Drilling for Safety

On October 20th, 2019 I was given the chance to steer one of the New York harbor schools training vessel Indy 7. Indy is used to give us practice on the various procedures when stepping on to a vessel (boarding) from things to safety to maintenance and eventually leaving the dock for practical boat handling and seamanship. Our official crew consisted of Captain Anderson, a former New York harbor student and licensed United States Coasts Guard Captain and the crew chief (deckhand) Ashley Cruz who was in charge of the crew and the roles they would play in getting out of the dock. Our goal for that day was to do a couple man overboard drills along the buttermilk Channel along Governors Island and that’s when I was asked to steer Indy while the other students were practicing what do if someone were to fall overboard with a dummy Called Oscar.

Captain Anderson was instructing me in where I would steer the boat and that’s when I was actually at the wheel, I realized that it was somewhat scary because I was a little nervous because I kept on thinking that I was going to fall into the water and the waves that were hitting the boat also added to that insecurity but eventually I got the hang of it. I continued to drive Indy for a while and it felt easy driving I was able to calm down and started to enjoy the experience so much more i still steered wherever captain Anderson directed me to and drove us back to pier 101 where we then later docked the boat and got ready for the second group to get on indy.

Reflecting back on that experience I realized how much fun I had driving Indy 7 and how it makes me feel so excited every time i step onto a vessel and i get some satisfaction when other kids my age get to feel how amazing it is to be up there, wind in your face, water splashing behind you, I strive to have others participate in school activities like this i can't wait for the many more that await me in the future.

Kendall Vessel Ops Sophmore on the helm of Indy 7 the school’s training vessel.