Mr. Cavo Help with RFPNW

Can a sailor with an AB Special get his RFPNW having the assessments signed off and having the 180 days of sea time on 200 plus ton vessels all inland time. Thanks.:confused:

Iā€™m fairly certain RFPNW assessments must be done outside the boundry lines, but that may just be OICNW.

Iā€™ve wondered this myself. I have this notion that washington state ferries ABs (would be inland time) are able to get RFPNW, but i donā€™t actually know that for sure.

Policy letter 14-02 says, when describing the time required: ā€œThe record of sea service must include the name of the vessel, the dates of the training, indicate whether it was an [B]ocean or near coastal voyage[/B], and be signedā€¦blah blah.ā€ (bolding mine)

So, even though it doesnā€™t specifically state that inland time doesnā€™t count, it does appear that they expect ocean or near coastal time. I would love to hear Mr. Cavo, or another experts opinion on this.

46 C.F.R. Ā§ 15.1101

(3) Seagoing vessel means a self-propelled vessel in commercial service that operates beyond the Boundary Line established by 46 CFR part 7. It does not include a vessel that navigates exclusively on inland waters;

I believe all of pugeot sound is actually outside the boundry line, and thus costal. (But I could easily be confusing that with done other inland body of water that counts as costal.)

[QUOTE=Boatahaulic;59466]Can a sailor with an AB Special get his RFPNW having the assessments signed off and having the 180 days of sea time on 200 plus ton vessels all inland time. Thanks.:confused:[/QUOTE]

At present, no. All time must be on sea-going vessels, and as noted above, seagoing is defined in 46 CFR 10.107 as operating outside the boundary line (near coastal/oceans). We have an open suppl;emental notice of prosed rulemaking (SNPRM) in which we have PROPOSED to accept inland time. But at present, itā€™s not acceptable.

Thatā€™s nice to hear! I just wish it would have been ratified two years ago.

[QUOTE=Capt. Schmitt;59496]I believe all of pugeot sound is actually outside the boundry line, and thus costal. (But I could easily be confusing that with done other inland body of water that counts as costal.)[/QUOTE]

Perhaps that is why charts show the demarcation line and they actually publish the positions, so that Sons of Magellan donā€™t have to rely on faith based navigation.

46 CFR Part 7

33 CFR 80.1395

Arenā€™t ā€œcaptainsā€ supposed to know this stuff?

Apparently I am mistaken. I primarily use gCaptain from my phone so couldnā€™t look up weather I was thinking of the correct body of water.

Many Thanks to my fellow gCaptain mariners and Mr. Cavo for your enlightenment and useful information. gCaptain continues to be a great site to communicate with fellow mariners and to get answers to some of the tough questions we face in todays maritime world.