[ 67 ] MEET CAPTAIN MOORE 1975-born Simon Moore grew up with the Dover ferries in his backyard so it came as no surprise that he embarked on a career at sea. He first joined P&O Ferries as second officer on 4 October 2000, being assigned to the 1980-built Pride of Kent. Previously he had been a navigator on Hoverspeed’s Dover–Calais hovercraft but was made redundant when the hovercraft stopped on 1 October 2000. Although he enjoyed his time at P&O Ferries and was quickly promoted relief chief officer, he aimed higher and went back to Hoverspeed in March 2003. Within a year he took up his first command as captain of a high-speed wave piercing catamaran. When Hoverspeed folded in 2005, Moore had a short stint as London pilot, a time which he didn’t really enjoy as more time was spent travelling in taxis around the district compared to piloting ships. In late 2006 he applied for a job as duty harbour master and pilot at Dover Harbour Board, only to return to sea in May 2009 as senior master of LD Lines’ brand-new high-speed catamaran Norman Arrow. When LD Lines discontinued its ill-fated Dover– Boulogne route, Moore re-joined Dover Harbour Board in October 2010. He returned to his old love, P&O Ferries, in March 2014, becoming master of Spirit of Britain. Within several months he was promoted senior master of the Darwin-class Pride of Canterbury, being transferred to sister ship Pride of Kent a couple of years later. Moore was involved in the Ship of the Future project from the very start, being appointed senior master newbuild vessels in conjunction with the September 2019 contract signing. He came ashore and would later join the site team in Guangzhou, being responsible for the delivery voyage of both P&O Pioneer and P&O Liberté. “There is no better job in the world than being a ferry captain especially if you enjoy the challenges of ship handling in small ports in all weathers,” Moore says, “At the same time, I enjoyed this newbuild project tremendously. You seldom get the opportunity to be so intrinsically involved in the design of a newbuild vessel, especially one that is so pioneering and pushing the boundaries to become the next generation on the Dover– Calais route. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity.” With the Chinese delivery crew disembarked, the time in Dunkerque was used for further crew familiarisation and getting the ship ready for its 19 June debut. P&O Pioneer left Dunkerque for Calais exactly two months later, undertaking the first berthing trials in the new port of Calais in the morning of Sunday 4 June. The next day, the ship crossed the Channel to perform berthing trials in Dover. The two weeks prior to P&O Pioneer’s first commercial sailing were used to further test the ship and all her systems, also undertaking further berthing trials as each captain had to make additional calls to extend their pilotage exemption certificates as P&O Pioneer was the longest ferry to use the ports of Dover and Calais and also had a propulsion system different to conventional ferries. Throughout the month of June Captain Moore was onboard providing training, advice and guidance to the masters assigned to P&O Pioneer, ensuring they were 100 per cent happy to take command in all respects. PLAIN SAILING Captain Moore recalls that the delivery crew were very lucky with the weather. “The only real storm was the one in the Western Channel,” he says. “The first four days were equally windy but after that the weather was simply fantastic with brilliant sunshine and temperatures reaching 30°C. Several barbecues were held on the Dover-end fo’c’sle on which we had also installed a Jacuzzi,” he explains, adding, “In the Arabian Sea the vast majority of the crew went for a swim. The water depth was a staggering 4,216m and we were 640 nautical miles away from the closest point of land. This was a dedicated two-hour swim stop. The ship remained in DP mode with swimmers entering the water through the pilot door and using the pilot ladder to climb back onboard. I stayed on the bridge and presented all swimmers with a certificate, stating the latitude, longitude, water depth and the distance from land. They were all extremely happy and said this would stay with them for the rest of their days as it was something so unique.” A happy crew makes a happy ship, so no wonder that Simon Moore got most of the Chinese crew lined up to deliver the second ship, P&O Liberté. SHIPBUILDING
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