Chris Ward Joined Subsea offshore back in 1979. He had never seen an Oilrig let alone a ROV and was probably the first person to land on Forties Alpha wearing a three piece Interview suit and carrying a suitcase. Some hairy arsed bears then bundled him into a basket and suggested he hold on. Tight. That was his first basket transfer onto a ship and was a little unexpected, as they told him they just wanted to weigh him....
Despite this slightly surreal start, he quickly realised he had found his future path in life. These silly buggers not only paid him but gave him millions of pounds worth of toys to play with.
Since then he has worked in every continent in the world. He has operated and built eyeballs and construction vehicles, ploughs and trenchers, Giant cutters and some of the wierdest tools imaginable.
These days he runs his own business ROV Network ltd www.rov.co.uk and designs and builds systems to order.
His particular specialty is control systems and electronics which are used in all areas of technology, not just the underwater arena.
The latest developments from the workshop are based arround a concept called ROCS or Rapid Open Control Systems where he uses a suite of tools to quickly develop "one off" systems to any specification. With open standards and compatibility with almost anything, business is growing quickly.
He has dabbled in other areas too. In 1996 he opened Aberdeens first Cyber Cafe, a bar. restaurant and nightclub. (Netropolis in Bridge Street) Along with some other maniacs, he started Aberdeens first Internet service provider, Wintermute and has run with his wife some retail businesses, (remember shell suits? hmmm)
This whole experiance was one of the strangest parts of his life but apart from the appalling lack of profit, the hassles of dealing with the general public a particular group of people with whom he has strong views, were too much and he fled back to the safe haven of the Underwater industry.
To his own admission, he is an opinionated, arragant son of a bitch who can make almost any machine work but prefers to leave the paperwork to someone else. He annoys the hell out of clients and employees alike but he gets the job done. Above all, Whatever you do, do not go out drinking with him. This is almost always fatal. When it comes to having fun onshore, well lets just say it's a proverbial duck and water thing which reminds me of the story...............