1. Instructors: George Crowl
QM-7
Quartermaster
Boat Handling
This PowerPoint is provided for those who may not have appropriate training aids available in a ship or location. This generally follows a companion lesson plan available at I expect you to modify it to fit your situation and teaching style. I am more concerned that Scouts learn than this fit a specific style. I am, however, a fan of the Effective Teaching model. Teaching EDGE is somewhat simplistic in its approach, but that has some advantages.
Note: These lesson plans may also be used for teaching in the ship. For administrative convenience, they cover the entire specific numbered requirement (except one, where Galley is covered separately!). Individual Sea Scout Academy lessons may only cover part of the requirements. Similarly, ships may find that even just a portion of a subrequirement is all that can be done during a particular ship meeting. Adapt these lessons as needed to fit your youth and your situation. Share these plans with your youth who are teaching.
Philosophy: Sea Scout Academy’s primary purpose is to teach the material to the Sea Scout. If the Sea Scout demonstrates mastery of parts of the subject, then the instructor should annotate on the class roster what has been passed, in the instructor’s opinion. Skippers have the right to re-examine any Sea Scout in any requirement. (Knots are not a good subject to give a pass in.) SSA may schedule only portions of ORD-8.
Instructors: George Crowl

2. Course Outline
a. Take charge of the craft used by your ship and give all commands to the crew for picking up a mooring buoy and properly mooring the vessel in several wind and current situations.
b. Demonstrate and teach the principles of springing into and out from a dock, from both bow and stern, using an engine depending on the type of vessel used by your ship.
c. Teach Ordinary and Able boat handling requirements to a crew.
Requirements:
Reference:Reference: See SSM pp and Motorboating merit badge pamphlet, No Also the lesson plan for this requirement.
Equipment Required: Suitable motor-powered boat. Students may give orders, it is not necessary that a Sea Scout be on the helm in case of a large boat.

3. QM-7a
a. Take charge of the craft used by your ship and give all commands to the crew for picking up a mooring buoy and properly mooring the vessel in several wind and current situations.
The SSM has no information on picking up a mooring buoy. The following article at is instructive. Please note that in many locations Sea Scout boats are kept in slips. In Galveston Bay there are, to our knowledge, no actual mooring buoys. Ships in that area must simulate a mooring buoy, which in some cases means using a channel buoy while insuring that the mooring vessel keeps a sharp eye out to make sure that there is no interference with channel traffic.
Use the Lesson Plan, rather than transcribing that material to the notes page.

4. Mooring Buoys Balls, cans, spars – white with blue band
Often have identification of some kind
Usually a fee, must be sized to your vessel
Usually better than anchoring, but beware!
Don't use private moorings without permission A

5. Typical Mooring Layout
Block or mushroom anchor
Heavy chain to be lifted by movement
Light chain to attach
Buoy to float chain
Pennant from ball bottom or top
Line from vessel A

6. Picking Up a Mooring
Planning
Preparation
Practice A

7. Planning Mooring position Wind and current
Which two people on the bow?
Hand signals or radios for speed, distance, direction to the mooring
Is the anchor in the way?
Near pass the check it out? A

8. Preparation Don life jackets Boat hook at bow Gloves on (barnacles)
Short line handy A

9. Practice - Motoring Approach very slowly
Approach from dead downwind / current
Shift to neutral to come to a dead stop with bow over the mooring buoy
Pick up the pennant with boat hook
Attach line as required
Most common mistake – approach too fast
Danger – fouling prop and rudder in mooring A

10. Practice - Sailing Gotta know your boat!
Come on a slow broad reach downwind of mooring
Release all sails, turn upwind into mooring, coast to a stop at mooring
Requires good crew coordination A

11. After Attaching Drift back and verify clear of all other vessels
If mooring buoy is dragged under, lengthen the attaching line
Check possible chafing
To depart – release bridle OR
Pull up to pennant and release A

12. QM-7b
b. Demonstrate and teach the principles of springing into and out from a dock, from both bow and stern, using an engine depending on the type of vessel used by your ship.
(*You can demonstrate while teaching!)
Using a bow spring line to either spring into a dock or to spring out from a dock is illustrated in the SSM, pp Boat US published the article below in 2013 which covers pretty much all situations. Following the article, there is a short summary of each of four possible maneuvers.
Use the Lesson Plan article for reference, I have not transcribed it to the Notes pages.

13. Spring Forward Out of Dock
Lay a spring line from bow well aft
Motor forward, rudder toward the dock
Boat pivots
Rudder amidships, motor reverse out of dock A

14. Spring Aft Out of Dock Lay spring line from aft forward
Protect stern quarter with fender
Turn rudder to dock, reverse, bow goes out
Center or right rudder, motor forward A

15. Springing Into a Dock Space
Approach parallel to boat behind the space
Turn in 45°
Dock crew take spring line to cleat well aft of bow (boat crew can do)
Boat crew pay out thru forward cleat
When positioned, turn rudder away from dock A

16. Springing Aft into Dock Space
Similar to forward
Harder to control because of rudder ineffectiveness
May need a bow line to shore to bring bow in A

17. QM-7c c. Teach Ordinary and Able boat handling requirements to a crew.

18. Ordinary 7a/b/c
You may use the Ordinary 7 lesson plan and PPT to give shore instructions
Take the Scouts to a marina, walk the piers, show them the various kinds of boats and rigging, quiz them on the types and on the vessel parts.
Let’s split teaching Ordinary boat handling into two parts. Ordinary 8a/b/c can be easily taught on shore, with models and pictures. Then move to your ship’s vessels, and have the students identify real parts of real boats. If you are near a marina, go there and walk the docks, having them identify the kinds of boats and the individual parts of the boats and their rigging. Point out the common thread among individual differences.

19. Ordinary 7d - Rowing
The PPT can serve as an introduction, but it is all in the actual on-water practice.
The rowing part of boat handling is best taught with a boat. Put your students in a rowboat. You take the oars and demonstrate the basic stroke, traveling in a straight line, correcting your course, lining up on something behind you, doing a pivot turn, and backwatering. Then swap places with the student, have them practice, and you provide correction. Tell them what they are doing right first. Then correct any mistakes they make. Once they demonstrate the ability to correct themselves, let them practice with a minimum of correction. As they approach the needed proficiency, ask them to help evaluate their performance. Provide praise and congratulations when they pass the test.

20. Able 7a – Motorboating
Again, you can use the PPT to introduce the topic, but the meat of the topic must be done hands-on
For Able, operating a small boat, executing docking commands, and springing into/out of a dock must be done like rowing, with an actual boat. Demonstrate, then let the student practice, then perform. Use the same teaching techniques that you use in teaching rowing.

21. Able 7b – Docking Lines, etc.
You should not have to do any specific teaching for this lesson if you have been teaching this topic each time you have sailed. Determine if the Scout knows what is needed, then if not, fill in any gaps and see if it is retained when next sailing. A

22. Background Teach each set of requirements separately
If you taught these topics as an Ordinary, you may be able to count that.
You don't have to be Able to pass any part or all of this requirement
You don't have to do it over a short time, you can spread it out over months or years
Treat the requirements for each rank separately. You can’t teach all of them effectively at one time. Teach the Ordinary requirements to younger Sea Scouts, and Able to perhaps an older set. You don’t have to teach them in rapid succession; it could be months or years between those sessions. The Sea Scouts need to see the need to learn. You need to motivate them.

23. Equipment Needed Lesson plans for ORD-7, ABL-7 (as desired)
A marina is a good teaching aid
A rowboat, oars, life jackets, etc.
A power boat, motor, life jackets, etc.
Identify the material needed for the particular lesson to be taught. The lesson plans identify it by rank, you may not need everthing for every lesson.
The lesson plans and/or PPT may prove useful.
The Sea Scout Manual has good information.
Walking in a marina is often excellent so people can see actual examples of both types of vessels, and of the various parts of the boat.
A small outboard to teach motorboat maneuvering is better than a large one.
Keep an eye out for the opportunity to teach even just a portion of each requirement as the need arises. Ask to teach. Let your skipper know as you complete each portion of this requirement. Make a note in your book as you do them.

24. Teaching EDGE Lacks two things – objectives, motivation
You have to supply both
Objectives – simply put – the requirements
Motivation – why should a Sea Scout want to pass an advancement requirement?
YOU have to provide the motivation – how it will be used, it may be fun to do, whatever will persuade the Scout to do it
Give a pre-test? You may be able to sign them off as complete with part or all of it
Let's discuss the Teaching EDGE method. It is the official BSA method of teaching. First, there a couple things lacking that you must fill in. First, what are your teaching objectives? Well, in BSA rank advancement, the objectives are the rank requirements. So, half your problem is solved, you are teaching the rank requirements for the skill involved.
The second half the problem is how much the Scouts know, and are they willing to learn what they don't know? You may have to give them a pre-test of some kind, or observe they they don't know something they they should, to find out what they don't know. What if their pre-test shows they already know it? Stop teaching, you and they are done! Sign them off! On the other hand, if they don't know it, we now have to persuade them that they do need to know it, so they will be willing to learn it.
Now for the official Teaching EDGE method, and an example.
Explain
Demonstrate
Guide
EnableA

25. Teaching EDGE (2) Four main steps Explain Demonstrate Guide Enable
EDGE is a simple teaching method for relatively simple tasks. It is effective for many Scouting tasks.
There is a different example in the lesson plan than the one I did for the PPT.

26. Explain Need a rowboat to get from the dock to a mooring
Rowboats are very stable, have large capacity
Need to look over your shoulder, OR line up on a point behind you
Oars are operated in pairs
Stages are catch, pull, feather, recovery
Maneuver by differential pull
The slides give one example. A second example is given in the lesson plan and copied below.
The first step is to explain what needs to be done. We need get out into a channel when we are docked between two relatively close boats. We can't hit them. We can attach a spring line to our bow, stretch it toward our stern, and secure it. If we put the motor in forward, and turn the rudder (or outboard motor) toward the dock, our stern will swing out until we have a clear path to back out. Loose the spring line, back out straight, turn, and go about your business.

27. Demonstrate Instructor shows how to row Straight rowing
Break the stroke down, show catch, pull, feather, recovery
Show keeping a straight line
Turning
Backwatering
Explain what you are doing as you do everything
The second step is to demonstrate how to do it. You may start with a series of illustrations or a simulator. It is probably just as easy to go to a motor boat of some kind and do it (even if you have to imagine the boats on either side of you). Make sure your students can see your actions in the cockpit.

28. Guide Change seats the proper way Scout rows Coach the Scout
Concentrate on one or two items at a time, more than that will just overload the Scout
As one skill is mastered, move on to another one that is not yet up to standard
The third step is to guide the students doing it themselves. They need to operate the helm and the motor, while commanding the crew in the necessary actions. They may need to do just one task, then add a second, then add the third. They must practice until they can do the entire task correctly.

29. Enable Have the Scout row the crew out to the moored vessel
If possible, have the Scout do another real task in the rowboat
Fourth, you enable your students to actually execute the task when needed. If they know the skill to meet the needs of the requirement, you may pass them on it.
EDGE is a simple teaching method for relatively simple tasks. The principles above apply to all the tasks of this requirement and other Sea Scout requirements. It is effective for many Scouting tasks.

30. When do You Pass the Scout?
Policies vary between ships
Author's opinion: if the Scout can meet the requirements, s/he has practiced enough to pass the test again. This is a psychomotor skill that will come back quickly if needed.
Other skills, perhaps knot tying, should be demonstrated several times by the Scout before passing. A

31. Questions? R