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28 MN March 2011 I asked a friend at Seattle’s Pacific Maritime Institute (PMI) if she thought someone like me could successfully complete just one maneuvering task in their tug simulator after a couple hours of training. Ten years ago I’d run a cutter aground in San Francisco Bay when my Officer Candidate class was let loose in the Coast Guard Academy’s simulator, but that was the extent of my shiphandling experience, real or virtual. As a testament to her optimism, my friend scheduled me in PMI’s Z-drive tug simulator last January under the instruction of Captain Jeff Slesinger, author of ASD Tugs: Thrust and Azimuth, Learning to Drive a Z-drive. Since, no one was counting on me to actually pass a test, it didn’t matter how I did, I told myself. But when I walked into Jeff’s class- room, after official classes were over for the day, he com- mented on the performance anxiety I was obviously car- rying with me. “That’s what the simulator is for. It’s a safe place to make mistakes,” he told me. “If you’re not making mistakes in there, you’re not learning.” THIRTY-ONE YEARS IN THE BUSINESS Jeff has been in the tug industry for thirty-one years and has worked at Western Towboat for the past 25. He has published two books on tug handling, owns his own busi- ness and does training at PMI. “I first started to learn how to sail when I was seven. I was bitten by the bug right then and wanted to make my living running boats. I was involved with the sailing industry, teaching sailing and delivering sail boats.” But Captain Jeff Slesinger, trainer and author. Photo cour tesy Jef f Slesinger By Raina Clark
