Don’t be that guy. Day one on the boat and already asking about getting in the wheelhouse. Show up, bust ass, stay out of the inevitable boat drama and opportunity will appear…bank on it.
It’s great to be motivated to advance, but be focused on doing your best in the capacity you currently occupy as well.
[QUOTE=Rebel_Rider1969;76287]Crap! Now what?[/QUOTE]
Don’t worry about it.
If I had a buck or two for every time “that guy” came on board. I would be able to treat to the whole crew to nice steak at some fancy steakhouse and leave the waitress a 25% tip.
Wrong. Moran has a good many tugs over 200gt, Mac has a handful as well.
[QUOTE=tugboatchief;76300]If I had a buck or two for every time “that guy” came on board. I would be able to treat to the whole crew to nice steak at some fancy steakhouse and leave the waitress a 25% tip.[/QUOTE]
That’s why I’m asking now, so I’m “not” that guy when I arrive on board. :~) When I get there, I’ll keep my head down and my eyes and ears open.
[QUOTE=Rebel_Rider1969;76347]That’s why I’m asking now, so I’m “not” that guy when I arrive on board. :~) When I get there, I’ll keep my head down and my eyes and ears open.[/QUOTE]
REPLY: As I recall the Louisiana oil patch expression is: “Head down and ass up.”
Radio officer is not needed but you will be required to have an fcc marine radio operator permit and if you are on a gmdss equipped boat you will be required to have a gmdss license from the fcc as well. (When you are mate.)
By the way, you have enough sea time now to get a 500 ton near coastal mate and an osv mate 3000…
Hey rebel so you got on at HOS on the TUGS?and which one?
Their is a few tug over 200 in NY harbor I believe HOS has about four of them.
I have worked on a few tugs that were 299 tons. They were all older single screw boats. I believe that some of the new boats are also over 200 tons and have I.T.C. tonnage of about 495. The USCG give seatime credit at the I.T.C. tonnage.
495 gt (itc) is counted as time under 200 grt.
[QUOTE=Capt. Phoenix;76524]495 gt (itc) is counted as time under 200 grt.[/QUOTE]
Shoot!
Always someting.
As far as I can tell after 90 days as AB(no tonnage specified) I’m able to test for 500-Ton OSV Mate. After a few hitches, I’ll contact one of the licensing pros spend some coin and see.
Searching I found a guy who had just taken it and was offering to send the training modules for free. Hope he does.(it was a post form 2011)
Is there a school that meets the USCG requirements and testing??? or are the schools just primers for the testing??
I believe that the ‘in school’ testing only applies to ‘less than 200 GT’ licenses. And AB, PIC, and lesser endorsements.
Lots of schools around are certified for you to test at. Google. Here’s a couple names to get started with.
SeaSchool. Fletcher. Chesapeake Marine Training Institute. Star Institute. MITAGS. Northeast Maritime.
I personally recommend CMTI. Been there. Very good. No BS. And it is sort of remote, so you don’t get distracted by outside crap.
[QUOTE=cappy208;76531]I believe that the ‘in school’ testing only applies to ‘less than 200 GT’ licenses. And AB, PIC, and lesser endorsements.
Lots of schools around are certified for you to test at. Google. Here’s a couple names to get started with.
SeaSchool. Fletcher. Chesapeake Marine Training Institute. Star Institute. MITAGS. Northeast Maritime.
I personally recommend CMTI. Been there. Very good. No BS. And it is sort of remote, so you don’t get distracted by outside crap.[/QUOTE]
I’ve been to Sea School in bayoo la batrie was there for ?+17 days to get the endorsments I have now. I liked it just fine. I stayed on “campus” and had no problems. I’ll prob go there if they have the classes/testing I need.
Thanks
I am not familiar with how your company does things. That said, most companies of that caliber (very good companies) either operate their own schools or send their crew to other license prep schools. Presumably, they’ll explain how they do things at your orientation or it will be in an employee handbook.
I have not seen your seatime and I don’t claim to know a lot about license requirements, but it appears to me that with 90 days of recency (maybe only 60 — 12 hour days) you can probably get at least Master 100 tons (maybe even 200) Oceans, and Mate 500 tons Oceans (without any OSV only restrictions) with the seatime that you already have. The OSV is a restriction, not extra authority —avoid OSV restrictions if possible.
The AB seatime that you are about to get will at least count toward your AB unlimited, and toward Mate 1600. You already have two thirds of the unlimited tonnage time that you will need for unlimited third mate, if it turns out that some of your future tug time does not count toward that, so what?
If whatever license prep your company provides seems too slow in coming for you, just go to one of the inexpensive schools in Louisiana on your time off and pay for it yourself. You can get the Master 200 tons Oceans through an exam right at the school without even having to test at the Coast Guard. The way most schools do it, you’ll take a one week course for Master 100, then another one week course for an upgrade to Master 200. The 500 ton mate course is probably just a couple of weeks. The celestial course is usually two to four weeks for the oceans endorsement.
If you prove yourself to be a good hand, and you can get the Master 200 ton license, I suspect that your company will probably fast track you for training and advancement after that.
Stop worrying about the tonnage of the tugs, tankerman endorsements, radio licenses, and all that other stuff. Its not important to you now. You will be getting tug seatime and once you have a Mate 500 ton license you can probably start working on your TOAR.
When you go to the licensing expert, he’ll probably tell you that I’m all wrong , and that you can get even more.
You are actually in an exceptionally good position for a guy just starting out in the industry. In fact, you should be worried that you may advance much faster than you really should.
He can actually start working on a today as soon as he is ready. There is no requirement for him to have a license first.
Go for every license possible. When you can get your 500 ton get your gimme OSV 3000 as well. Why not? Then when you upgrade to 1600 ton your 3000 ton if no longer restricted to OSVs. The money is on the OSVs anyway, not the tugs.
[QUOTE=tugsailor;76539]I am not familiar with how your company does things. That said, most companies of that caliber (very good companies) either operate their own schools or send their crew to other license prep schools. Presumably, they’ll explain how they do things at your orientation or it will be in an employee handbook.
I have not seen your seatime and I don’t claim to know a lot about license requirements, but it appears to me that with 90 days of recency (maybe only 60 — 12 hour days) you can probably get at least Master 100 tons (maybe even 200) Oceans, and Mate 500 tons Oceans (without any OSV only restrictions) with the seatime that you already have. The OSV is a restriction, not extra authority —avoid OSV restrictions if possible.
The AB seatime that you are about to get will at least count toward your AB unlimited, and toward Mate 1600. You already have two thirds of the unlimited tonnage time that you will need for unlimited third mate, if it turns out that some of your future tug time does not count toward that, so what?
If whatever license prep your company provides seems too slow in coming for you, just go to one of the inexpensive schools in Louisiana on your time off and pay for it yourself. You can get the Master 200 tons Oceans through an exam right at the school without even having to test at the Coast Guard. The way most schools do it, you’ll take a one week course for Master 100, then another one week course for an upgrade to Master 200. The 500 ton mate course is probably just a couple of weeks. The celestial course is usually two to four weeks for the oceans endorsement.
If you prove yourself to be a good hand, and you can get the Master 200 ton license, I suspect that your company will probably fast track you for training and advancement after that.
Stop worrying about the tonnage of the tugs, tankerman endorsements, radio licenses, and all that other stuff. Its not important to you now. You will be getting tug seatime and once you have a Mate 500 ton license you can probably start working on your TOAR.
When you go to the licensing expert, he’ll probably tell you that I’m all wrong , and that you can get even more.
You are actually in an exceptionally good position for a guy just starting out in the industry. In fact, you should be worried that you may advance much faster than you really should.[/QUOTE]
Ref above, That’s why I took the AB-Limited. I was told I could goto the 100 ton / 200 ton route. I CHOSE to take the AB instead then work up. I did not want to be a Paper Captian-dipshit. - or a guy that has a “200 ton license” that dosen’t know my butt from a hole in the ground. While at my AB,STCW,Lifeboatman school I sat in on the 100-200 ton classrooms looking at the work they were doing in the eve’s, guess what? it was stuff I had done before. :~) Later, after I have some recent real world exp. I’ll move up. So I won’t be a paper mate-dipshit. The exp. I get as an AB will pay off in the long run.
Also being I need 90 days(AB) to qual for the 500 mate it was the right choice(luckly) So now I have a path somewhat laid out, I just need to do the hard work (school,testing AND being a bang-up AB) to reach it. I was intrested in the engerneering side of things but based on this, looks like the deck is where I’m headed.
As Capt. Phoenix said: Get everything you can from the USCG as soon as you can. AB or master/mate is not an either or choice; you are entitled to get it all. And you should ASAP. I think that the only difference between the AB prep course and the Master 200 course is that you have to get 90% on both the rules of the road and the chart plot. Its no big deal or most us would not have been able to do it. Your former AB school may even give you a discount if you take the master/mate course within a year. Keep studying the rules of the road for a few minutes everyday (including the practice questions) until you know them by heart and you pass the test for your license.
Sailing AB is very poor preparation for the wheelhouse. We were all paper captains and mates when we got our licenses; you will be too. It doesn’t matter whether you get your license today or two years from now, you’ll still be a know-nothing paper captain or mate until you get a few months of time in the wheelhouse on your license. By the time you have your 90 days of recency so that you can sit for master/mate, you will have learned 50% of what you can sailing as AB. After you get your 200 ton Master/500 ton Mate, you will still be sailing as AB, but as an AB with a license they should start training you for the wheelhouse.
Another thing to remember is that seatime sailing as an AB while “holding” a license as master or mate is usually more valuable toward future upgrades. So its important to get the license ASAP.
While Capt. Phoenix is probably correct (as he usually is) that as far as the USCG is concerned you could technically start working on your TOAR now, I think it would be very foolish to suggest that to your new captain on your first day ever on a tugboat. As Rigdvr said: “Don’t be that guy.” Since you can get the license in 90 days, just wait until you have the license. Then the company will probably send you to one of their training captains (who is a DE) and give him instructions to train you for the wheelhouse, including the TOAR.
Just cool it for now and go do the AB job until your have recency time, then immediately go to school and get every license you can qualify for.
Also, I did not wish to offend with the “paper captian” comment. My point was walking in off the street with a “captian’s” license having no real/commercial time working as mate,AB,etc…
I won’t be “that guy” hence all the questions blasted into cyberspace, not at the captian on my new job the first day. :~)
Asking questions here keeps me from looking like an idiot on the job. Now armed with good info I can speak inteligently. See now, I won’t make the “chucky cheeze” seatime comments on board.
I never suggested he ask immediately to train, but after a while once he is a good deckhand. (I was pointing out that you done have to wait until you have a license.)
I think if it is possible to have your toar done before you apply for your license you should because then you get “mate of towing” on your license immediately. Of course, if you get your 500 ton mate in 90 days you won’t have time for that. Get your mate osv 3000 also and get off the tugs…