Where might I find printable copies or reasonably priced copies of pilotage chart sketch blanks for, say, New York Harbor area and surrounding areas? It seems that RITI is one source, but are there others? A brief, although not very thorough, search of the forums didn’t yield many leads. This is for my own personal interest not for an exam. ~Thanks in advance.
Traditionally you had to make them yourself, the Riti ones are a “new” concept. I reckon the REC’s sometimes have their own that maybe you could get.
IMHO, I sat for my pilotage a long time ago. I would make my own tracing for the exam and present it when I arrived for the test. It was inspected for pin holes and any improper “tells”. The NY REC used to provide some really poor chart tracings and they were frequently off scale and distorted. Your marks would almost have to be perfect to fit. Do your own tracing and save yourself from working on an unfamiliar format.
Boy do I know distorted! I traced my own and got 15 copies made later on I realized things were about an 1/8th inch off . I tried kinkos, office max even Florida blue print and they were all distorted from my originals. Pita. I guess you could trace yourself enough to study with. I’m going to sit for mine Aug 1st and I figured drawing it 12 times I should be able to get it done . Good luck I know Riitis stuff comes out precise but its expensive
[QUOTE=subatomicstang;114533]Boy do I know distorted! I traced my own and got 15 copies made later on I realized things were about an 1/8th inch off . I tried kinkos, office max even Florida blue print and they were all distorted from my originals. Pita. I guess you could trace yourself enough to study with. I’m going to sit for mine Aug 1st and I figured drawing it 12 times I should be able to get it done . Good luck I know Riitis stuff comes out precise but its expensive[/QUOTE]
I taped the chart to the sliding glass windows and made my tracing and checked my work by holding the tracing up on the chart. Hard on the arms if your doing very many charts. An acquaintance of mine built a home-made light table out of glass, plywood and a light bulb. That seemed to be working for him.
RITI, RITI, RITI.
While perfect doesn’t exist - RITI is MORE than equal to the task.
I have ordered from them twice. They WILL work with you to give you what yer looking for.
Yeah, it ain’t cheap but you get what you pay for. www.riti.com
I couldn’t recommend them highly enough
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[QUOTE=subatomicstang;114533] I’m going to sit for mine Aug 1st and I figured drawing it 12 times I should be able to get it done .[/QUOTE]
12? WOW.
I drew mine once to confirm my data points and then studied those. Luck will be unnecessary - you should CRUSH it.
I must be using a different method . I’m just basically drawing the aids by hand with no method other than visual reference in relation to a grid. Tabulations depths etc are just memorized data I’ll lay on at the end. Your way would’ve cost slot less $$ lol
I wish I had done all this while I still had recency. Not like I plan on every working the Delaware river again but you never know.
Yeah I am just about comfortable with my trips over 1,600 to apply for my first route, should be interesting. I’d hate to have to rack it up again. How have people submitted trips recently;I cannot see the Nmc being satisfied with what the REC’s give out as a form.
[QUOTE=“z-drive;114684”]Yeah I am just about comfortable with my trips over 1,600 to apply for my first route, should be interesting. I’d hate to have to rack it up again. How have people submitted trips recently;I cannot see the Nmc being satisfied with what the REC’s give out as a form.[/QUOTE]
I think pilotage evaluations are still handled locally by the REC. I could be wrong, but I don’t think the NMC gets involved.
Let’s hope not. I have maintained a really neat and detailed spreadsheet of everything, but time can only tell.
[QUOTE=“z-drive;114699”]
Let’s hope not. I have maintained a really neat and detailed spreadsheet of everything, but time can only tell.[/QUOTE]
Also, I know for certain that different RECs have their own specific trip forms for their own region. The LA/LB REC is a lot picky than some others about documenting your trips their way.
In New York Harbor NOAA produced chartlets at least 10-15 years ago. If you know anyone that has drawn pilotage in New York in the last 10 years, I’m sure they have a couple old ones laying around. I would guess by this day and age they must be on PDF. If you contact the local New York NOAA office maybe they could help you.
I’ve been to the NY REC and they will not let you take any. They have them for you to test on but see previous posts regarding that.
If you buy them from RITI and take them to a print shop to be duplicated then you can draw as much as you want without taking out a new mortgage. PM me if you do that 
I have all the NY harbor NOAA chart let’s on PDF. Give me your email and I will send you what you need.
[QUOTE=fullbell;114696]I think pilotage evaluations are still handled locally by the REC. I could be wrong, but I don’t think the NMC gets involved.[/QUOTE]
Just to follow up, I recently applied for pilotage over a particular route. For anyone who’s going to do so, here is my experience so far:
I emailed my application, about 25 pages, to the REC. Done myself, no consultant, although they are absolutely worth the $ in most cases. (obviously it seems that it needs to be the REC where the route is located, OMCI zone i think?) They more or less went through it with a fine-toothed comb and called me to verify that what I wanted to apply for is the same as what they understood, as wording of the route itself has to be spot-on I guess. Everything seems to be all set. It had been nearly two weeks from submission by e-mail to get to this point, so if you don’t see that its been transferred down to WV within a few days its because the REC is handling it. I am guessing it will still go to the NMC for safety/suitability/medical next, but the PQEB seems to be handled locally.
I’ll update this again, as information was very hard to come by and I didn’t want to pester the pilots with questions who’s answers may have changed since they went through it decades ago. If anyone from the tug/barge world is looking to document trips, or put their trips into a handy format I’d be willing to share my format.
Hey, just reviewing my old posts. I’d certainly be interested to see what you have formatted for recording trips. I have notebook I’ve been keeping for years but electronic would be much easier, i’m sure.
http://www.seapa.com/application/FirstClassPilotPackage.pdf
Trip sheet is around page 20. If that was what you are asking. Not your area of course, but an example of what I use.
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That’s great! Thank you very much!