The Pilotage Paradigm Mike Schuler Total Views: 129 October 20, 2009 The following has been submitted by Paul Drouin of Safeship.ca and is a shortened version of the article that was published in the October 2009 edition of Seaways Magazine.  Click the link below to download the full version of the article. The Pilotage Paradigm: The need for a paradigm shift by Captain Paul Drouin and Captain Robin Heath The long sea voyage is over and the pilot has boarded for the next phase of the trip. Soon after arriving in the wheelhouse a short conversation between the master and the pilot takes place – the pilot card is exchanged and the discussion ends quickly as the pilot looks up and gives the next course to steer. The helmsman responds and the voyage under pilotage has begun. There is a sense of relief – the pilot has the con and finally the officer of the watch and master can relax and, quite possibly, get some other pressing work done before arriving at port. If this scenario sounds familiar to many, it is only because it happens so often on so many vessels in so many parts of the world. Whether arriving or leaving, discussions are frequently rudimentary, often limited to the ship’s manoeuvring characteristics and the odd snippet of sundry information. And regardless of whether a vessel passage plan has been prepared ahead of time, the pilot has a plan – and he or she intends to follow it. All the best bridge resource management (BRM) theories and principles, dutifully absorbed in training by the pilot, master and watchkeeper, have been sealed away more hermetically than King Tut’s mummy within its sarcophagus. This practice, which we call the pilotage paradigm (a paradigm being a model or standard pattern), takes place in almost every corner of the globe. The shift from the present paradigm – that is, the pilot working alone, giving helm or course orders with the plan in his/her head, while the crew takes a passive role, not knowing the plan and yet trying to ens