A Busy Day On The Hudson....

Have you ever been on a nice sail on the Hudson? What happens when its time to stop sailing and you have to start the engine up to head for your dock and something goes wrong with your engine? Who is there to help you then? You would never think high school kids might lend a helping hand. This goes to show how we as high school kids are accepted as a family in the maritime industry and assist when a fellow mariner is in need.. On this day, we were learning how to warp off of pier 17 . Warping is a vessel maneuver that allows you to move the boat with some engine power but mostly lines from one part of the dock to the other. This skill is useful as a boat operator because this allows you to know the lines and there uses. We received a call from a form student who asked if we can shuttle a mechanic out to the boat. Schooner Shearwater has lost engine power on the north river but was sailing as they tried to figure out what was going on with their engine. Although, she is a sailboat it would be nearly impossible for her to dock without an engine. Which is why we thought it would be crucial for us to respond. Luckily, we had a harbor school graduate who was working on the boat, which made the situation a little more calming. Halcyon a harbor school graduate, knows her boat and she instructed us on things that would be important to do. Halcyon graduated in 2015 and she knows a lot about the maritime industry, she happened to be the mate on board this day. So then we tied INDY 7 up to Shearwater to see what the plan was. We then transferred 5 our Indy to crew to the schools work boat and assisted in transferring the Shearwater passenger to our launch for the short trip to North Cove Marina. Ashley and I stayed on Indy to guide the passengers to step over safely to our boat so we can transfer them back to the north cove marina. The rest of the harbor school crew towed Shearwater back to her original dock at the north cove. This was a very interesting day but it showed me how the worse isn’t planned and comes in just a nick of time. Lastly, it’s very comforting to have alumni work in the maritime industry because it can create more job opportunities for the students behind them.

-Davere Hanson