In May 2005, the Hydrographic Society of South Africa organised its 2nd Technical Awareness Seminar. MSI is proud to have been associated with this seminar by not only attending, exhibiting and providing 4 guest speakers, but by also having Stefan Stimson involved on the organising committee. 

All of the people that took part in the seminar agreed that it was a worthwhile event and that it should stay on the local calendar in future years. 

The following article was written for and appeared in a number of international journals including "The Hydrographic Journal" and "Hydro International".

The Hydrographic Society of South Africa (HSSA) recently held its second Technical Awareness Seminar (TAS). The seminar was again hosted at the Institute of Maritime Technology (IMT) in Simon’s Town , near Cape Town and was held between the 10th and 12th May 2005. Unlike the first TAS that had parallel sessions repeated on each day, this year the ‘ambitious’ organising committee decided to expand the presentations to consist of 5 technical presentations a day, unique for all 3 days and to include an exhibition marquee.

The 15 presentations covered a wide variety of subjects from the latest developments in DGPS to those in multibeam echo sounding, from weather forecasting to current profiling. Presenters from America, England, Norway and Canada joined the local presenters from both government and commercial institutions. The HSSA also sponsored the attendance of the students from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology hydrographic course. The 3rd block of this training course was timed to coincide with the TAS to allow the students exposure to equipment as well as to attend the technical presentations in the mornings.

The technical program of the TAS opened with welcoming words from the HSSA President Aubrey Price and IMT’s new ventures Manager, Hannes van Wyk. This was followed by a morning session covering the role of the IHO in Southern Africa, current and future developments in GPS and a very informative presentation on Hydrographic Education in which Professor Raubie Raubenheimer detailed the various courses and training establishments available locally and worldwide. Raubie’s conclusion certainly provided a talking point in and outside the auditorium, where he commented that there are still a large number of ‘hydrographers’ with no certified qualifications. He further added that these uncertified personnel were working in an industry where precision is required and, in particular in the oil and gas field, has large financial consequences should errors occur. After tea, presentations were held covering GPS networking (by the head of the South African surveying authority) and on a new generation of attitude sensors.

The society’s secretary, Steve Smith, chaired the second day’s program which included presentations on both commercial DGPS (C&C) systems and a non commercial system provided by the National Port Authority of South Africa. Marco Gilissen from Fugro then gave a presentation that moved away from technology and concentrated on the operational side of the oil and gas industry. This gave a fascinating insight to the delegates, many of whom are from a non oil and gas background. This was followed by an informative and well-received presentation by Reson AS on the latest developments in multibeam technology and a presentation by David Bennett of AMI on the latest developments in operational marine weather forecasting. David, who travelled from the UK to attend TAS ’05, discussed the problems of relying solely on computer models and used some examples where an experienced forecaster’s involvement could have avoided some costly blunders.

The 3rd member of the organising committee, Stefan Stimson, chaired the final day’s presentation. The first two presentations had an oceanographic flavour with a general presentation on the use of Doppler based instrumentation for wave and 3D flow measurements by Ketil Horn of Nortek AS, followed by a very interesting and highly entertaining presentation by Dr. Frank Johnson of RBR Canada on the use of a high performance portable salinometer for ship-borne measurements. Siddique Motala stood in at the last minute and gave an insight into the use of GIS in the oil and gas industry and this was followed by presentations that covered ROV’s and AUV’s which, although being the final two presentations, were worth the wait. Chris Myers of Eutec Subsea discussed current ROV technology whilst Leonard Ricketts and Paul Nicholson of De Beers Marine discussed their AUV, their experience and their planned future developments. 

The technical sessions were held in the mornings and were followed each day by buffet lunches that were sponsored by Debeers, Fugro and Reson. Practical sessions were held in the afternoons with the groups being split amongst the various options available. At IMT delegates were given a close look at, and presentation by, De Beers Marine on their AUV and ROTV (remotely operated towed vehicle). The SA navy was also present with their containerised degaussing range that is used to determine and minimise magnetic signatures of vessels. 

At the harbour, the South African Navy vessel “Umkomas” was used as the base for the ROV demonstrations. The delegates were able to view 3 different types of ROV as well as seeing them being launched, operated and recovered. As the TAS was blessed with exceptionally good weather for the time of year, by far the most popular practical was the survey launch. This year the MV Sealab 1 was again used and was fitted with the Reson 8124 multibeam system and Applanix POS MV attitude sensor. C&C Technologies provided RTK navigation that, along with a Meridian gyro, was interfaced to both the Qinsy and PDS2000 acquisition and processing packages. The delegates were given a presentation on each of the systems mobilised onboard before the vessel sailed to conduct a small demonstration survey outside the harbour basin.

Unlike the previous seminar, HSSA corporate members and presenters were provided with a dedicated exhibition marquee was well supported by exhibitors and delegates alike, partly due to the organisers having arranged for all the tea breaks and lunches to take place within the marquee. The evening drinks functions (sponsored by C&C Technologies and MSI/Lwandle) were also held within the marquee. Centre piece to the exhibition hall were the AUV of De Beers Marine and Seaeye Surveyor ROV, which made an ideal focal and talking point.

As well as abstracts from the presentations, the organisers issued feedback forms with the delegate information packs. Based on the feedback from these, TAS ’05 was judged to be a resounding success by the 90 delegates that attended. Given the growth in attendees over the two seminars and limitation in space available at the current venue, the organisers will have to consider larger venues if local interest continues to grow at this rate.

Author : Stefan Stimson of Metocean Services International (Pty) Ltd