Senior Project
Project Process
To make any good project work, you need to have a well thought out plan; and that's just how I started. For the beginning of my senior project, my mentor and I sat down and came up with a list of items I would need, and a list of thing I would need to know.
First we started a list of all the safety equipment that I need aboard both boats. Things like tools, emergency materials, extra oil, Personal Flotation Devices, and a Radio are all very important items to have in case of an emergency. Next we talked about what kind of crews I was going to have/need. “Are they going to be people my age, or older? Are they going to be trained, or are you going to have to train them?” he would ask. “How are you going to do your cruise plans? How are you going to get all of the equipment you need? When is that best time of day to leave?” he made his point. It was up to me to work out every last detail… for the efficiency of the project, and for everyone's safety.
After that was all said and done, it was time to learn how to drive, but before I could do that, I had to first learn how each boat started up. It is a good thing to know what noise means what problem: one noise could mean that the engine is starved of fuel, another could mean that the batteries are dead/dieing, or smoke could mean that the engine is over heating. And then there where the sails as well: the sound of a sail flapping could mean that the boat is pointed in the wrong direction according to the wind, or that the sails aren't tight enough. Knowing how to read what the boat is doing is very important when . If you don't know what the boat is doing, then you probably don't know what you are doing. I find that this is a good philosophy to go by because if something goes wrong, it tells me that I need to step back, and ask myself “okay, what is the problem and how do I fix it?” If I can't recognize a potential problem, then that potential problem will get out of control.
For the driving portion, not only did I have my mentor instruct me, but I also had two coaches to help me out whenever my mentor had work he needed to get done. Every weekend we would try to take at least one of the boats out for some practice. For the power boat, most of my driving was practicing maneuvering in and out of slips and making landings onto different docks. For the sail boat, most of my instruction was done in more open water because it was the best way for me to get a feel for how the boat worked. Driving was a learning experience in itself. It was while driving that I got a chance to learn what to do in minor emergency situations. Yes I will admit it, I did my fare share of goof-ups out on the water, but it is still part of the whole process because if I can not learn from my mistakes, then why bother learning if all your going to do is screw up? This is another thing I always reminded myself whenever I was about to learn something new.
After I got a good handle on each boat, I decided that I wanted to make two sort of culminating trips as a way of putting my skills to the test so that everything that I described above could be demonstrated. And though my coaches where giving me advice just incase I needed it, I was in charge of each trip. A big responsibility to bear under skills just learned. I can say with ease that the power boat trip was highly successful however the sail boat trip was something that will forever be locked away in my file cabinet of learning experiences. I will be more then happy to tell of my adventure during my presentation, but for now I will give a nut-shell description. From the beginning of the day things where breaking, comfort levels where dropping and things just wouldn't stop going bad. Five minutes after we left the dock, I had told my crew to raise the main sail. It was then that we discovered that it had a large hole in it. So I then decided that we where going to sail to Angle Island on just the Jib sale. And after realizing how hard it was to tack with just the Jib, the Halyard broke and all I had to get back was the engine. Even though everything was chaotic and a tad bit stressful, it was an experience I will never forget.
I would have to say that the hardest part of this senior project was not driving or sailing itself, it was acquiring the amount of knowledge that I didn't have and applying it to something I have not done before. I have done my fare share of planning before, but nothing quite like this. And though this was a hard project to tackle, I had a lot of fun and I wouldn't trade it for anything. I know my difficulties made me stronger and more able to handle bad situation in my future experiences.