[Public-List] Seamanship and command

John Birch Sunstone at cogeco.ca
Fri Feb 14 08:01:58 PST 2014


This is a very interesting thread you have started.

What are your thoughts about the 79 Fastnet, and the decision by a leading 
name in racing, to order the radio turned off as it was rapidly undermining 
his crew's morale (fighting panic that was developing aboard) in a survival 
storm in which they could do nothing to assist?

They survived, along with their vessel, and being ahead of most of the 
fleet, were unable to go to weather in such conditions anyway.

Cheers,

John


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gordon Laco" <mainstay at csolve.net>
To: "Alberg 30 Public List -- open to all" <public-list at lists.alberg30.org>
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 10:37 AM
Subject: [Public-List] Seamanship and command


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 Ocollective
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 Ohabituated 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 Ohi 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
_______________________________________________
These businesses support your Association:
http://www.alberg30.org/store/A30supporters.html
Please support them.
_______________________________________________
Public-List mailing list
Public-List at lists.alberg30.org
http://lists.alberg30.org/listinfo.cgi/public-list-alberg30.org



 1392393718.0


More information about the Public-List mailing list