Children Learning Boat Operation Through Simulation
Parents teach their kids how to operate the boat; knowledge transfer from one generation to the next is the traditional method of boating education.
Do the traditional methods still have their place in the modern age?
There have been issues with the traditional method, especially for families new to the boating experience and for those trying to apply traditional knowledge in new contexts (new boats, new areas).
There has been a gradual shift towards using new methods of training for boaters with online safety lectures leading the way towards formal certification.
Is this enough? Probably not. Operating a boat is a hands-on skill that needs some practical experience. Bringing the boat into the dock at a busy marina in a cross-wind is hard to learn from a book.
Some form of driver training is required, but how can this be done in a large country, with remote communities, and 6 months of water-freezing winter?
I had the privilege of joining our partners, ARSU, at the Sports and Leisure Show in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan this past weekend. Wayde Squires and his team at the Saskatoon Wildlife Federation did a great job organizing the event.
We were there to officially unveil our first boat simulator deployed to the Prairies. Virtual Marine provided one of our mobile simulators, and ARSU converted a camper trailer into a mobile simulation training classroom.
Over a two-day period, we delivered a short learning experience every 10 minutes to participants at the show. Professional boaters like conservation officers, firefighters and rescue volunteers dropped by, as did recreational boaters.
What caught my attention was the number of child/parent combinations. In every case, the child was in the driver’s seat and the parent in the navigator seat. After a short introduction to the simulator and a boating safety message (wear your PFD and always attach the kill switch), they were off on their short simulated voyage.
What happened next was magic.
It was like they were on the lake and the parent started coaching the child. They passed along all the little nuggets of wisdom that experienced boaters accumulate to help their child accomplish the mission (pick up a person in the water and bring them back to the dock).
In one sense, the child was in their element. They are very comfortable in the digital world. In another sense, they were out of their element. The simulator represents the reality of operating a boat which is something they had not done before.
Although the experience was only a few minutes long, you could see the strengthened connection between parent and child; one was able to pass along boating knowledge and the other learned a new skill. Even though it was -20C outside…in a blizzard.
Experience is experience, even if it is gained artificially through the digital world. Perhaps the use of hi-tech simulation will allow us to preserve and enhance our traditional methods of boating education.
-Cpt Anthony Patterson, Managing Director, Virtual Marine Training
