Robert Grosschopff (Germany)

Born in Munich in 1958. Having been brought up in different countries he decided that he wanted to see the rest of the world  as   well.  When he was  old   enough  he  jumped  at  the   first chance and worked as a deckhand on a coastal  vessel  traveling between  Germany   and  Spain during the school summer holidays. After an apprenticeship as  a  radio and  tv technician he earned his “Ship Radiocommunication Operator’s General Certificate”  (Allgemeines Seefunkzeugnis) at the Hochschule  für Nautik in Bremen. He also got the GMDSS-GOC to keep up with   technical  and  procedural changes in ship radio comms. He does also hold a ham radio license (DL1BJO). Due  to  changing  circumstances  he could not further pursue the katakana operator proficiency. Having  worked  on   different type of ships trampers  have  always  been   his favorites.  Not  knowing what the next port of call would   be  or  how  long  he  would   serve  on a particular ship made it all the more interesting. Highlights were trips  on  the  Andalusia/DDSK, Adriano/DHAO and the Satsuma/DGFS. It was a time not to be missed. As a colleague aptly put it “I would do it all again!”