[Public-List] Seamanship and command

[Dominic Amann]

Awesome share, Gord. I am going to delegate safety equipment responsibility
to my wife, which will (I think) contribute to her sense of well-being on
the boat.


On Fri, Feb 14, 2014 at 10:37 AM, Gordon Laco <mainstay at csolve.net> wrote:

> 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 OEcollective
> 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.   One can still
> understand professionally and intellectually that bad things can still
> happen, but an internal confidence develops that emotionally can lead one
> to
> believe that one will always make it back, regardless of the challenges.
> This can be called overconfidence.  A representative of a military service
> at the conference commented that helicopter pilots are known to be prone to
> this after 1200 to 1400 hours of experience.  They can be more dangerous
> than when they were inexperienced because they have become OEhabituated or
> desensitized to danger².
>
> In a yacht, exercising bridge resource management and being aware of
> habituation can be a big issue.   I think we¹ve all had crew members new to
> sailing who are alarmed at what we consider moderate angles of heel or
> spray
> coming over the boat.  A big part of good seamanship is being open to
> protests or comments from the whole range of categories of crew
> (experienced
> to neophyte) while keeping them effective and remaining aware of the
> reality
> of situations.
>
> The punch line to this long discussion (I¹ve only given a glimpse of what
> was discussed) is that a little bit of ³fear² on the part of the person in
> charge on board is a very good thing.  One must never forget how quickly
> things can go wrong...and how the ³cascade of decisions² toward a disaster
> always, always starts long before one knows one is in trouble.
>
> Bridge Resource Management can be effectively instituted even in a yacht.
> One method that is very easy to implement is the assignment of
> responsibility to regular crew members either in a family situation about
> to
> go for a sail, or a racing crew about to set out on a Wednesday night.  I¹m
> going to do this aboard SURPRISE.  My son Peter, will be responsible for
> rigging and sails,  Steve will be responsible for SURPRISE¹s safety
> equipment (life jackets, lifelines, fire ext etc) Clint will be responsible
> for the engine and it¹s systems.  I¹ll be responsible for the weather
> forecast and general oversight.
>
> Before departing, we¹ll take a moment in the cockpit and I¹ll say OEhi guys,
> what¹s the situation?²  Each person has a chance to speak.  They reply with
> any of the following responses.... ³One!² if all is well in their
> department.  ³Two, and....²  this means it¹s good but there¹s an issue.
> ³Three, and....²  means no good, and here¹s what¹s wrong.  As skipper, I
> moderate the discussion of the issues, and two things result.  First,
> everyone isn¹t depending on just me to cover everything.  Second, everyone
> is aware of everything that could easily be things only I am aware of.  The
> collective intelligence of the whole crew is applied to what we¹re about to
> do and nobody is alone trying to do everything.  This only takes a few
> minutes to do, but I think you¹ll see represents a completely different
> situation on board with regard to attitude.   Nobody is blindly following,
> it¹s much more difficult for a potential safety problem to be missed (or
> hidden).  Everyone feels they are contributing to the safe and seamanlike
> handling of the yacht....  It¹s safer, more professional and also, quite
> simply more interesting.
>
> That¹s good seamanship.
>
> Interesting, isn¹t it?
>
> Gord Laco #426 Surprise
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-- 


Dominic Amann
M 416-270-4587

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