Author
Shiphandling with Tugs
By Captain Jeff Slesinger
Shiphandling with Tugs, Second Edition is a comprehensive text for the mariner who wants to learn how to safely operate tugs in assisting ships to and from their berths in ports and anchorages. It includes a new chapter on ship escort with updated and expanded chapters on today’s tugs, including descriptions and illustrations on the latest tractor tug design and capabilities.
ASD Tugs: Thrust and Azimuth 2nd Edition
By Captain Jeff Slesinger
An Azimuthing Stern Drive (ASD) tug or towboat is a high-performance vessel that is responsive, quick to maneuver and extremely powerful. In the hands of a skilled operator maneuvering these vessels looks effortless and seamless—smoothly spinning around, nimbly shifting position, having pinpoint control, all while the operator’s hands move the control handles instinctively and naturally. This book takes the reader through an efficient learning sequence leading to that level of proficiency. Text, illustrations and practice drills create a clear understanding of ASD maneuvering principles and assist the reader in acquiring the intuitive hands-on feel required to operate these vessels. Each chapter covers a basic maneuvering element—steering, managing speed, stopping, hovering, lateral movement—and their application to light boat, barge and ship handling. This book is the first step for a professional mariner adding a new competency to his or her art of towing—driving a Z-drive.
Courtesy of QSE Publishing. All Rights Reserved.
A Masters Authority and Responsibility
By Thomas G. Waller and Captain Jeff Slesinger
Captain Jeff Slesinger and Tom Waller, esq., invite you to join us on the bridge of a small coastal freighter while we transit the Inside Passage from Alaska to Seattle. The purpose of our invitation is to have you join us for a few miles and a few decisions that will illustrate how a Master’s responsibility and authority translate into real decisions.
Courtesy of QSE Publishing. All Rights Reserved.
Back On Deck
By Captain Jeff Slesinger
I have years of seagoing experience and I hold the expertise of professional mariners in high regard. Yet if I don’t periodically get down on deck, or in the wheelhouse or engine room I lose the feel for the work. And that loss becomes a barrier to understanding and appreciating what I’m asking our mariners to carry out in the execution of their duties. Many of us who serve as marine managers and supervisors came ashore after years at sea. Even though we’ve brought that seagoing experience to land jobs, we should a always find a means to get our feet wet once in a while and remember just how cold that water can be.
Courtesy of QSE Publishing. All Rights Reserved.
Managing Risk
By Captain Jeff Slesinger
Risk and challenge go hand in hand in many seagoing circumstances and are an integral part of a professional mariner’s job. We would have it no other way. We seek the challenge of managing risk as we know it is a measure of our skills and competence, and an opportunity to practice and hone those skills. As an individual, how can you manage risk, yet glean the value of experiencing the limits of your skills without paying the price of a costly mistake? How can you walk the line between professional mariner prudently managing risk or being reckless? Managed prudently, a mariner can enter the arena of risk and not only avoid costly mistakes but come out with priceless knowledge and experience.
Courtesy of QSE Publishing. All Rights Reserved.
A Tale of Two Tugs
By Captain Jeff Slesinger
The towing industry is quite diverse in both equipment and applications, with great varieties of hull designs, steering and coastal and ocean applications. In this regard, the towing industry is quite similar to the aviation industry; an industry that recognizes the diversity within its own transportation mode and requires type and route certifications for different aircraft. You can’t Jump from a single-engine piper cub into the cockpit of a 737 unless you’ve met a recognized standard of experience, knowledge, performance and competency. It is in the best interest of both the towing industry and the professional mariner to have a similar type of system to establish standards of competency that recognize “type” differences between towing vessels and the specialized skills required to operate them.
Courtesy of QSE Publishing. All Rights Reserved.
Power of Culture
By Captain Jeff Slesinger
There I was—feet on one side and arms on the other of a widening chasm between tug and barge. This did not look promising for Captain Jeff. What drove the experienced captain and safety director to take such a foolish step? Culture—the old culture learned as a deckhand in the 1970’s. Culture is one of the most powerful tools in the safety tool box. Ignored, it is a huge obstacle to change. Managed wisely, it can move whole companies in directions that make them safer and more productive.
Courtesy of QSE Publishing. All Rights Reserved.
New Captain, New Responsibilities
By Captain Jeff Slesinger
When a mate becomes a captain he has already acquired many new practical skills-boat handling, navigation, crew management and leadership. But there is one skill that can be gained only through experience-managing the feeling of irrefutable and undeniable accountability and responsibility for every detail that happens on a vessel from the time it leaves the dock until it returns. There is no training to prepare a person for the feeling that accompanies the realization that the tiniest of details-a missed alarm, a leaking steering ram, a broken strand on a tow wire, an ambiguous communication to a mate about routing-can unleash an error chain with serious and career-ending consequences. When that realization fully dawns and is mixed with a sense of unrelenting responsibility, it can be overwhelming and exhausting.