Hi fellow seamen! Is there a study guide in existence for the chart portion of the Pilot’s exam?
[QUOTE=cpt2times;18681]Hi fellow seamen! Is there a study guide in existence for the chart portion of the Pilot’s exam?[/QUOTE]
Good question. I never heard of one, but the chart itself, that you have to know by memory, seems to me, the only thing you would need to know, and of course, any local knowledge of controlling depth, bridge crossings, etc… that might be found in the Coast Pilot.
Calling the local REC might be the best bet since these tests are locally produced.
A blank chart with land mass outlines should be available from your REC. You have to draw in variation, shoals, all landmarks, all nav aids for your route, etc. Rule of thumb is accuracy to the width of a dime.
Pick a point and measure everything up/down left/right from it. Make that coordinates on an x/y axis table. Commit table to memory. It is just like memorizing a really long phone number.
Soon as you get in the exam room regurgitate everything onto a piece of paper and start drawing.
Should take you a week of 6 hour days studying to memorize a relatively normal chart.
Try www.riti.com. I have several friends that are now pilots and I believe this is the company they used.
In my experience, the chartlets that were available from the REC were marginal at best, some were too small to really get the tighter spots on the chart.
If you make your own tracings ( landmass, True North, and scale) you have to be careful not to allow the drawing to have any pin-points or “tells”. The proctor used to (and probably still would) hold up a tracing to inspect for just that. Then after the work is complete, there’s a good chance he will lay it on the actual chart and correct it. The tolerances used to be within a tenth of a nm. and some leeway was granted for shoal areas and such. Bouys, ranges, local variation corrected to date, wrecks, least depth over the course lines, channel width, it’s extensive.
My practice for an especially large piece of pilotage (NY Lower Bay from Sea to the Narrows) involved making a tracing and having it transferred to an acetate film that would fit a large tracing pad (18" x 24" or so). I would trace each practice sheet, then my last tracing went to the exam room. Not sure what is done in the RECs these days. My method [I]was labor intensive[/I], yes, subject to the lazy way of correcting, no. It was still perfectly proportioned but it wouldn’t be the right size to lay on the original chart. The proctor would have to pick up dividers and a set of triangles to inspect the work.
The study part is straightforward learning by rote, be as neat as you can be. Repeatedly drawing the chart until you have it cold. I took about a month to practice each piece, but I was helping my wife chase a toddler around the house at the time too. I’d be interested to see how it’s being done these days since graphics are so much better now that there’s no need to rely on mimeograph renderings. Some of the REC provided chartlets were so distorted, there wasn’t any way to get your marks where they should be.
[QUOTE=captbbrucato;18873]…making a tracing and having it transferred to an acetate film that would fit a large tracing pad (18" x 24" or so). I would trace each practice sheet, then my last tracing went to the exam room… My method [I]was labor intensive[/I], yes, subject to the lazy way of correcting, no. It was still perfectly proportioned but it wouldn’t be the right size to lay on the original chart. The proctor would have to pick up dividers and a set of triangles to inspect the work.[/QUOTE]
So using your tracing that had to be so carefully inspected was acceptable?
Where did you have the master sheet made?
What other routes have you pilotage for?
Did you have to dock at every facility within the scope of the license or just pass by them?
I’m just offering what i understand about it, not official information. Also it varies by REC as they do it all locally; as in it can vary district by district. I understand the route requirements to mean from one end of the route to another, not specific docks. Also, i could be wrong, but trips between berths shorter than the whole route can all add up with other chunks of the route to get the the total number of trips. say the route starts at A, and ends at D. a trip from A-C and a trip from say B-D could be combined to equal part of a “round trip.” I could be wrong on this, but that’s what i understand. Best bet is to [B]seek the advice of a existing pilot[/B]…the REC may or not be vague (helpful). Upon request, the REC should mail you a FCP information packet.
A question…does the REC evaluate for the local aspects of FCP or does the NMC? I could see that being a disaster…
http://www.riti.com/prodserv_pilotage.htm Looks like an easy way to do it.
Post what you end up experiencing. And if i am wrong, let me know.
Toledo uses the old AMO “river book” for connecting waters of the Lakes. For the Welland Canal, almost all pertinent info cam be extracted from the Canadian chart of the Welland and the Canadian Sailing directions. Lake pilotage is LCA courses amd distances right of the general lake charts while local knowledge is from the Coast Pilot.
That being said, everybody has the own wrinkles once you start working on your license. The REC uses the River Book because they can grade your sketches and narrative from a reference; not because what you put on the exam is how you will actually run the rivers.