Manoeuvring

Core business on anchor handling tugs is manoeuvring. I am talking about the real work, not the Mickey Mouse manoeuvring with Dynamic Positioning. That's more an ordinary push-button Super Mario Game. This is something you cannot learn at school, you have to improve your own skills step by step. The best way to learn this, is to experience near misses. Only then you know what you did wrong and how to prevent it the next time. Another misunderstanding is that manoeuvring is only for graduates from Nautical Colleges. Wrong; the only thing you need to have is feeling for forces, moments and movements. Beautiful stamped and colored certificates don't guarantee any skills at all these days. Basically; a housewife or a ballet dancer could learn it faster than a Nautical College graduate with his theoretical Masters License. Of course this is not completely true, there is also a lot of theory you have to know before you start practicing. But that is what it is. Practicing, learning from you mistakes and gaining years and years of experience. Chief Mate Jeroen, working on the aft console of our tug, is manoeuvring alongside the Hermod on this picture with an anchor on our deck.