[Public-List] Seamanship and command

[Gordon Laco]

Good morning friends,

I¹m finally getting on top of the material that accumulated in my office
while I was away in San Diego attending the International conference on Sail
Training.  One of the topics I participated in had to do with the issue of
how decisions are made both under routine and high stress situations in
sailing vessels ­ I was impressed by the openness and candid sharing of both
success and other stories among the delegates.  I contributed my own, and
reckoned that as a group, we Alberg 30 sailors might find benefit too.

In the RCN as well as other navies, and merchant services too, officers are
trained to use of the principals and code of logical thinking grouped under
the title ³Bridge Resource Management².  Boiled down and over simplified,
basically this title describes a quite complex system of thinking in which
chain of command in a vessel is maintained, but at the same time is open to
input from below on the food chain of rank.   When Bridge Resource
Management is in effect, it means that the collective intelligence and
experience of all members of the bridge team in a ship is being utilized,
rather than just the commander¹s.

In a yacht, it means that while the owner is usually the skipper, a culture
would exist on board where he/she is receptive to advice or cautions from
the crew.  Sounds simple but it isn¹t because the person in command must on
one hand maintain command and control, while on the other hand, he/she
likely has more experience than the crew who might be offering cautions or
advice.

This is a very interesting subject.

Overlaying the effectiveness of a particular vessel¹s Œcollective
intelligence¹, is the issue of experience with relation to judgment.
People with less experience can be more easily pushed into assuming a crisis
on board than others with more experience....but there¹s a trap here.  More
experience can mean what our navy (and yours in the States too most likely)
³habituation to danger².  What that means is an officer (or skipper) might
be taking note of rising winds and sea state and say to him/her self ³I¹ve
seen it like this before, this isn¹t so bad².  Each time an otherwise
stressful condition is dealt with, the pain threshold for recognizing the
particular condition as crisis is pushed further along.