boat driving job.

S

starcrafttom

Active member
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Relief Captain Needed
Deception Pass Tours is hiring a relief Captain for their 36 passenger aluminum jet catamaran- the Island Whaler. The relief Captain will work approximately (2) days per week (flexible) from now until October. The 2009 Season starts up again in March. Anyone interested should call 360-333-3159 to speak with Brett.

Sincerely,

Captain Brett Ginther
Owner
Deception Pass Tours
PO Box 72
Anacortes, WA 98221
360-914-0096


p.s. you need a 50 ton Rate.
 
Hmmm... maybe I should... nahhhhhhhhhhh.

Hi Tom,

To get a 50 ton Master license, you need to have 720 days of sea time logged, and pass the various Coast Guard tests. I'm thinking there were 6 or 7 tests. You will have to have a background check, be fingerprinted at a CG Regional Exam Center, submit 3 references, get a drug screen, a physical, and have a current CPR certification. Beginning in September, you will also have to have a TWIC (transportation workers identification credential) card. The tests are pretty comprehensive, including Rules of the Road, safety, navigation (including plotting), seamanship, and I'm probably leaving something out.

Then submit the paper work to the USCG and expect it to take 6 weeks or so to go through their bureaucracy.

Here's a link:

http://www.uscg.mil/STCW/cb-capt.htm

If you decide to go the captains school route, there are plenty to pick from. Some offer night classes, others require you to attend all day. To go through the OUPV and Master, I would think you are going to spend somewhere around 3 weeks minimum, attending full time. That's a LOT to absorb in that short time. Some of the schools "guarantee" you'll pass (you get to keep taking the course over until you pass or bail).

HTH

Best wishes,
Jim
 
JamesTXSD":14rbe33e said:
To get a 50 ton Master license, you need to have...
Click to expand...
Wow.

My girls are 14 and 11, so it's going to be 8 years before I have time to start getting ready. So go ahead, Tom, you can have the job.
 
You can also check your local college for boating courses. Especially in the Pacific Northwest, I would expect.

JT :D
 
I suspect there are a lot of guys in town with a 50-ton license so the job should get filled soon.

I don't know if it was this particular business or boat, but there was a similar business taking people through Deception Pass which also used to be part of a whale watching outfit. One day the captain ran the boat aground on some rocks in Canoe Pass (very well known hazzard, part of Deception Pass.) In short order they went out of business and the whale watching was absorbed by the other whale watching company in town (I think.) At any rate, we had our own Captain Joseph Hazelwood incident here, but thankfully without the accompanying environmental disaster.

Almost as much fun as the private plane that landed in Burrows Bay after missing the runway at the Anacortes airport.

Warren
 
DaveS":nk6rqz5b said:
Doryman":nk6rqz5b said:
At any rate, we had our own Captain Joseph Hazelwood incident here
Warren
Click to expand...

Yes, but in Hazelwood's incident he thought he heard "Bud Light" instead of "hard right".
Click to expand...

Although a tragic accident that I wish put Exxon out of business that is one damn funny line. Ha ha! I have never heard that. Classic....

If one does want to pursue their Captains license, the easy way is definitely through Sea School or such. I did mine through self study and taking the tests at USCG MSO Boston. It was the most difficult academic endeavor I have ever done. Way more difficult than a Private Pilot's license, BS or MS degree, etc. The same test is given to ocean crossing tanker Captains, with a few minor exceptions, the primary difference is the number of questions for each section. Sea School is a crash course on how to pass the test quickly and I think around $1000.

Your license issued will depend upon your Sea Service Time.
 
There was a special on Public TV awhile back regarding the numerous major disastors in which sleep deprivation (lack of sleep and/or disturbed sleep) in which they cited the Exon incident and Chernoble (sp) and 3 Mile Island as incidents in which the major cause was lack of sleep. I know alcohol was involved also, but the program cited sleep problems as the major problem...

They said most major disastors and/or lack of adequate rapid response to disastors was due to sleep deprivation.

John
 
Captain Matt has it right. I went through Sea School in Vancouver years ago and it is definitely one tough, compressed curriculum. You better be one good student or plan on taking the test a whole lot of times.
 
Capt Matt is spot on! I taught at one of the schools in a former life -- much material to cover in a short period and the exams used to be very tough. Long hours, much sweat.

Dusty
Unlimited tonnage ocean master (ex)
 
matt_unique":266sx8aw said:
DaveS":266sx8aw said:
Doryman":266sx8aw said:
At any rate, we had our own Captain Joseph Hazelwood incident here
Warren
Click to expand...

Yes, but in Hazelwood's incident he thought he heard "Bud Light" instead of "hard right".
Click to expand...


If one does want to pursue their Captains license, the easy way is definitely through Sea School or such. I did mine through self study and taking the tests at USCG MSO Boston. It was the most difficult academic endeavor I have ever done. Way more difficult than a Private Pilot's license, BS or MS degree, etc. The same test is given to ocean crossing tanker Captains, with a few minor exceptions, the primary difference is the number of questions for each section. Sea School is a crash course on how to pass the test quickly and I think around $1000.

Your license issued will depend upon your Sea Service Time.
Click to expand...

Everyone is different. I did not find it all that difficult. No more difficult a getting my Private Pilot's license. And certainly easier than getting my MS.

History: I just renewed for the third time so I've had mine 20 years. I wanted to buy this 26ft SHAMROCK that was way over our price range at the time. I talked the wife into it by telling her how I could charter it and it would pay for itself. ( She can be gullible). I needed the Captains license. I was going to just go for the 6 pack. There were no schools in the area at that time but there was a guy that taught the course twice a year at the YMCA. So I called him and ask when he would be doing the course again. After about a 30 min conversation his comment was "I'd like to take your money but from talking to you I think you could pass the test without the course." His suggestion was to go take the test and see how I did (he also suggested that I go for the master). It consisted of about five or six individual tests. If you passed some and not others you would only have to retake the ones you did not pass. At that time, it did not cost anything to take the test. ( You actually got something for your tax dollar).

I spent two days reading through the CHAPMAN's small boat handling book. The hardest thing for me was all the lights and day shape combinations. I went to New Orleans and took the test. I passed all but one section. That was the navigation part. I didn't pass that because that was the last one they gave me and I ran out of time before they closed for the day and I ended up just guessing at the last five questions. Even at that I only missed one too many for passing. I spent the night in New Orleans and retook that test the next day and left there with a 50 ton Masters in hand.

Prior to this I had no extraordinary experience. I had owned boats from 16ft power to a 37ft sailboat. I had only navigated in the bay, ICW and into the Gulf of Mexico up to about 20 miles offshore. I never worked on any commercial boat. I had done a bareboat charter of a 42ft sailboat in the Virgin Islands for a week.

Now, I was a bit younger then and the brain worked better. I'll never let this thing expire because I don't know if I could pass it all again. I don't want to have to find out.

Anyway, I just wanted to pass along another point of view so as to not scare everyone away who might think they want to join the glamorous ranks of a Coast Guard certified MASTER. By the way I did end up chartering that Shamrock. It even paid for itself and I up that to a 40ft 22 passenger that I chartered that for about 8 years and actually made a few dollars. A friend of mine has a small tug boat and barge that I have run a few times.

Roger
 
Master's licenses are issued in 5 year increments so you must be on your 4th issue.

Well that is something Roger. Either the test was different back then or you are one smart individual! I had been on boats for 25 years when I began the process of studying, and what I knew was about 10% of what you needed to know to pass the exam. You must score a 96 or better on the Rules of the Road portion and that is pure memorization though 50 questions. The other sections have minimum scores as well.

There is just a TON of material to understand. The different light configurations for subs, fishing vessels (more than one type), tugs, barges, bridges, locks (several types), pilot boats, vessels greater than 50m in length, etc., etc., etc. The 20 or so primary structural components on tanker ships by name and position, the names of the dozen or so block and tackle configurations and whether they are rove to advantage or disadvantage by name, firefighting techniques and chemicals, cargo loading and weight, balance, and C.O.G calculations, all the clouds identified by altitude and shape, all the planetary winds and their position relative to latitude, all the types of fog and how they are formed, all possible navigation questions and techniques including visual range calculations, non-tidal current calculations, loran calculations, all types of ships systems and navigation systems, how to maneuver in heavy weather, determining the relative direction of hurricanes and the best way to navigate through them if you must, the 25 or so knots and their uses by name or picture, and last but not least....CFR (law) reference questions. These were just a few things off the top of my head. I could go on and on but there are some things that are really detailed and obscure.

There were 4 tests and my total test taking time was about 6 hours. I was not the last person to leave the room. In fact I think I was among the first few to finish. It is simply impossible a person would know all this material from recreational boating experience. I already had my Private Pilot's license when I began the process and these exams were just a completely different paradigm in terms of the amount and difficulty of the material.
 
For those of you in the Pacific NW, Captain Richard Rodriguez, who runs a Vessel Assist boat out of Friday Harbor, is USCG approved instructor for Master's (Captain) licensing.

He also maintains an informative blog, The Bitter End, about his vessel assist activities and other relevant maritime topics.

http://captrichardrodriguez.blogspot.com/.

Cheers,

Bruce
 
Someone get Dusty to tell how he got his non-restricted license, when and why. It will make all of us proud of him. He will not brag. Zelpha
 
Back
Top