[QUOTE=tengineer1;153623]I am not a ship handler or boat driver but I have been around some fine ones. I find what Lee said to be sad and I hope neither I nor anyone I know ever has to be evacuated or rescued by someone with the skills he witnessed. That being said I have seen some real crappy boat handling recently, much more than I recall from the past. Beyond a shadow of a doubt the best I have ever seen in boat handling skills were the anchor boat guys. Damn amazing what I have witnessed. I often wondered how much metal they bent before they got that good. If I ever have to be picked up out of the water or medivac’ed out I hope there is one of those cowboys doing the driving. Seen some excellent tug boat guys too but there is nothing I have seen like this one anchor boat guy backing and HOLDING within 10 feet of a rig in 14-16 foot seas for over an hour, NO DP involved just this cool cat playing with a few sticks. He was either damn good or had a angel on his shoulder.[/QUOTE]
I didn’t know you were watching me do all that! Man I miss those days.
I was really impressed by the pilot boat guys at Panama. They would come toward us screaming fast and then whip the boat around in a graceful pivot to meet the pilot ladder, perfectly every time. I don’t drive boats either but I thought that was very fun to watch. They do it every day though, so they obviously have a lot of practice.
Unfortunately I think it is several fold:
A lack of willingness of the old farts to teach the new farts how to handle the boat.
A lot of the old farts do not know the boat handling themselves.
You have to realize many old guys retired taking the knowledge and ‘gift’ with them.
The youngsters not willing to get off their tookus to learn it, head buried in computer or cellphone.
The youngsters not given the chance to practice due to the job or circumstances
When I learned boat handling, it was a requirement and I remember several could not ‘get it’ and they left the profession, post haste! To some extent, it is learned but really good boat handling is a gift.
I truly believe there is a dilution of the boat handling skills needed even in todays environment but not being taught or learned.
At least you guys are working up North! You ought to watch the idiots down here in Brasil bringing the vessels to the dock on DP. I watched one of the CBO boats not 2 weeks ago SLAM into the Triumpho dock at at least 3 knots! Boat heeled over about 5 deg., I know someone got woke up, if not thrown out of their bunk!
Just my 2cents…
I view it as not doing my job if I do not take every opportunity to train my officers, whether in shiphandling or other relevant continuing professional development areas. I am disappointed when I don’t see that happening places in our industry.
[QUOTE=Emerald Shellback;153960]
When I learned boat handling, it was a requirement . . . To some extent, it is learned but really good boat handling is a gift.
I truly believe there is a dilution of the boat handling skills needed even in todays environment but not being taught or learned.
Just my 2cents…[/QUOTE]
You are right.
The ability to handle a boat is at least 50 percent a genetic “gift” or aptitude, and about 50 percent a skill learned through practice.
I roger that Z-drive!!! I graduated from the University of Tugboatn. and started on the single-screws, progressed to the twin-screw, and finished with the Z-drives. While working on all these vessels, I was towing and pushing barges, doing ship assists, and handling anchors. I then made the move to the Gulf about a couple of years ago, and was blown away by the lack of boat handling skills MOST of these guys possessed - not a whole lot.
I am on 260ft mud boat working out of C-Port 2 now, and we were headed out of slip 7 a few months ago. We had some extra wheelhouse young guns out of the academy onboard, and they ran the boat ok during the easy situations, but when the wind is blowing 25-30kts with a boat-load of traffic, they want NO part of it. I said who wants to drive out without using the thrusters? Of course, no one volunteered, so I said I would show you guys how to do it. I did a table-top scenario explaining in detail what on how to do it. The was about 10kts of wind out of the SE and there was not a boat at the Eco-serv dock in front of us. I used the thrusters to press her up to throw the lines off. I twin-screwed to port to lift the stern off a few feet, then a little screw to starboard to straighten her up, and clutched two ahead to get her moving. To keep her straight, I just clutched the port or starboard engine ahead or astern to keep slip 7 about 4ft off the port side. When my stern was clear to swing, I kept a tiny bit of headway on to help make the 90 degree turn, to take advantage of the pivot point being about 1/3 distance from the bow, resulting in maximizing the effectiveness of twin-screwing. These guys were completely bamboozled that I was able to this without my 2 950HP bow thrusters, and the 1 950HP stern thruster. This is the type of experience that needs to be shared and taught to the young guys, who have not been as fortunate as we experienced mariners have. Remember, it takes 20 years experience, to get 20 years experience.
Experience is a big part of it, but all experience is not created equal. Two years of the excellent experience can be worth more than 20 years of mediocre experience.
Different people gain the benefits of experience at vastly different rates. One person may get more out of six months of experience than another gets out of six years.
After a certain point, there is very little benefit from repeating the same experience over and over again.
A broad variety of different experiences is the best preparation for learning new techniques.