Back in my Navy days stationed aboard ship, which happened to be a
Destroyer Tender just under 500 feet long, we had drills underway called
"Bumper Drills". This was
ship handling training for junior officers standing OOD watch on the bridge.
Marker buoys with weights and a "drag" attached would be tossed over the side and then the ODD had to maneuver the ship around and come back to the buoy and stop along side within a few feet of the marker. Officers of course didn't actually handle the wheel or engine room telegraph, but instead gave orders to the Helmsman and Lee Helmsman... such as "Helm: ..left
Five degrees rudder..ahead 1/3..etc etc.
As a watchstander helmsman, I had the duty of following the orders the young officer gave
to the letter..even knowing as I did so, that the order was going to have adverse results as I spun the wheel over. As experienced helmsman, we were not allowed to comment if we saw a disaster in the making... sometimes it was difficult suppressing a smile. The young OOD would be running from one side of the open wings of the bridge to the other, trying to figure out what order to give next.
Some of them picked it up soon enough but others never would get it and after a few sessions were not invited back to the bridge again.
I practice this same "ship handling" in my little 20 footer by going over to the Wolfeboro docks on a weekday and doing docking drills. Just drive the boat all the way in and practice "backing & filling"... turning the boat around in it's own length then driving out and then repeating the drill a few times before moving on.
