[Public-List] Seamanship and command

[daniel joseph walker]

Who brings after race grog?
Dan


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 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.   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 Œhabituated 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 Œhi 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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