for 2010 and we are happy about that, says Ib Hansen.

Currently about 90 percent of ESVAGT’s fleet has work until October / November and that is not bad by the end of the first quarter:

- Rates are still way down compared to what we have seen the last five years, but it is still a better business than to be at berth, says Ib Hansen.

ESVAGT has signed several long-term contracts in the first quarter of 2010During the first months of 2010, ESVAGT entered into several long-term contracts and we look at 2010 with confidence.

The new contracts send ESVAGT widely around the world in the future, and there is still good variation in the types of jobs. Seabed and minesweepingESVAGT chose to bid for many different types of jobs in 2009, which among other things also included collection of bottom samples and acting as guard vessel. Ib Hansen expects the trend will continue:

- It is still mostly offshore work, but some of the jobs we had earlier will be back when the season starts in April / May. "Esvagt Connector" has been working in the Baltic Sea with mapping of seabed and minesweeping - and the customer has asked us if we can help them again. So, customer relationships are present, and we have had many different jobs that our clients know we can do. The work will come back, predicts Ib Hansen. n

7

FACT:

The new contracts:

* "Esvagt Preserver" will over the next two years act as service vessel for Maersk Oil. The contract starts 1st August, and the job is primarily trans-fer of personnel and bunker to the unmanned installations. The jobs will be in the DUC fields. "Esvagt Preserver" will pick up personnel from Tyra, Gorm and Dan and transfer them by FRB to the unmanned installations. The con-tract includes option for another year.

* Similarly, a one-year contract on two standby vessels has been signed with Maersk Oil - which vessels are not yet known, but it will be group-3 vessels - with option for another year. This job is also in Danish sector and it will start on 1st August.

* 3 January "Esvagt Observer" went on a five-year contract with ExxonMobil on the Beryl field in UK sector. The job is standby and tanker assistance service. This is also with option on two times two years when the contract expires.

* "Esvagt Capri" from Singapore will start work in the Jotun field in Norwegian sector where ESVAGT by the end of January entered into a contract with ExxonMobil Norway with "Esvagt Sig-ma" as a forerunner. The contract runs for five years and has an option for fur-ther two times two years. The jobs will be standby service.

* From approx. 1st July, "Esvagt Don" and "Esvagt Connector" will be work-ing three to five months off the west coast of Greenland. The two ESVAGT vessels will work with standby and tug activities as well as ice management – meaning keeping an eye on drifting ice so it will not come too close to the area with drilling activities.

Work in Disco Bay takes place on behalf of Capricorn Energy Limited, a subsidiary of Cairn Energy PLC UK.

* From 1st May, "Esvagt Sigma" will pro-vide six to ten months standby service in UK sector for Petrofac Oil.

* For the ships on spot ESVAGT has also managed to maintain good activity. "Esvagt Don" has maintained the con-tract with the Dutch Coast Guard, "Esvagt Capella" has extended its work with Statoil in Norwegian sector of an additional four to ten months, "Esvagt Connector" will also work as a standby vessel for Statoil in the Sleipner field for three months, and finally a group-3 ship has been hired as a guard vessel to ConocoPhillips for three to six months in Norwegian sector.

NO. 1. 2010. SAFETY & SUPPORT AT SEA

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From hotdog man to Project Manager Many of ESVAGT’s employees have had an untraditional career. Viggo Hvidberg’s career has been more intricate than the ordinary.

He began as a hotdog man - now he has just been in Singapore to sign the acceptance papers on a ship worth several million dollars.

No, Viggo Hvidberg’s life is not like most people’s life, and if you ask him to draw a straight line from the beginning of his career until now, it would not be possible. In addi-tion, Viggo Hvidberg has made too many deviations in the past.

- I have no papers on many jobs that I have been working with. But I have had the stub-bornness and determination, and so I have been fortunate that I have been in a business where such matters, says the 50-year-old project manager.

Viggo Hvidberg was a hotdog man and fisherman for 11 years, before he came to ESVAGT in 1990. He knew a little of the com-pany from his time as a fisherman, and in between some ESVAGT people came in an orange dinghy rushing in search of plaice or other fresh fish, which could supplement the food on board:

- But we often saw them when they were on standby, and I thought that job might be interesting. I worked as a volunteer in the res-cue service in Hvide Sande, where I saw many good things and some really bad things.

I was interested in a job with the possibili-ty to make a difference and work to save peo-ple, and therefore ESVAGT was an obvious place to look, says Viggo Hvidberg.

ESVAGT is a workplace where many peo-ple with different backgrounds and edu-cation have their daily lives.

But do we all know what each of us really work with?

ESVAGT News would like to supply some opportunities to greet each other a little deeper. Under the subject “My ESVAGT”, we will portray your colleagues – and maybe you, too.

My

– and yours!

Viggo Hvidberg is working with ESVAGT newbuildings – this snapshot from Singa-pore when “Esvagt Capri” was handed over.

9

Unusual career path gives good employeesMany employees in ESVAGT have worked hard to get their qualifications. A Scandinavian model, which provides good sailors, says Ole Ditlev Nielsen.A career path must not always be straight ahead, and having taken a few detours towards the goal is certainly not an obstacle in moving forward.

This is how ESVAGT’s COO, Ole Ditlev Nielsen, sees it, and he is happy to have people on board who have seen other businesses, industries and challenges:

- There are other ways than the straight way from school to cadet to officer. In ESVAGT

we have many employees who have chosen another way – from ordinary seaman to ship’s assistant to officer. We have very good employees who started in ESVAGT as a cook, says Ole Ditlev Nielsen.

- We also have employees who have been far around, and we encourage people to edu-cate further, so they can learn new and get challenging work with us, says Ole Ditlev Nielsen.

According to him it is a typical Scandinavi-an approach to work oneself up into a busi-ness, but it is also a very good model:

- That way we get people who have tried several levels in the organization and know it from the inside. And people who have grown up in an organization are often talented, loyal and motivated. n

Viggo Hvidberg was enrolled in a course at the former Danish Offshore School on Fanø where ESVAGT's current COO, Ole Ditlev Nielsen, was an instructor. Contact was made with ESVAGT and Viggo Hvidberg signed up as a junior seaman on the chartered ship

"Gorm" and later on "Esvagt Omega" before he went to Fanø Navigation School to acquire a certificate as a coastal skipper. After his edu-cation he sailed in a period as first mate on ESVAGT’s group 3 ships before he went back to Fanø to get a certification as a home-trade master.

New challengesHe sailed a few years, but then found a new career turn when he came ashore and helped building up the course department – at the same time as he was an inspector in the Oper-ations Department:

- I have been fortunate that I have been assigned greater responsibilities and new challenges. It has been exciting, but if you want to be where decisions are taken, then you have to seize the opportunity. If you do your job carefully, you will get more opportu-nities. Many resources and much energy have been spent on me, says Viggo Hvidberg.

Viggo Hvidberg is 50 years old, lives in Ringkøbing, is married to Else, who also happens to be a “hotdog man" in Ringkø-bing.

The couple has two daughters, and Viggo Hvidberg is also a proud grand-father to Hjalte, two years.

FACTS:

After two years ashore, Viggo Hvidberg went back to sea on board ESVAGT vessels as a captain, but in 2007 he got the job he still has today:

- We purchased a Swedish stern trawler, which today is called "Esvagt Supporter" and it was rebuilt in the Faroes. I was offered the job to supervise the re-building and that started the career I have today. I handled flag-ging of "Esvagt Kappa" and "Esvagt Sigma" to Danish flag; have been involved in the con-struction of our C-vessels and today I work with newbuildings, says Viggo Hvidberg.

But despite desk and chair, Viggo Hvid-berg would like to go to sea again and he hopes to end his working life offshore:

- Salt water courses in my veins and I would like to go offshore again, he says.

When he will be a captain again, he does not know and it does not mean that much. But after three years onshore, he is ready:

- This is what I love. I simply just like my current job, says Viggo Hvidberg with a laugh and a smile. n

NO. 1. 2010. SAFETY & SUPPORT AT SEA

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"You cannot accept one or two LTIs a year. Should that be the case, I would like to know who will be involved."

Steffen Rudbech

HSEQ's bottom line must always be zeroESVAGT shall be a safe company, and we work all the time to avoid accidents. Last year there were two LTIs - and it was two LTIs too many. In 2009, ESVAGT employees worked 2.2 mil-lion working hours, resulting in two injuries. LTIs as the accidents are called - Lost Time Incident - are injuries, which mean that the person is unable to attend his job with-in 24 hours after the accident.

Two of such acci-dents in 2009 - one could be tempted to call this an acceptable level. But it would be wise not to do so in front of Steffen Rudbech, ESVAGT’s HSEQ Manager. For in his opinion there is no such thing as 'accepta-ble' when it comes to safety:

- We cannot call few accidents acceptable. One can say that it has been a year we could be proud of - 2.2 million working hours are many hours. But we cannot accept anything other than zero when it comes to accidents, and when working so hard to avoid them.

We cannot say that this year we will be happy with two accidents – because who will be hurt in these accidents? You cannot go to work and assume that 'during this year, two of

Learn from mistakes With that much focus on being a safe working environment, one could well imagine that the ones who were injured or observed a near-miss were not that popular. But that is not the case:

- It will ruin the reporting culture we want in ESVAGT. When injuries or near-misses occur, we should learn from them - we owe that to each other. And to do that, we have to be informed about them to bring the information forward, so our colleagues can learn from them, says Steffen Rudbech.

FACTS:

us will be run over´. It is not good enough, says Steffen Rudbech.

Also in 2010, the HSEQ Manager is an old hen. And even an annoyed one of its kind, the ambition of an LTI-free 2010 disappeared already by the end of January when an employee onboard "Esvagt Promoter" repaired a cartridge heater without following the procedures. The employee scalded his hand and was on sick leave in 45 days:

Lightning is allowed - It is really annoying when this type of

accidents happens. First and foremost for the employee, but also for our ambition to be a safe workplace, says Steffen Rudbech:

- What annoys me most is when accidents could have been avoided. And they can almost always. If lightning strikes down, you can do nothing about that - I accept that. But it is not acceptable when accidents happen because you have not performed the job the way you should. If you have not used your brains. If you have not followed the require-ments, says Steffen Rudbech.

20,000 people without accidents Though you cannot get Steffen Rudbech to accept anything other than zero with regard

to LTIs, you can still get him to say that ESVAGT’s current LTI level is acceptable:

- The result is ok, compared to our compet-itors. We know that. But the employee who has been hurt cannot use that statement for anything. So the goal is always zero. And now that we have had an LTI, the target for 2010 is that this LTI is the only one, says Steffen Rud-bech.

Many of ESVAGT’s 31 ships are proud of more than ten years without LTIs. Several ships have had yet another year without acci-dents during the first months of 2010. Thus

"Esvagt Dee" (10 years), "Esvagt Echo" (18 years), "Esvagt Charlie" (18 years) and "Esvagt Preserver" (19 years) all could celebrate another LTI-free year in 2010:

- We are proud of so many ships without LTIs. You have to remember that a lot of things happen in our work place. E.g. "Esvagt Preserver" has transferred over 20,000 people and lifted over 5,000 containers in those 19 years. And it took place in a safe way. Well done, says Steffen Rudbech. n

11

Siemens sizes ESVAGT upAn exercise from "Esvagt Beta" showed Siemens people an alter-native to transporting personnel offshore to the wind turbines. It is not often you hear seamen complain about calm weather. But it was actually a little annoying that sea and weather showed its calm side when "Esvagt Beta" had six employ-ees from Siemens on a trip offshore.

ESVAGT wanted to show Siemens that to transfer people from ships to FRBs and on to offshore wind turbines - in worse weather than Siemens was used to. So the good weather we had on the trip was a bit annoy-ing, says Thomas Fauerby, Assistant Charter-ing Manager:

- We demonstrated the benefits of our way of transferring people - and the weather was actually too good. But we showed what we can do. It was a good exercise, and demon-strated that Siemens can get people offshore to the turbines in other ways than the one they use today, says Thomas Fauerby.

Siemens employees will service the tur-bines in many of the new wind mill farms, currently being set up at sea in northern Europe. Today it happens with crew ships from the nearest port, but ESVAGT has an alternative method. This method assumes that Siemens people are in the wind mill farm all the time – living on an ESVAGT ship. From there they are brought to the turbines, where people and cargo are transferred by a modi-fied FRC, our way of transferring people:

- My feeling is that Siemens was very positive about what we offer. They saw our method as a real alternative to what they normally do. There is some way to go before we have a firm agreement, but we showed that we can do the job, says Thomas Fauerby. n

FRB sailing at Horns Rev.

NO. 1. 2010. SAFETY & SUPPORT AT SEA

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ESVAGT-NEWS PUBLISHED BY:ESVAGT A/SAdgangsvejen 1DK-6700 EsbjergTlf.: +45 33 98 77 00Fax: +45 33 98 77 05E-mail: mail@esvagt.dkWebsite: www.esvagt.dk

EDITOR:Anette Sørensen

TEXT:Sune Falther

LAYOUT: Webservice

PRINT:Tarm Bogtryk A/S

”Esvagt Preventer” is slowly beginning to emergeModel builder Harley Poulsen has been more busy gathering information about "Esvagt Preventer" than to build it. However, exact knowledge is necessary to make an exact copy.

Many of us have spent part of our childhood getting 250 pieces of plastic look like a Spitfire or an armoured cruiser. We sat for hours in a fug of solvents and tried to glue a tiller onto the cockpit, and when it finally succeeded, one’s kid brother smashed it all - if the dog did not eat it first!

Harley Poulsen has held on to the fun of model building. But even though he has nei-ther a brother nor a dog to blame, building an exact replica of "Esvagt Preventer" is slow:

- Most of the work has taken place back-stage, says Harley Poulsen:

- There is a lot of planning work with a scale model of this type. ESVAGT has been helpful with drawings, but it has been difficult to find a bodyplan which fitted to the hull. But my good model building colleague, Ole Skjold, has found one to me, says Harley Poulsen.

Getting the right drawings is not the only problem Harley Poulsen has experienced in his workshop in Aabenraa.

"Esvagt Preventer" is Harley Poulsen's first model made of phosphor bronze. It is a nice material to work with - and both the little table circular saw and the cutter work well in the metal. On the photos Harley is work-ing with a wall to the superstructure. As things are to be accurate, the work is care-fully done. It took nearly two hours to build the small wall.

He has chosen to build in materials such as fibreglass, aluminium and phosphor bronze, and they are expensive materials. So he uses much energy to calculate his material consumption.

And the choice of materials is far from decided on yet. Harley will make two models – both a traditional frame model and a cnc machined aluminium plug that can be cast:

- Right now the frame model is being programmed into cutting files for the cnc cutter. It took time, but "Esvagt Preventer" is to be made properly. I have very critical model building colleagues, so you do not take any shortcuts, says Harley Poulsen. n

NO. 1. 2010. SAFETY & SUPPORT AT SEA