Are you a good skipper or a bad skipper?

 

I enjoy social media. Especially the boating groups – there is always such great information at hand.

Negativity

I scroll past the negativity but I do read about everything boating. You learn from the good advice as well as the bad – the trick is to sort out which is which.

It’s all about boating
Today’s good read:

“Good captains train. Bad captains can’t because they haven’t got it together enough to verbally communicate with the trainees.”

As a captain and a trainer, I liked reading this.

“They haven’t reached a level where they have confidence in their own ability enough to translate it into commands someone else can respond to…”

This makes perfect sense, it took me a long time to gain the confidence I call upon. And, now, I still listen and learn from my students, peers, and mentors.

“Captains ranks are full of narcissists, they never make good instructors.”

I didn’t like this statement much. I’ve learned from captains who do not possess communication skills as much as I’ve learned from them who do. And this statement seems to contradict the other statements.

But on discussion with the Author, Jim Fleming, about these comments, he said, “perhaps narcissists don’t make good captains…” And I’d agree with that. (Captain Jim Fuller, Yacht and Boat Delivery Captain)

Different training methods

Having taught people with their own challenges and adapted my methods, it’s been amazing to witness someone make leaps and bounds when assessed verbally, after struggling with reading and writing the questions and answers.

For me, social media is a melting pot of boating experience and sharing. And I am always keen to read about electronic charts and paper charts.

E-charts vs Paper Charts

I’ve written about this a lot. I am a huge fan of paper charts, and I agree that e-charts have their place on board. I prefer paper charts as they have everything on them, e-charts do not.

It was interesting to read that someone had a problem with their e-charts as they had no internet coverage. Most e-charts operate without the need of the internet, but if an update is done, or you are logged out, if you try to log in at sea, with no internet, you won’t be able to.

Another issue noted, was a damaged power lead.

I’ll add the other issues I hear about regularly in my training sessions: “we lost power!”

Yes, paper charts can add to the expense of boating, but a good compromise is a few planning charts (small scale), with selected detailed charts (large scale) on specific ports and then e-charts as a back-up.

Here’s our webpage with lots of articles about Navigation.

I am heartened to read that most people use both systems and many maintain or learn good navigation skills to be prepared for every eventuality. After all, we are at sea, dancing with Mother Nature, who is unpredictable and feisty and we must do everything we can to be ready.

“You’re the Skipper, You’re Responsible.” And I, for one, take that very seriously.