Greetings all, I’m considering pursuing one of the limited (or perhaps restricted) tickets from the USCG. For background, I have around 170 days at sea, and mostly expect to use this teaching ASA courses at a school where the license is issued.
I have several questions, and I’m finding it a little difficult to get timely answers from the school. They seem to know that this ticket works for their instructors and therefore helps with adding those extra sea days, but the folks selling the course don’t seem to know much beyond that, plus the key folks are out of the office for a few days and if I do this, I need to commit soon to avoid paying stupid air fares. Sigh..
So, my main questions are:
What’s involved in upgrading to the full ticket? I think it’s just a case of resubmitting the application with proof of the full sea-time requirement, but if there’s a whole other set of exams, that reduces the value considerably.
What’s involved in removing/broadening restrictions/limitations? In particular, I understand the ticket is specific to a geographic zone (often a part of a harbor or such). I might want to add another zone so I could teach with another school, for example, and I think there’s some sort of regional test involved. But is that accurate, or are there other tests or hoops to this?
Beyond those questions, are there other things I should know?
(Oh, if I seem vague about which ticket, it’s because I’m still not clear on that. I’m fairly sure it’s a “Limited OUPV”, but the folks selling the course have used several rather vague terms so far, and as I mentioned, they’re not there to answer my questions for a couple of days.)
I should perhaps mention that I hold current STCW and ENG-1 (I have a commercially endorsed Yachtmaster ticket), as well as the ASA teaching qualifications and I’ve been teaching in non-federal waters.
Many thanks for this @Godawgs12 I might (am very likely to) be missing something, but I don’t see how this addresses the questions I have. To me, it seems to be a list of things one must have to obtain a (full) license. My concerns are about what might broadly be called “upgrading”. In particular:
removal / broadening of the geographic restrictions – can this be done? If so, what’s the process? Do I take more exams? If so, are they fairly limited in nature, for example discussing the boundaries of, and specific issues about (e.g. hazards), of the area? Or would a whole new exam from scratch be mandated (or something in between the two?
upgrading to the unrestricted license. Specifically, if I’ve taken the course and exam for the restricted, am I “pre-qualified” for the issuance of the full license, or do I find myself taking the exam all over again, or perhaps a more extensive exam?
Am I missing something in that form?
Thanks again!
Thanks for your reply @tugsailor – I’m not entirely sure that I understand you. I think you’re saying that the ASA sailing instructor qualifications are nothing to do with the USCG. I know that
Right now, I’m teaching in non-navigable waters, so the ASA qualifications are sufficient. But I want to teach on sailboats with auxiliary power on navigable waters with money changing hands. And that absolutely requires a USCG ticket. The licenses I’m discussing are exactly that, one is designed for “formal camps, yacht clubs, educational institutions, and marinas“ and another is “specific approval such as to specific […] body of water“. At this point, as I noted, I’m not sure which of these variants is on offer.
Am I missing something, or did you misunderstand and think that I thought the ASA and USCG were somehow related?
There is no crossover from Limited OUPV to OUPV. OUPV is treated as new and separate, but you can use the same service you used for the limited OUPV again.
Limited OUPV is for a specific route. You would only be able to operate on the specified route. “Pre- qualified” is not a thing. Then exam for OUPV is more comprehensive and you need the whole thing. Limited takes a less inclusive exam because the license is only valid for a limited area.
Also, Limited OUPV is only available to persons employed by organizations such as formal camps, yacht clubs, educational institutions, and marinas. The endorsement will be limited to the specific activity and the locality of the camp, yacht club, or marina. [46 CFR 11.467(f)]
When you take the OUPV exam you have two options (1) go to a USCG Approved in-lieu of course. The USCG website portal has a list course providers that meet USCG requirements for this training. It is updated every Wednesday. (2) Once you have submitted an USCG Original Application and have approval you will be given a Approval Test Letter which will allow you to setup your testing at a local Regional Exam Center.
Using the NMC website portal for examinations
I also would look at the examination guide for Limited Operator Uninspected Passenger Vessel Exam Code GLI08 pg. 28. It provides exam modules for Rules of the Road, Deck General/Safety and Navigation General. It would follow to then look at the sample exams for GL108.
@chuckspence many thanks for this. Do you know of similar descriptions for the “Limited” variant? I still haven’t managed to find out from the school which of these they’re proposing, but “limited” seems to expressly say it’s for folks working at sailing schools amongst other entities.
The NMC Website Checklist contains for the terms I think you are questioning are referred as National Limited and Restricted Master & OUPV Checklist. In the checklist you will find the 46 CFR use of the terms with a description of qualifications 11.429
The specific Limited OUPV term is used in the ExaminationGuide pg.28
If the course you are considering isn’t “Limited,” then you likely won’t have enough sea time. Note that the limited license (master or OUPV) only requires 120 days service compared to the non-limited which requires 360.
But in your situation, the normal OUPV or Master 100 GRT would indeed be more valuable. If you do get 360 days of service, consider applying for Master 100 GRT inland, as that is a more valuable license unless you need to operate near coastal. In that case, you could get both.
Thanks for this @portofdc – I’m fairly sure the course is good for the lesser tickets too, the discussions I’ve had have been clear on that. And I did get more information from them today too, so I think I’m starting to make sense of things. I appreciate your input!
There is none as the conditions are extremely case soecific, Before committing to a school I would ask them to show you the approval LETTER for the course (not the certificate) and determine what it is approved for and then contact the local REC to confirm that the course is approved for a limited license that can be issued.
Based on the school’s reputation and some of the discussions I’ve managed to have with them (they did get back to me yesterday) I’m pretty certain this is all legit. But I’ve also decided it’s too rushed for me, so I’m going to defer the whole thing till next year when I can restart the process with much more lead time for investigation and prep. And I’ll go visit and sail with them, and meet with some of the folks who’ve done this before me (who I understand are now on their staff, which would be a large part of the point!).
Many thanks for all your responses everyone, it’s been really helpful to bounce this around and get more details and understanding.
