Some Best Practices For Teaching

Posted on May 10, 2026 by captnmike

Recently Klaas ask me to help with Public Education for the Northwest District of the Coast Guard Auxiliary.  This is an updated presentation of some best teaching best practices I have observed over the years.  Some of the suggestions I learned the hard way, I pass them on in the hope that this will help others not make some of the same mistakes I did and inspire others to improve their teaching skills.

Remember if you are not having fun, you are not doing it right, The class should also enjoy the presentation as well as learn something.  Many times the instructors also learn from the students.

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Setting the ships clock the old fashioned way

Posted on February 4, 2025 by captnmike
Telling Time Used to be a Ball
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Westport Maritime Museum

Posted on September 18, 2024 by captnmike
First Order Fresnel Lens and base at the Westport Maritime Museum, the glass section is about 8 1/2 ft. tall

Recently a friend visited the Westport Maritime Museum in Westport, Washington on the Washington State Coast and he sent me a few pictures he took of the museum. He was extremely impressed by the museum and the volunteer staff, very professional and knowledgeable.

The center piece of the museum is a First Order Fresnel Lens, the lens itself is about eight ½ ft tall plus the base to rotate the lens. The Lens Hall was built by the Museum specifically to display the First Order Fresnel Lens that is on loan from the U.S Coast Guard. The lens is awesome he says. Several people have said this is the most spectacular presentation of a First Order Fresnel Lens around. The lens is from the Destruction Island lighthouse, located 57 miles north of Westport. Constructed in 1890 in France, the lens contains twenty-four bull’s-eyes and 1,176 prisms. The Lens and base stand 17 feet tall and weighs six tons.

There is much more at the museum than shown here. There are several display cases full of history.

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Posted on June 10, 2024 by captnmike
Abandoning Ship, What Everyone Needs to Know

Interesting information, especially for those who go on cruises.

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Posted on February 1, 2024 by captnmike
Polynesian Wayfinding Traditions Let Humans Roam The Pacific Ocean
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The macabre way early sailors refreshed their wardrobes

Posted on September 15, 2023 by captnmike

I ran across this article on early sailors cloths, sometimes bought from thew “Slop Chest” which sometimes contained cloths from dead sailors, the ship’s captain sometimes made a little extra money from the sale of the cloths.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, British and then American sailors lived a hard life in rough conditions, often forced to work on military ships against their will. Exposed to the elements and working long days, they obviously needed utilitarian clothing. But in some cases, the clothes available to them came from their deceased peers from the “slop chest.”
And on commercial ships, the ship’s owner could make a small profit by taking the clothes of dead sailors and selling them to new sailors through the slop chest.

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Skipper Emeritus

Posted on March 5, 2023 by captnmike
Skipper Emeritus – Captain Michael Brough

Recently Seattle Singles Yacht Club honored me with Skipper Emeritus Award for my contributions to boating, sailing, boating safety, member education and taking many many people sailing over more than 20 years and over 1,000 trips, sometimes up to 80 or 90 trips a year.

They had a nice Zoom meeting and several people shared stories of their good experiences on my boats or of times that I went the extra mile to help someone with a boating question or problem. I was also presented with a nicely bound book of stories, I have scanned it and the link is below.

Over the years I contributed in many ways. I taught something over 300 “mini-classes” at the end of the meeting. Some of the classes were “simple” such as how to tie a fender or How to Tie a Bowline, How to Tie a Spilled Hitch Bowline, How to Tie a Bowline with Your Left Hand, others like Rules of The Road were more involved and took extra time. I am quite proud to have passed on a bit of information to many people and made their on the water safer or easier.

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Posted in Boating Safety | 1 Comment

Why Don’t Ships Have Headlights?

Posted on July 7, 2022 by captnmike

Recently a friend sent me an interesting link to a video on Why Don’t Ships Have Headlights?

Why Don’t Ships Have Headlights?

I found the video interesting even though I teach this subject in boating safety classes, the videos author also has many other videos covering different subjects including, Why Do Submarines Float So Low? Gyrocompass: How Ships Navigate Using The Earth’s Rotation, Why Did Her Stern Vibrate So Much? Icebreakers: How Do They Break Ice? How does GPS work?

And as noted in the comments, some ships do have headlights, here in the Pacific Northwest we think of lights on crab boats so they can pick post at night.

So I thought I would pass on the video and encourage you to check out some of his other videos.

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Posted in Boating Safety, Navigation, Safety Thoughts | 1 Comment