This was created as part of the material for the SWSA.  It is in need of dome minor updates.

Captaining is as much a "Practice" as it is an "Art". It combines the skills of Leadership, Management and boat-handling. In order to "Manage" one needs to have a working knowledge in the operation and maintenance of the various systems individually and collectively. Leadership is the art of decision making as well as leading and directing people. Boat handling includes but is not limited to, piloting and seamanship.

It is important if not imperative to continuously learn and improve ones skills in all aspects of being a captain. Though a Captain may not have the current experience to be a better helmsperson then those under his/her command, he/she should understand the and underlying theory so as to be able to issue appropriate commands  Of course, with that knowledge, should be able to drive if necessary  This overall knowledge and skill of the captain should include all necessary activities for operating the vessel.

None of these skills favor one gender over the other. Proof is in the past and current performance of woman sailors all over the world. Most resent is Ellen MacArther in the Vandee Globe 2000 race around the world and before her, Maiden with an all women crew in the 1989-1990 Whitbread.

As captain of a vessel one is most often acting as a director. Beyond that are the skills associated with maintaining a healthy environment in which captain and crew function as a team.

Most of the duties of a captain are the same as those of being a director. Once there is crew, there is the added responsibility of establishing and maintaining a high degree of cooperation and communications between captain and crew as well as amongst the crew itself. The smaller the crew, the more important it is that each member contributes. In fact, a crew is a team and as such each member must operate cooperatively within a team environment. But also, individual actions and skills, in support of the team effort are also part of the effort. But all should know when it is teamwork that is required or individual effort. Managing this balance may be more difficult in a mixed gender crew environment.

More importantly, leadership is granted by those being lead. Whether this is by individual decision or by contract, you can only lead those who are willing to be so lead. In its most pure from, a willingness to be lead is give unconditionally, then there is the "earned respect" from of grating leadership to someone who, through demonstration and performance, has "earned" that respect. And then there is the "by contract" such as being in the military, where the leaders are determined by the system. All in all, leaders are as dependent on the lead as the lead are for the leadership. If and individual or sub-group choose to not follow the dictates of the leader, you have a problem that must be addressed and resolved as soon as possible which at the worst, is a change of personnel.

The best leaders know when to lead and when to follow. and they are always aware of there position on that continuum. They lead with Integrity which is to treat all others with respect, deal fairly in relationships, honor commitments, communicate honestly, are responsible, and strive for the highest quality in all relationships and actions.

Unilateral decision making has fallen out of favor and consensus problem solving has taken favor.  The airline industry has led this change as there learning suggests the two or more heads make better decisions then one even in a dynamic environment like an airliner.  In US airlines, is not un-common for the pilot to be quite senior to the first officer.  Even though, it is required that the first officer challenge the pilot if things are not in line with standard procedures and when anomalies occur.  The problem should be jointly discussed and understood and a solutions should be made jointly as much as time will allow.  In a voluntary crew environment common in sailing, sharing the situation and discussing the issue and solutions with the crew is also very important, but when all is said and done, it still is up the captain to make or approve the decision and act or take action accordingly.  Don't forget that all this time, rule one, some must be driving.

Though we seldom consider it so, life is all about a hierarchy of needs. At its most basic, your lowest level of need is to stay alive which drives your survival instincts. When you are operating at or near "survival" level, it is hard to contribute to the operation of the vessel, even though your life also depends on the health of the vessel. Basically, the more comfortable the crew, the more they are able to contribute to the success of the voyage.

Sometimes it becomes necessary to push the comfort level on a temporary basis, for a higher good. An example would be the need to put someone in the water to clear a fouled propeller. As much as possible, avoid risky situations since it is not rare for these situations to escalate. All to often, when one thing goes wrong, another follows and soon you are overwhelmed. It is an accumulation of individually handle-able events, that can lead to a bad outcome.

In the second decade of the 19^th centaury, Sir Ernest Shackletons Endurance expedition survived six seasons in the Antarctic with no hands lost, (although one crew lost toes to frostbite.) under conditions that would be considered horrendous. Shackleton determined that there were three necessities, Food, Water and Sleep and that his crew would perform reasonably well for days on end, if denied up to two of the three requirements, but not all three. Survival under stark conditions! Do all possible to avoid being in a survival situation like this. Note: I think it is more like (food/water, sleep and comfort).

Situational Awareness is the continuous awareness of everything and anything that can affect the operation of the vessel. It includes, but is not limited too the weather, sea state, navigational situation, proximity of other vessels, the sail set and trim, condition of the vessel and all its systems, the state of the crew, and anything else that can alter the state of balance of the sailing experience. Part of Situational Awareness is operating the vessel at a level that is appropriate for the situation. Being hyper-aware is as un-productive as is being under-aware. For the captain, this awareness needs to continue for the duration of the passage though some of the tasks are delegated, the captain is ultimately responsible for maintaining situational awareness. Each member of the crew should maintain an element of situational awareness commensurate with there assigned tasks and the overall shared responsibility for the safety of the vessel and crew.

Anticipation occurs at all levels from the original design of the vessel to the day to day activities.

You are not on top of the situation unless you are thinking ahead of the vessel. Maneuvering through a marina and approach for docking exemplifies the situations where anticipation is very important. In close proximity to other vessels, one needs to anticipate the maneuvers and often un-expected actions of other vessels. Part of anticipating is expecting the usual though watching for the unusual and being prepared to react accordingly. One should always have an idea of how to react to the un-expected.

The second part of anticipation is to have a good idea how your vessel and crew will react to you every action.

Another aspect of anticipation this is that not all skippers know that there are "rules of the road". Others are not familiar with the rules, some choose to ignore them and others are just inept. Worse is "boat rage" and "attitude". These are really dangerous as the intent is to show or teach you something. Often the lesson is not understood, other then that there are angry people out there. When operating in close proximately with other vessels be aware that some operators, do so totally outside of YOUR logic and expectations. Amateurs are most likely to act in un-expected ways, though professionals are not excluded. Remember, the view from the helm (bridge) of the other vessel is often completely different than that from yours. The other skipper is reacting to HIS situation, not yours!

Excess speed is expensive. My "certainty principal" is the cost of repairs is increases with the square of the combined speeds of the boat(s) at the time of impact multiplied by the number of boats involved. (Cost=speed*speed*number of participants)

Speed reduces the time and chance to spot, recognize, formulate a plan of action and to execute that plan. Slowing down is done by reversing the propulsion or coasting, but a boat cannot be brought to a complete stop since there is always some action in the environment to keep things changing. Also, the action of reversing propulsion in itself can cause un-anticipated reactions to steering and direction.

Speed and field of view: There are two primary things that determine you field of view, one being speed and the other being the complexity of the environment in which you are operating. With this in mind, if you are having trouble keeping track of "all" of the activities around you, then you are going too fast.

One must be aware of the minimum maneuvering speed, for your vessel, under the conditions in which you are operating. The effects of wind and/or current increase as the vessels minimum control speed also increases. Under calm conditions, a vessel may have a minimum maneuvering speed under 1/2 knot, but as the wind or current increase, one needs to operate above that level so that the vessel responds to the actions of the captain rather then to be superseded by the wind and current. As conditions escalate, one needs to change plans so as to maintain safety.

Practice is important for developing and maintaining ones skills. This being true for mental as well as physical skills which brings us to the "what-if" exercise that can be done when other thing are well under control. It entails imagining a failure or saturation and mentally practice the problem solving process. These exercises can be simple or complicated, and can be played out to test the resolution. The more complicated the maneuver, the more one needs to practice. Even simple procedures need to be exercised often enough to maintain proficiency. Even maneuvers like docking can benefit from practice. One way is to perform a more difficult docking maneuver when conditions are good. It may be far more important to practice slow speed maneuvering then fast.

Pick Best Solution:

Implement Solution:

Sometimes, the situation will not allow much time for consideration of possible solutions and so the process is short. When the situation allows, spend the needed time to come to the best possible solution. In his presentation to SWSA, David Burch suggested that, once a decision has been made, stick with it. I agree, but would like to add this caution. Occasionally, when you apply the corrective action it alters the situation which can bring on new problem. Other times it does not correct the original problem and you need to go back to the beginning and re-solve the problem. Either way, you still have a problem to solve.

A chain of events or series of events is not uncommon in the boating world. A single line chain of events is like maneuvering to avoid a collision with someone who is matching your every move. Once while steaming into Elliott Bay, at night, I altered course to port about 10 deg to avoid a collision situation with a freighter. Soon after doing so, I noticed that the freighter had altered course to starboard which placed us back on a collision course. I altered course 20 deg to starboard and soon noticed that he had turned to port. Noticing that a chain of events was occurring and the problem was not being resolved, I decided to break the chain my making a radical course change to port and head for water too shallow for a freighter to operate. I was somewhat frustrated with the freighter that seemed to have a mind to run me down until I noticed that his "range lights" were actually deck lights and he was swinging to the wind at anchor.

A more complicated issue can arise where there multiple events occurred. My most memorable is loosing situational awareness, steaming south in Puget Sound north of Apple Cove Pt. in fog. The helmsman was steering a compass course when the GPS failed. I proceeded below to reset the GPS when the helm altered course to avoid traffic. While working with the GPS, I was distracted by passengers, having difficulty getting the stove to light. With the GPS reset, I tried to get the stove to lite when the lookout reported hearing waves breaking on the beach. I had lost focus on the more important issue of navigating in fog in traffic, near shore. This is a series of bad judgment decisions that nearly lead to grounding.

The most frequent failure is forgetting "rule one" where someone must always be driving the boat. Sometimes problems take on a focus that supersedes all others. That is fine as long as the problem receiving the focus IS the most important thing and that other matters can be set aside. But lighting a stove does not supersede navigating in fog, near shore in traffic. Sometimes the problem is grate enough to be the total focus and it would be appropriate to put other things aside, but remember that you may have just lost situation awareness by doing so. When the boat is flooding and in danger of sinking, one need not be overly concerned with the difficult harbor approach two days hence.

Risk is a continuum between very low and extremely high. We are all aware of the term, no risk, no reward. Sailing entails risk, so a lot of what we do in sailing is managing that risk. Overall risk management is primarily the Captains job and it is done with planning, preparing, managing and continuously assessing the risk. It is also true that everyone aboard should be aware of the risks and participate in the risk management at there levels.

The more you risk, the more you expose yourself to danger. Racers will take risks because the reward of winning is high enough, in there minds to warrant such risk. Some pay the price for this is broken hardware, equipment, rigging, sails and occasionally, the boat. But for them it is worth the risk. All aboard should be aware of the level of risks to which they are being exposed.

Everything you do should pass a "reasonableness test" in that the action or results should be reasonable. The easiest place to see the benefit from this is taking and plotting fixes while navigating. Even when you are taking your measurements such as star sightings or bearings on land objects, each one of these measurements can be judged as to whether it is reasonable, as well as applying reasonableness to the resulting fix. If your data and fixes indicate that you are making unbelievable progress in what are normal conditions, then it truly is un-believable until you can prove otherwise using other data points or systems. Sometimes the results are so blatant it is obvious, but other times it is subtle. The most frequent errors that I have made revolve around using the wrong "base" for Lat and Long. With the chart in Deg, Min and Sec. and the GPS in Deg and Min. The other is wrongly applying True, Magnetic, Variation and Deviation.

Remember the mission. Be safe and have fun.

The best is to not bring gender problems aboard. And sadly, that may mean not bringing "them" aboard. "Them" referring to anyone who has a problem with "being lead" or has deep rooted gender bias. In order to be crew, you need to accept that the Captain is in charge and makes the decisions. The Captain accepts the responsibility of the position and is granted the leadership role by each crew in there willingness to be led. "The unwilling cannot be led".

Watch for any of the following, teasing, put-downs, sexual innuendos, sarcasm, predigest, name calling, put-downs or any other abusive interactions. These kinds of behaviors need to be stopped as soon as possible or they may lead to a really unhappy and unhealthy environment for all. It may take only one un-happy crew to make things really difficult.   As Captain, one needs to take the perpetrator aside and informed that that kind of behavior is unacceptable. Occasionally it is a group issue and needs to be dealt with at that level and sometimes, some people just need to be excluded from participating for the good of the remainder of the participants.

The only solution is the same as gender problems, do not bring them aboard or put them ashore at the next port of call.

Anthropologists suggest that the division of tasks between nurturer and hunter occurred during the evolutionary process as humanity emerged from the transitioned form quidra-pod to by-pod.  I know.  My assessment is simplistic, but the point is that the role of captain does not favor one gender over the other as the skills and talents required cris-crosses the gender traits.  Though the image of old is that of a unilateral decision maker which may favor the mail side, the better leaders of today are those who do so by consensus and consultation which blurs the possible male advantage.

Those of us who are Trekies, have seen the captaining styles of Kirk, the solo "Absolute Commander" to Pecard, using consensus leadership and then Janeway, who, though being a woman, leaned more on the unilaterial Commander style. Of the three, Pecard’s style was the best model for a captain. Another prime example of Captaining skills are those of Shackelton. Most of the stories seem to revolve around his extraordinary seamanship skills. It seems to me that the skill that made a success of the mission was his ability to manage and motivate his crew under extreme hardship and it was his crew that were the ones who performed the extraordinary tasks.

In essence, each of us have developed various skills to different levels. As a Captain, we need to utilize all of these skills, work on improving those areas where we are week and fill in with other resources when needed.

Absolutes are rare in nature, with most of our experiences and traits being on a continuum. The common expression for that is "nothing is black or white".

In the following table, copied from Outdoor Leadership page 44, men tend to favor the left side of the continuum or traits, whereas women favor the right hand side. Neither extreme is desirable, but somewhere near the middle, on either side works quite well.

masculine traits                        |                           feminine traits

The above chart is from Outdoor Leadership by John Graham

Leadership:

John Graham: Outdoor Leadership (The Mountaineers).

Psychological

A.H. Maslow: Hierarchy of Needs

Almost everything about boats:

Chapman. Piloting, Seamanship and Small Boat Handling

Navigation Rules, United States Coast Guard

Chart No. 1, Nautical Chart, Symbols Abbreviations and Terms, USA

Notice to Mariners, US Coast Guard District 13

United States Coast Pilot for your region.

For SWSA education, by Brian Guptil