Today I had my whaleboat qual (short for qualification). We’re tested on the boat and line handling procedures we’ve been learning for the past couple of weeks, on a points system for various stages of the operation.

The procedure was the same as it’s been while we’ve been practicing - undocking, maneuvering outboard of the Enterprise, making an approach, and docking again.  This time, however, we were making a starboard landing (starboard side of the boat against the dock) instead of a port landing, which was how we’d been practicing.  At our dock, a starboard landing is much harder because you have to clear the bow of the Enterprise by only about a foot, and then turn hard enough to come in alongside the dock at the right spot.  The real kicker is that you’re not supposed to put her in reverse to slow down or maneuver, since you should be able to properly manage speed and direction going forward.

I wasn’t able to quite hit the mark when making my approach, and ended up about 3/4 of a boat length down from the mark.  However, I did everything else properly, so hopefully I passed.  We find out next week the results.  I’m hoping that doing quals doesn’t mean the end of motor whaleboats for this class, because so far that’s been my favorite part of deck classes!

Today in Basic Seamanship Lab we had our first experience training in the motor whaleboats. For those of you unfamiliar with motor whaleboats, here’s a picture of one very similar to the ones we have here at the Academy:

Part of Basic Seamanship involves small boat handling, so we use the motor whaleboats to learn line handling and boat maneuvering. Today made it particularly interesting for our first time out, since we were fighting very strong crosswinds while docking, and driving rain.

Class today consisted of the procedures for starting and stopping the diesel engine, proper line handling commands and actions, maneuvering away from the dock, coming back to the dock, and properly securing the boat again. One of the things that everyone took a little while getting used to was using the engine and the forward spring line to properly maneuver the boat against and away from the dock. For those of you that don’t know, the forward spring line is a rope that runs from the bow of the boat to a cleat on the dock aligned with the after, or rear, part of the boat. This creates diagonal tension that, by putting the engine in forward and turning the rudder, you can use to push the bow and stern toward and away from the dock in a controlled manner.

Proper operation of the motor lifeboat is one of the qualifications we have to pass in order to pass Basic Seamanship, and eventually get a Coast Guard license. But hey, at least we’re messing around in boats!