Driving Ships

I'm back in school and plugging away at my last class session.  This time around, we are learning about ship handling for a week, which consists of a morning lecture and an afternoon of practice in the simulator.  We've had to practice turns and stopping in current, wind, tight corners on rivers, shallow waters and even anchoring.

There's much to learn about the hydrodynamics of a ship and how other ships can effect you when passing closely, so we practice and practice until we get it right.  Bank effect can cause your ship to veer off in the opposite direction when passing closely to banks or other large structures and even ships.

Today we had to pass an assessment of anchoring a large bulk carrier in South San Francisco bay and it was a little nerve racking.  A fairly simply task, but we had to meet certain criteria (speed restrictions, distance off, etc.) and it's always stressful when your instructor is watching and grading you.  I pulled it off without any problems, as did everyone else.

Next week we do our flashing light (Morse Code) assessment and then we do our final simulation assessment where a representative from our company comes in and watches us navigate a boat for a few hours in the simulator. We have to make all the regular called to VTS (Vessel Traffic Service), make navigational passing arrangements with other ships and safely navigate from one point to another without any problems. This will be our final day of class and hopefully the company rep likes what they see and will offer the students a full time position afterwards.  I'm fairly certain that my company is already counting on my becoming an officer for them, but who knows... I could crash a boat in the simulator and they might have second thoughts.

Anyhow, I'm staying in a cool little apartment with my friend Jake and we'll be driving back to Sacramento after our assessments are done next week.  Then it's on to packet submittal and the waiting process before I can test for my license.