USCG VISIT

On Mar 20, 2023 My vessel ops classmates and I had the opportunity to take a ride on a USCG official ship. It was a very exciting trip in general because we were getting a very exclusive experience. Being a student at Harbor School, experiences like these are somewhat common for us in daily school activities. When we boarded the ship we were greeted by 3 members of the USCG that worked on that ship named TJ, Chris, and Travis . We introduced ourselves and our program to the men and they introduced us to them and their field of expertise. We got underway and slowly made a large circle around the island. As we were traveling around the island we got to speak to the different officers and talk to them about questions or life in the coast guard. They responded very well and perfectly answered me and my classmates’ questions. During the ride we switched from inside the cabin to outside and when inside I was really able to see the different technology used in larger ships. It was a very stunning thing to see because there are so many different buttons and switches to remember which must take lots of time on it self to learn and memorize. This picture was taken by me of one of the 4 passenger seats on the ship. I thought the image was interesting because it has a view of the harbor and statue of liberty and you can also see the tech inside a high caliber boat like this. Towards the end of the trip we got to see how they would perform a man overboard drill and it was a lot smoother than us to say the least! The whole demonstration opened my eyes on the importance of practicing drills like these and how vital they are in an emergency situation. This experience was very educational and informed me on the importance of the coast guard especially in a city like NYC because of the high water traffic and high demand of travel. Life at the Harbor School thrives during opportunities like this and I am very fortunate to have access to the information received by times like these.

-Henry Ratner