This publication represents a series of lecturers’ papers, which were presented at a five-day event entitled Surface Support for Subsea Activities: Dynamics and Control in Harsh Environments. The event was hosted by the University of Strathclyde Department of Marine Technology from 16•’ to 20 ‘ March 1998 at the Strathclyde Graduate Business School, Glasgow, UK The event was partly sponsored by the European Commission through the Training and Mobility of Researchers Programme under a project submitted by WEGEMI entitled “Targeted Advanced Summer Schools in Marine Technology and Related Sciences (TASMAR)”.