SUCCESS!!

MY ALMA MATER

After 9 consecutive days of intense Sea School, I went to Tampa on Wednesday to take the U.S. Coast Guard Test for OUPV (operator of Uninspected Passenger Vehicle - also known as the 6-pack Captain's license).

I'll say up front, that this course and the test were much more involved that I had anticipated that they would be when I signed up. I was thinking that if you've spent a reasonable amount of time in charge of a boat in a lot of different places AND you have a thirst for general knowledge of the same - it wouldn't take that much to pass the test. I was right AND I was wrong.

The test consists of 4 parts (5 parts if you want to add "towing assist" - which I did). The parts include "charting" - which I happen to be very good at and after going through Sea School - I'm very confident with my skills in this area. Here's a question from the test:

At 1240, your loran set indicates a postion of LAT 36 55.2N, LON 75 33.1W You are on a course 281deg per magnetic compass at 9.0 knots. At 1320, your position is LAT 36 54.8N LON 75 39.8W. What were the set and drift?

They give you a chart for the area covered by these positions and you have to figure it out. It's not hard - but it is quite involved.

Also, you're tested for Navigation knowledge. This tests areas like knowing what the bouy's and day markers all mean - from the numbers - to the letters - to the colors and the lights. These also are not hard - they just require lots of memorizing shapes, colors and such. Here's an example of a Navigation General test question:

You are outbound in a bouyed channel on course 015T. You sight a white liight showing Morse(A) characteristic bearing 359 relative. For safety, you should
A.....change course to 359T to pass near to the bouy
B.....stay in the channel and leave the bouy to port
C.....alter course to 000T and leave the bouy well clear to starboard
D.....check the chart to see where the marked danger lies in relation to the bouy


Then there is Deck General section. It encompasses everything from how to tie knots, how to use the radio, firefighting, how to tie up to a dock, how to anchor in a lot of situations and such.
Here's and example of a question from the Deck General Test.

In the machinery space of all uninspected motor vessels, there must be one type B-II hand portable fire extenguisher for every
A...500 SHP of the main engines
B...1000 SHP of the main engines
C...500 BHP of the main engines
D...1000 BHP of the main engines.

THEN, there's the Rule of the Road part of the test and it's the real doozy. It's the one that trips up more people than anything else (with charting being a close second). Not only is it hard to learn - but you have to make 90% to pass!! It involves your actions when you encounter basically every situation on the water - in 3 separate areas = international (in the ocean), inland (such as navigatable lakes, sounds, bays and such) and Western Rivers (the Mississippi and it's tributaries). Here's a sample of a question from that part:

INLAND You are aboard the stand-on vessel in a crossing situation. You sound a one blast whistle signal. The give-way vessel answers with a two blast signal. You should sound the danger signal and
A...maintain course and speed as you are the stand-on vessel
B...come around sharply to port
C...take precautionary action until a safe passing agreement is made
D... manuever around the stem of the other vessel.

Of course, none of these questions are insurmountable alone, but studying for all the possible answers for all possible questions is overwhelming. Anyway, I passed with a high scores (98% on nav general) and then I got fingerprinted and took the Oath. Now, I just have to spend about 2-3 weeks getting my mountain of paperwork in order to submit to the Coast Guard for issuance of the license.