Waverider Buoy

Lowering a 500 ton template to the seafloor, almost 400 meters lower, from a moving crane barge is something you have to plan carefully. Critical factors are the movement of the crane barge, the movement of the template once hanging in the crane, the passing of the water surface and of course the landing and positioning of the template on the seafloor. All parts of this operation have two important common factors; the wave height and period. To monitor thess from the Thialf, we deployed a so called wave rider buoy close to the Thialf in the water. A buoy equipped with a lot of electronics, measuring the height and period of his own movement. This is done by a GPS positioning receiver calculating the X,Y and Z vector constantly. X, Y and Z stand for three dimensional. The results are transmitted to the Thialf and made visible on their screens. On this picture you can see the circular wave rider buoy with the small red flag on our starboard stern with a lot of line connected to a clump weight. Now we only have to wait for a maximum wave height of two meters.