By Sean Bunting, Bravo Team Instructor

You get to a certain point in an undertaking where things start to get easier. Bravo Team, as a crew, has definitely put the work in and has gotten through the initial learning curve with gusto. Taking the boat out is starting to become routine and automatic. Confidence from the students is increasing. I think we’re out of the first act of the movie, where the heroes are reluctant and aren’t sure of their calling, and into the second, where they’ve accepted their challenge (as exciting as Bravo Team is, I think we’re unlikely to see a climactic superhero battle).

Mastering these basics means that we’re ready to start tackling more technical challenges and longer trips. Maybe a quick sprint to Rat Island and back, or a beach landing with an exploration ashore? We’ll see where the next month takes us!

The students are definitely eager for this too, and as instructors, it’s always amazing to see a group of learners chomping at the bit for more. We’ve started playing hardball a little bit and leaving the team to find the answers to questions on their own. It’s giving them a bunch more agency and confidence when they realize that they can figure it out!

February has treated us well so far with a return home to the Maritime Center and Point Hudson Marina. The Bosun’s Locker, the nerve center of Bravo Team, has welcomed us back and is once again flooded with student activity. It feels good to be home and the students who have been coming back to Bravo Team year after year are especially glad to be back in the familiar vaulted rooms of the Maritime Center.