I have a deckhand who is trying to get RFPNW. He has AB Unlimited and sailed deep sea on foreign ships before coming to the US. I noticed in policy letter 14-02 that there is a sea service requirement and am unsure if it is just sea time or if it needs to be documented as “training” rather than normal OS work. (He plans to take the RFPNW course and do the assessments in the simulator.)
In short, we want to be sure that if he pays that money he will be good to go and not told by the NMC he is missing something crucial.
I would think if the deckhand already has AB unlimited time, then all they would need is the paperwork from the simulator.
http://uscg.mil/nmc/checklists/MCP-FM-NMC5-62%20RFPNW.pdf?list1=checklists%2FMCP-FM-NMC5-62+RFPNW.pdf&B1=GO!
Is anyone aboard a DE or a second unlimited? If so, and if vessel is over 200 tons he can print off the sheets (about 26 items) and get signed off on the tug.
A 1600 ton master ocean can sign them (which I am) but we operate inland so I can’t do it on here. And I would be surprised if a DE could sign for an STCW endorsement just because they are a DE.
Ahhh, good point. It appears that the course is just a way to get RFPNW without the sea time requirement. I thought it was more like the AB course; not necessary but very helpful.
He said he has around a year of unlimited time as OS so I told him to just do the assessments.
I also just found out that his sea service is older than I previously thought. He should qualify for RFPNW because he has 360 days of deck time between 1986 & 1991.