new simulator update

Christian H. assisting myself(Joseph R.) on proper route building via the instructor station.

We would like to thank Christian Hempstead for coming down to Governors Island and helping the instructors and me better understand the TRANSAS simulation software provided to us by ABS (American Bureau of Shipping). I believe we can now say that we know the ins and outs of the system. With Christian's long history with the software, we received a deep insight into the usage and application of the software. We can easily run much larger simulations without the fear of the program crashing, due to our understanding of the 6 DoF (Degrees of Freedom) option for target ships. The 6 DoF option allows the vessel to be affected by various forces within the simulation such as wakes and current.

In the event of future updates and other software related changes such as the ability to explore new areas not currently available, the instructors and I can competently say we can tackle that task with no hiccups. There are many other things that Christian has helped us better understand, such as proper route building. We are grateful to Christian for coming down to help us, especially considering the blizzard that came through the east coast this past Tuesday.