Is there a trick here I am missing? Pass the fishing boat, make sure they don’t suddenly start moving, and then turn starboard until the other ship is fine off the port bow. They will be widening the gap as they go and all should go well.
This assumes the person involved can reliably change headings and steady up on a new one.
In that sketch the requirement is as soon as clear of the F/V to have own ship show the CBDR ship a red running light. But that concept has no meaning to many inexperienced deck officers. They instead perceive the situation in terms of numbers; bearing, range, minimum required CPA, TCPA etc. Makes the workload higher then waiting till abeam the F/V then simply pointing own ship’s bow at the stern of the other vessel.
Once the new deck officer become as confident in their visual skill as they are in their ARPA skills their mindset changes and there will be a big boost in their overall confidence.
It’s not the fault of the junior OOW, it’s how they are trained and then how they are treated in the wheelhouse early in their career.
Edit: The OOW also has to be comfortable making turns with helm commands rather giving the helmsman courses.
I had a Master early in my time on tankers that if the weather was good and the traffic not crazy, would hand us a hand held radio and tell us to spend the rest of the watch on the bridge wing. He would hang out on the bridge and do paper work -
It was very good training - you get to be a much better lookout without the radar.
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A post was split to a new topic: When the technology crutch is kicked