The plan was to become a tinsmith - now he will operate "Reach Remote 1"
Trygve Mathias Walterfang (27) was offered a place on board the training ship "Sjøkurs" (now "Lofoten"). That changed all future plans.
“I have recently moved to Åsgårdstrand in Horten because of work, and in my spare time I do sailing and photography," says Trygve Mathias Walterfang, 27.
He grew up in the old maritime town of Arendal, and thus became well acquainted with life at sea at a young age.
“I grew up with boat trips in the summer, and have quite a few family members ‘with salt water in their veins’," he says.
Was going to be a tinsmith
But, the plan wasn't really a life at sea.
“I was actually going to become a tinsmith, but when I went to school I was offered a place on board the training ship ‘Sjøkurs’, now ‘Lofoten’. I accepted as I saw it as an exciting and unique opportunity - and I don't regret it at all! "
After the first year of sailing and working on deck and in the engine room, Walterfang was bitten by the bug.
“I applied back to take the VG2 Maritime Subject with specialisation in machinery, and after another instructive and interesting year I went on board the MPOSV vessel ‘Fugro Saltire’ as an engineman's apprentice."
Engineer Officer
Two exciting years of work in Norway, England, Scotland and Germany ended with passing the professional test.
“After this, the path went on to one year in mandatory service in the Navy. Here I started on the Royal Norwegian ship ‘Norge’, but it wasn't quite the big deal for me. I changed my duty station and ended up at the Port Office at the marine base Haakonsvern; here I mainly worked with all the ‘small boats’ on the entire Haakonsvern and six larger vessels which were divided between tugboats, training ships for the Navy, diving ships and museum ships," says Walterfang.
After his initial service, he applied to the Vocational School in Agder, and took further education to become an engineer officer. Between the years at the vocational school, he was a cadet on an oil and chemical tanker, and enjoyed it.
“After vocational school, I continued as a cadet on the accommodation ship ‘Edda Fides’, and could say after six months there that I was satisfied with my first engineer officer's certificate."
Young and creative environment
Today, Walterfang is a technician at the company Masterly, which is a collaboration between Wilhelmsen and Kongsberg.
“As a technician, I operate the technical aspects of autonomous ships from a Remote Control Centre. At the moment, I'm mostly dealing with the ships of Reach Remote, and thus don't have a set rotation yet; it will be more like a normal eight to four job, as the ships are still under construction. On occasion, I have also worked as a substitute on our other ships, such as ‘Yara Birkeland’ and Asko's sea drones, ‘Marit’ and ‘Therese’," he says.
Walterfang values his working environment.
“It is a young and creative environment that thinks outside the box. We challenge each other's thoughts, proposals and methods. The best thing about my job is the variations and challenges we face by working from a set of regulations that don't exist yet. The whole way of thinking has to be turned around as you can't ‘just’ go to change that filter or perform other ‘simple’ tasks that you often do on a conventional ship."
The fact that "Reach Remote 1" was nominated for this year's Ship of the Year, and won, is of course a great honour.
“It is incredibly exciting to be able to take part in building the vessel, and eventually get to run and operate it! It's even more fun to see the votes on Skipsrevyens webpage; it's clear that it goes down pretty well with the public," says Walterfang about the nomination.
It is and has undoubtedly been demanding to work with something as ground-breaking as a completely new concept, but what Walterfang describes as the most challenging work is also the best.
“I will not hide the fact that it is incredibly exciting to be part of the ‘beginning’ of something completely new. As I said, we are working with something for which there is no regulatory framework yet, and the process of turning our thinking around and coming up with what may seem like absolutely crazy proposals that you have not heard of before is not the easiest mindset to get into. But, it's an incredibly exciting challenge!"
What the future will bring, no one knows.
“I have no specific plans for my future professionally. I am very happy in the position I have today, but who knows?"
