Captain course benefits

Your issue was commenting on Facebook.

 

Addition training /education is seldom a bad thing. That said, my sone took a class to get his OUPV launch license, which I think is the same as the 6 pack. He said a lot of it was overkill, for him anyway.

 

I agree that additional training is never a bad thing. As a corporate pilot we train every 6 months at FlightSafety practicing all types of mechanical failures and emergencies. I can honestly say that the few times flying that I had a mechanical issue it popped in my mind, oh we did this in the simulator! I still have the course manual and tend to read thru things over the winter so come launch time I feel ready to be back on the water.

 

For those who have completed a captains course - any impact on insurance?

 

I have a 100T Master license, but I use it quite often moving peoples boats around for hire.

Personally, I receive about $60.00 off of my boat insurance through Chubb for having such license....hardly worth it for insurance savings alone.

 

The biggest thing I found to be the most useful is the buoy's and knowing what to look for when the red/green swap or the primary channel splits. For you I would think knowing the tug boat/barge lights would be paramount. Those things can be studied for without the license and is something every boater should be required to know. That power squadron course is very limited in what they teach about that stuff. And while it touches on port and starboard lights and channel markers, it doesn't go into the depth's of what is really needed if you boat around those area's.

As for the insurance benefit, there isn't much if any. They tend to give you that discount if you've been boating for a long time.

But it is required to charter/transport/move boats around for hire. But other then that it isn't of much use for the average boater.

 

Not in my case... but that was because the insurance companies said I had already max'd out their experience discounts.

-Chris

 

Pretty much agree. I have OUPV. No insurance benefit because they basically said they are as low as they can go. Also unless you captain regularly, as a recreational boater you’ll pretty much forget everything in short order and have to look stuff up when you need it, anyway.

 

When I went from a 30' to the present 51' vessel I thought it was time to up my game. I had been boating for over 30 years and was amazed how much I didn't know. With bigger boats comes bigger responsibility and I have not regretted it for a moment.

 

I’m thinking about going for a 6 pack license, but also having trouble justifying it for personal use.

 

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Plotting is probably one of the biggest things, with our electronic chart plotters we push buttons and move on, in class it's all on paper with protractors and equations, but really it's overall knowledge sitting in a classroom and being tested with this new information.

 

To Marks point, you learn how to use tides and time(sog) to plot a course by time of day etc. The older course also used a sextant but I don't think that is still used today. The plotting of a course is pretty extensive and the formula's to calculate it.

But you'll never use it in today's world of backup's for the backup.

 

I am in the middle of learning/testing. Learning a bunch. Learning that I am old and memorization is tougher than it used to be. All the lights and sounds to memorize is killing me!

 

That was a lot of fun to learn in class and to get tested on. Also the first thing I forgot a short while later. I have 6 devices on board all with Navigation apps of some kind. Plus I travel the same routes over and over and know exactly where to be in the water. Very fun stuff to do, but not too useful for localized recreational boaters.

I took the Sea School course. As an analytical I was full of in depth questions about the foundation of the material. Their teaching model was to get you to pass the test. Lots of practice test questions over and over. I didn’t get many, if any answers to my in depth questions. That was a bit disappointing.

 

Brad - You may want to double check that. We don’t accept a 6 pack to drive our launch at our club, they must have gone through the tender operator class and licensing. This is a class for a limited area (harbor only). I’m not an expert here but looked this up at one time somewhere.

 

https://www.dco.uscg.mil/nmc/charte...Operator of Uninspected,Not More Than 100 GRT

OUPV (6-pack)
National Operator of Uninspected Passenger Vessel (OUPV) of Less Than 100 GRT

This officer endorsement is most appropriate for uninspected passenger vessels which by law are limited to six or less passengers for hire. These are usually smaller vessels and normally engage in charter fishing, whale watching, SCUBA diving, and tour cruises.

OUPV Near Coastal endorsements may be limited to 100 miles offshore, Inland or Great Lakes in accordance with 46 CFR 11.467 and the service provided. No OUPV endorsement is valid for International voyages.

According 46 CFR 11.201 (d): No officer endorsement may be issued to any person who is not a citizen of the United States with the exception of operators of uninspected passenger vessels that are not documented under the laws of the United States.

To see step-by-step instructions on how to apply, please visit our Application Process page.

 

The OUPV is also known as a 6-pack license is more then what is needed to operate a launch. The course you speak of is a limited shortened course of the 6-pack license. Your club should educate themselves on the USCG licensing program(s). The OUPV is the first step towards a masters license. The launch license is not.

 

The marina told him which class they wanted him to take and we checked before he took it. I’m reasonably certain he got the right one. I’m recall there was stuff in it about operating a tender, but also a bunch of stuff that was way out of scope for running an 18 ft Boston Whaler launch. I thought the class was called OUPV but could be wrong.

This is him on the first day as a launch driver, and with his first customer. He’s still working on the full launch operator license - the hours requirements are crazy.