George H Reid News

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…