| I got my licence to operate uninspected vessels (your basic take
6 passengers on a vessel that is not required to be inspected by
the coast guard) in 1985. At that time I was thinking about doing
yacht deliveries for a living but that never came to pass. Now
I find it comforting since many friends that come sailing bring
food and beverage which according to the courts can be considered
payment for the day of sail, having a licence to carry passengers
protects me from potential problems.
I had a month to prepare for the exam so the pressure was great.
I decided to take a course to help me prepare for the exam and found
that that was the most useful for learning what to expect - how
the questions were phrased, what would be covered, etc. We did
a lot of work with the Navigational Rules of the Road which I had
to practically memorize in order to answer some of the questions.
That portion of the exam has to be 90% correct and was probably
the most difficult so plan to spend a lot of time studying that
publication (I don't recall the publication numbers but it is available
at most marine stores like Boat US). We practiced our navigational
skills using set and drift and loran and the exam will have you
plot a course in unfamiliar waters. I studied the book "Weather
for the Mariner" an excellent text and found that part of the test
rather difficult, I definitely need more work in that area even
today. There was a long "miscellaneous" test that covered Chapman's
text almost word for word and had some pretty foolish questions
like which doesn't belong in this list: faking, flaking, flemishing,
and something else; which is the most important line used in docking,
bow line, stern line, spring line, brest line. There was a section
on polution that was open book but if I hadn't seen the text before
that could have been a problem. Each section of the exam was timed,
I don't remember exactly how many sections there were, I believe
that there were fewer sections than for the 100 ton license mentioned
in a prior note.
When I took the exam only 360 days of boating time were required,
720 for the more advanced licenses. This too may have changed.
The interesting thing here is that the coast guard at that time
did not have a definition for "day". I had lots of 24 hour sailing
and very little 4-8 hour "days" but to the coast guard both were
the same. I made a list of all my trips and all the days sailing
at the Boston Sailing Center and had the owner of the boat I sailed
and the owner of the sailing center sign letters verifying that
I had done what I claimed.
I just called the coast guard office in Boston - 565-9040 to get
information on renewing my license. I suggest as note .1 did, call
to get the facts. Also, there are study guides at various marine
stores and doing practice problems really helped me. I was one
of two people in our class that passed the first time around! What
a thrill that was.
Pam Rickard
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| RE: -.1,
>>> My first thought was to go for the 6 pack but I hear that I should try
>>> to get licensed for something better.
The "six-pack" is very restricted -- often to a given short route or just
a certain harbor or even anchorage. The documented service requirements
are much less, but it doesn't do much good if you ever want to carry
passengers for hire, *unless*...
(It used to be, at least:) If you want to carry 6 or less passengers for
hire on an *uninspected* vessel, a six-pack gave you some coverage. Since
my own license was 100-ton, I never bothered to investigate that fully.
Some elements of the six-pack and any larger license are exactly the same:
Rules of the Road (90% correct required) and perhaps some other parts,
such as first aid and basic seamanship. Ask the USCG Marine Safety Office
(MSO) in Boston (440 Commercial St, I recall) for info.
>>> What should I be studying?
Rules of the road, backwards, forwards, everything. Expect dayshape and
light questions on every description of barge and tow, how suction dredges
are lit at night, what seaplane or submarine must show, everything. Also,
they are no longer tending to show lights just in a broadside or
straight-on (forward or backwards) view; some are angled, which is, of
course, the way we spend most of of our time actually viewing them. If
you don't get 90% (out of 20 or 40 questions), you stop right there and
don't hang around for the rest of the testing. After 30 days you can make
another appointment and try again, from the top.
Larger license topics: Engine operation and safety (if you go for aux
sail as opposed to just sail; aux sail is good for power as well as sail
only and combined), safety equipment (detailed knowledge of amount, type
and location for the class license you're going for), navigation aids,
weather, fuel handling and safety, chart problem(s), first aid,
signalling, etc, etc.
Also, you may have to take a local knowledge exam, based upon where your
documented crewing experience was. They used to vary greatly: Boston was
easy (look it up in the Coast Pilot and light list), Portland was a bear
(from memory describe in detail all the hazards, marks and lights entering
Frenchman's Bay...) and Miami was in-between (know eight the major reef
lights and the cuts through the Keys.) Rumor has it that a) it's more
consistent among all offices these days, b) each office will now license
coverage *only* in the waters of that district, or the part of that
district your time is documented in, and c) it's fairly easy, being more
along the lines of using gov't-published documentation.
The USCG info packet will talk about all the parts of the test. Plan to
spend a full day for license exams if you take more than the six-pack.
The best and easiest place to start is with a current edition of
Chapman's. It will have lights, and by studying the other things in
there, you can be fully enough prepared. That's what I did (to augment a
lifetime of small boat experience, mostly under sail), and passed first
time out.
If you want the best and most efficient preparation, and are willing to
pay a few hundred bucks, respond to one of the Houston Marine ads.
They're in New Orleans, and do a big business in prepping crew boat and
oil rig tender crews. They are state-of-the-art, and recently were
commissioned by the USCG to put all the actual exam questions on-line. So
they have all the actual questions! (This means you can prep for perhaps
5000 questions, 10% of which you might encounter in the exam versions you
get.)
>>> What is the copmlexity of the exam?
The complexity isn't the killer. Partly it's just remembering the USCG
perspective on a massive amount of info. And partly it's trying to
interpret some of the questions, which when I took it must have been
handed to a baboon to be rendered into semi-literate form. I found much
ambiguity in some of the questions, and at the time the officers
proctoring the exam were of little or no assistance (or understanding.)
The good news: it's cheap. I don't recall paying anything to get
licensed, other than for some good strong coffee for the several nights
beforehand. And hung on your bulkhead, that document is one you will be
very proud of. It may also help generate an attitude of mutual respect
during courtesy inspections, as well as making insurance agents smile and
charterers undeniably eager to put their boat in your hands!
J.
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| This is an old topic, but I have a new question. Assuming there
is no commercial operation involved, nobody is being paid, etc,
just a bunch of people out together on a cruise, of varied talents
to do all the work, what limit, if any, is there on how big of a
boat you can operate *without* a USCG license?
As an extreme case, could a bunch of (very) rich people with
coincidentally the correct set of skills and experience, *legally*
sail the QE-II around the world?
|