May 9th, 2018 the sophomore class was conducting a man overboard. Before the drill we needed to get to the designated spot for us to drop Oscar. I was given the task at hand to get to the spot, it was a lot of traffic out on the water at this time. Thomas was the bow watch and he pointed out a lot of boats that were on course. While Thomas and I were navigating the rest of the team was prepping Oscar to be dropped in the water. At this time Thomas and I headed south on the buttermilk channel. Then we altered course to head North. At this time we made a security call letting vessels nearby, know that Indy 7 are conducting safety drills. It is very important that we navigate properly in doing man overboard drills. The reason why it is important is because in New York Harbor there is a lot of traffic around. Conducting these drills without making a security call can be dangerous because of the vessels passing at every minute. Before we dropped Oscar I gave the helm to Brendan and he was conducting as the Captain of this drill. Man overboard drills are very interesting because they show you real life scenarios in what to do if a real person goes overboard. Conducting these drills makes me feel ready for anything because I will feel very responsive if a person falls overboard. Harbor School teaches you MOB drills very hardly and also because we’ve never had a person fall in the water while underway. We are trying to keep that going because it ensures the safety of passengers on our vessels. This also teaches us skills once we get into the maritime industry. Lastly it would look very appealing to companies that you know how to complete man overboard drills.
-Davere Hanson
