Master Limited 60 ton

Well, I got it - they even do it up for you while you´re standing there so you don´t need to wait for the mail. I am now a certified Master for vessels up to 60 tons with passengers in local waters... now, if only I had a Boat ;)

Seriously though, the exam went well - but he did make it challenging. About 75% of the exam was COLREGS - which was expected to some extent. He didn´t ask anything on chartwork which surprised me a bit. I had to identify About 10 night-nav-light configurations from flash cards and use models on the desk to cover the basic head-on, overtaking, and crossing situations. There were also models of the buoys that I had to identify and describe the correct action.

That was the easy part.

The tricky part of the exam was the rapid action seamanship part - he would describe a situation like: "You are About 2 miles from shore and discover you have an engine room fire - you have 18 passengers Aboard and no fire suppression system in the engine room - what are your actions?" and then he leans Forward an looks at you...

These were a bit intimidating but they are not mean About it - and if you don´t understand the described situation they will give a bit more info until you do - for example he gave me "You are proceeding down a river and feel a vibration then your Boat stops and starts to list" when he said ´stops´ I thought he meant the propulsion - so started describing a potentially damaged/lost prop shaft and taking on water through the stuff-box - but what he meant was that we had run Aground. He just explained it again and we both laughed.

I had heard from others that I should bring all the books and instruments I would normally have on the Bridge - in case they asked - I did this, but it never came up.

The whole exam took About 35-40 mins and would have just been myself and the examiner except he was training someone else and so there was an observer present as well.

Seeing as this little adventure is finally complete - there are five people I really need to thank and I´m going to do it here:

Martyn Clark - http://www.salts.ca for all his help and study materials and especially for encouraging me to go for this in the first place.
Sid Quinn - http://www.fishingsechelt.com for lending me his study notes, advice, and encouragement.
Les Fowler - http://www.nordicpride.com for even more invaluable advice and encouragement.
Walter McFee - who, having recently completed his 60tn ticket, provided invaluable insight.

and most importantly:
Kellei Bulmer - http://www.natureescapes.ca (shamless plug for her business) the love of my life - for helping me study and putting up with me while I did.


As promised before - I have started a page that outlines the 60 ton certification process and will include all my study notes etc - you can see that here: Master Limited 60 ton

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