MOSCOW, February 9. /TASS/. Andrey Tenitsky has been sailing the nuclear-powered icebreaker Vaygach for over 20 years. There are only ten icebreaker captains in the world. Andrey lives in Murmansk. Twice a year he leaves home for long journeys along the Northern Sea Route, where he leads caravans through the ice. In the past, he couldn’t imagine that half his life would be in the Arctic. We talked to the captain and learned how to handle an icebreaker and why he says the best icebreaker is the wind.
About the Arctic
I don’t like the word “conquer”. Conquering is not about the Arctic. The Arctic requires work, friendship, respect, because it is impossible to treat the mighty Arctic without respect. We are newcomers there, the region is a unique ecosystem, which must be taken care of. Come, destroy, conquer – that’s not to do here. It’s a way to die and kill all around. Any work, even on a powerful icebreaker, must be precise here.
About the sea and dreams
It is only in the books that we read that the sea is romantic, but in reality, working in the sea is difficult. At first, I sailed the Atlantic, which is ice-free. I saw ice cream only in the fridge, nowhere else. On the Baltic, where I come from, we have no ice. I first saw ice in the 2000s while on an icebreaker.
For three times I said to myself – I left the ships, I wanted to leave the sea, and where am I now? Back to the sea (laughs).
About the Navy of the North and the Civil Fleet
I am a person of the older generation, my father was in the military. At the time, nobody asked: well, son, what are you going to do? Just – go to military school, and that’s it. I joined it, graduated in 1985 – and joined the Northern Fleet.
My father served in the Baltic Fleet, was a commander of a ship division, our last name is quite well known, and therefore, in order not to let anyone say behind my back that I was promoted, I left for the North. Back in navy school, I learned that frosts here can even be minus 45 degrees. For us, wearing the Baltic overcoats, it was a shock. I was born in Baltiysk, I studied in Kaliningrad – you understand the weather there, and here – the northern variant.
I served in the armed forces for 18 years. After the resignation, I wanted to change something in my life – to leave the fleet for another military structure, but when finally I resigned, it did not work out. I had to wait too long, but I wanted to be busy right away, without waiting.
About interesting work
I was 35 years old. It was in the late 90s, I was looking for a job. With my striving for something new and interesting, going to a bakery, a dairy, or picking up junk was out of the question. No, it’s not for me ! I’m not a humanitarian, I’m from an engineering structure. Imagine an engineer in a bakery? Well, I realize how important bread is, but it’s boring to me. I have to work where it interests me. No doubt! I went to a civilian shipping company.
I applied to Atomflot (nuclear fleet authority) just in passing, and started working as a communications engineer. In 2000 I went to an icebreaker as a fourth mate, then worked on it, then said I wanted to be a first mate.
In learning to be an icebreaker, career progression is essential. Become the leader from the start – no, it doesn’t work that way. The icebreaker needs to be studied, it’s not just a ship, it’s a nuclear installation, with a reactor. In addition to the usual equipment liability, you receive the insane nuclear power liability. I am quite ambitious, and according to the military documents that I had then, I could have occupied civil posts like chief of a radio, navigator until the captain. So here I am.
Ice and work in the Arctic
The Arctic has its bonuses: polar bears, walruses, northern lights and ice. Moreover, he can grow very quickly especially when he is young. Today it’s 10 cm thick, tomorrow maybe 15, then 25, then 30-40. And this is the layer that we have to manage.
I break the ice, the shards rise. We, those who have gotten used to it, are not afraid. But sometimes I look at it and wonder, “What a thing! Might jump on the bridge!” I look around me and see that everything is so solemn and magical. Although, honestly speaking, we don’t pay much attention to it. Our work is far from the arts. We are here to do the work, not to smear paint on the canvas.
Wind is the best icebreaker
We say the best icebreaker is the wind. What we are unable to do, even if all the icebreakers work at some point, the wind will make it through. It can be torn, thrown, broken, when it is strong enough. And the ice cream! Imagine the ice 1.5 to 2 meters and the wind breaking it. The wind blows, the ice begins to move like a billion tons of concrete. And these layers of concrete crawl over each other.
However, when the frosts are extremely low, down to minus 55, then it’s calm, no wind, the air is as if standing. And then, when the boat breaks through the ice, the steam rises, the smoking streetlights stretch upwards and stand there, motionless.
About a real icebreaker
Well, honestly, a real icebreaker doesn’t travel on ice, it prefers to travel on water (laughs). To find cracks to follow. Why force equipment, even huge and powerful equipment, why kill it. Certainly not. Rather wait a few hours, I prefer to wait, just because I know the flow will “do the job”, a hole, a crack will appear, and in there I will go.
No icebreaker should simply move straight along a line to break the ice. What counts is nature, the current, the wind. Here you wait, here you hold, there push forward to manage, or even back to fit the schedule. There is no breakthrough in the Arctic. It’s not about winning.
About the situations in the Arctic
Managing an icebreaker is not just about making calculations. It’s something more specific. If there is a problem, my doubts come to mind and I go to the bridge well upstream. If I know that we will cross a passage of hard ice, then I want to control everything. Our strategies are like on a highway: you know you will cover a certain distance in a certain time, plus/minus traffic jams.
I have to read the mirror, the weather. Without it, any super mathematician or any super physicist, who is unable to read time or ice, to be friendly with them, will never move, fail a task. Brains work non-stop: what was there a week earlier, what winds, what currents?
We take old ice maps, study them. Here the world movement is at here, now it’s frozen. On we are working. The ice charts come from headquarters – they send them online. So I can see what was here a month ago and what I can see now.
For example, a situation where you navigate, you are the leader. The icebreaker is the first, followed by a ship of three to ten cables (500-1,800 m – TASS). We are sailing, and here is the ice rock, the ice is hard, the rock is up, and apparently the ship behind me can’t stop right now. The ship can break, like a car on an icy road, but the ship is heavy, it carries cargo, it’s big, it can just catch up with the icebreaker, it’s not fun.
And I plead the Vaygach, asking the icebreaker like a human, “Oh, please, come on, come on!” We can see that we are not stuck, we are moving. The icebreaker shivers, I keep talking to it. It is the only way !
About docking a battleship
The Vaygach experienced a unique operation – mooring in the open sea with a battleship to hold fresh water. That’s what they say, although I can’t see anything unique about it. We have demonstrated that a nuclear icebreaker is capable of such things in addition to its main functions.
We were leading a Navy caravan after the Est-2018 exercises. The task was to replenish a caravan ship with fresh water. For them, fresh water, for all ships, both military and civilian, is a big problem. They don’t have the containers to fill and treat good fresh water. And we have good mineral water – 600 tons. That’s a lot of water, and we have two desalination plants that boil that water every day – 60 tons each. Every day we boil 100 tons of water, so why not share it with people if they need it. We gave 100-150 tons of water to the five-six ships and immediately boiled more water.
About the crew
The crew is very important. A captain, even a superhero, is incapable of doing anything on his own. Normally on board the Vaygach there are 82 people, but usually we have more – almost 100. They are students. To teach people, you know. If not, who will work on the new icebreakers? From [the] Makarov (the Makarov University of the Sea and River Fleet – TASS). So people come, the material is modern and specific, so we teach them. Some stay with us, just to replace those who quit or retire, some we send to other icebreakers.
The main crew, which is now on the Vaygach, – we have been putting it in place for about six or seven years. The crews mix, but the main part, 80%, remains. They must be kept and kept. In some situations I fight for people, in others I help them. In my opinion, people should be rewarded for their accomplishments, even with small rewards. It doesn’t have to be money, just gratitude from the captain, from the management. I support this approach. Many of my people have been rewarded.
This is very important, because with the credits the crew is working, not just performing the tasks. Everyone does their job, at their level, and I make sure that there is no hostility, but understanding. The bridge includes the motor, and the motor includes the bridge – we do work.
The crew should be friendly and tight, then every member would be helpful in any task. No one let me down even in difficult situations. We do a job.
About the family
I always lack time to be with the family. I have been married for a long time, almost 35 years now. His attitude towards my work? I defended the fatherland, now I just work, I do what I have to do at work.
Recently, with my wife, we saw the movie Sky. My story is similar to what they showed there. How could it be otherwise? It is duty. Only work. My work is such, and the family accepts it. My daughter is grown, the granddaughter is growing up, but they won’t follow my trade. Women, I believe, have different tasks (laughs).
