Learn how to operate small boats with AFS
Learn to anchor a boat, tie knots, what to do when there’s a fire at sea and more by taking AFS 290: Small Boats and their Operation.
The class is available to any University of Rhode Island student, even those without any prior boating experience, although a little bit is encouraged according to lecturers Steve Barber and Mitch Hatzipetro.
However, due to the hands-on teaching experience, the class is capped at 20 students. The class is mainly taken by students in the marine science field, but a variety of majors are represented among the students, according to its lecturers. The class is only offered in the fall due to the class often being in flux because of the changing weather.
The class operates in a lab format, with the first half of the class being used to go over the lesson and have practice, according to the lecturers. From there, the class will go on to facilitate the lesson, whether on the water or something else hands-on with the boat.
The goal of this class is to give any student following the marine track comfortability operating a boat when their career requires it, according to Barber.
The class started right at the beginning of the aquaculture program in the 1960s, according to Barber and Hatzipetro, as a way to give fishermen practical boating skills and to make them feel more comfortable on the water. Now, a couple decades later, the program has become a full four-year degree and has become a lot more science-heavy.
Even after all these years, though, the goal of the class is still the same. According to the professors, in order for students to understand the fisheries component of the program, the best way to learn is seeing how fishing operations work on these boats.
“Being an aquaculture and fisheries class, we like to incorporate fisheries,” Hatzipetro said. “We’re gonna put out a net and actually fish to show how all of the technology works.”
For Hatzipetro, a big priority of the class is safety training, and the first few weeks are completely focused on what to do when a crisis can hit.
“I’m very safety-oriented,” Hatzipetro said. “If something can go wrong, it will go wrong.”
As part of the class, students get experience with three different outboard engine boats, according to Barber. A 17-foot, a 24-foot and even up to a 53-foot trawler are all used by the school for different research projects.
The class has partnered with the URI Sailing Center, and is able to launch out of their dock.
Barber is the current captain of the largest vessel, Captain Bert.
“When they come up onto Captain Bert, I allow them to come into the wheelhouse and see the difference between a bigger boat and the smaller boats,” Barber said.
According to Barber, the class is a helpful tool for those who want to take the Coast Guard boating exam, but the class does not actually offer the license.
The AFS program offers students a lot of hands-on and vast experience of many skills that have to do with fisheries, such as another AFS class where students can learn how to scuba dive.