You might be surprised at how many cadets and young mates I meet who have no small boat handling experience at all.
They need to be doing this:
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I’ve met a lot of “mariners” with no small boat experience. Nor any interest in boats.
The USCG’s ridiculous fetish for larger tonnage and lack of respect for actually running small vessels does not help.
Experience actually running small boats is a lot more valuable than experience sweeping and mopping, and chipping and painting. It’s a lot more valuable than being able to set the autopilot to follow the green line.
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It always annoyed me my friends crewing on the harbor tour boat got better tonnage time than I did running a 36 foot towboat solo back in the day. They never got within 20 feet of the helm nor the engines.
Your observation about lack of interest in boats is in contrast to pilots, the vast majority of pilots are interested in most things that fly. I do get that for many 3rd World mariners their job is kind of like a prison sentence more than something they want to be doing and all they really want is money to send home.
Another Ipad / INax screen shot - Singapore
Not to be used for navigation.
Might as well post this while I’m at it.
Don’t recall what trip or trips this was.
In accordance with Rule 7 (a) (Risk of collision), every vessel shall use all available means appropriate to the prevailing circumstances and conditions to determine if risk of collision exists. If there is any doubt such risk shall be deemed to exist.
Comments:
All available means which could be used to determine risk of collision on board are:
(i) observing compass bearing of approaching vessel,
(ii) observing relative bearing of approaching vessel,
(iii) observing bearing and range of approaching vessel using radar,
(iv) observing data plotted by ARPA radar (CPA and TCPA).
I’d agree with this, it’s all available means “as appropriate”
It should go without saying that items (i), (iii), and (iv) belong on that list. Those items belong on the list without question.
In some circumstances, in my experience, "(ii) observing relative bearing of approaching vessel" should be an available means to junior officers.
I grew up with lots of blow boat sailors and even had my own little sailboat years ago. I spent time on J boats drinking beers and rum, while chasing other J boats around the Sound that often contained attractive females. When I hear “have rights” come out of persons mouth(or keyboard) my blood begins to boil. I often hear WAFI’s say this, and it puts me in a place where anything else they say is discounted as without any real knowledge of the nav rules. Any mariner who has ever taken a rules test knows this is not a term the COLREGS contain.
For the love of all things holy, as well as on the soul of the WAFI Lord Sir Dennis of Conner…please stop saying “has rights” or “had rights” or “rights” when trying to have a professional discussion about navigation.
end rant:) 
and to make you feel a bit better…I agree with you that the skills learned on small sailboats are of high value when becoming a good mariner. The hostility and general attitude of sailboat crews while in close quarters with other boats… is the exact opposite of what you want on a bridge when things go south.
That would require skills and experience beyond anything listed in the OP.
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Here’s another sketch, can’t read it but the vector is labeled “18 kts” Channel is 6 miles long and 4 miles wide and marked by 4 buoys. - Daylight, clear weather.
Radar, ECDIS - all nav equipment on and fully operational. Captain, third mate, AB helmsman lookout on the bridge.
Should a junior deck officer be able to make use of visual information in this situation? Or should they be limited to only being capable of keeping the ship icon close to the electronic track-line on ECDIS?
Solid! But in respect to mr having rights, at least he is cordial enough to preface his position via his username (which I guess is then confirmed with his statements, but I can’t comment on that, as I’m not a professional at nav/ship handing)
yes
But then again Sandy Hook Pilots have made a lot of money making a turn easier than that in Ambrose Channel ( joke )
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Yeah, six miles at 18 kts, going to take about 20 minutes. With little wind or current should be able to feel comfortable checking the ECDIS after getting steadied up and then about every 5 minutes, more or less.
Shots fired!
But it’s true.
Blessed be thy name of cherub cheeks and liquor bloat… 
Settle down. Some of us have been around since “had right of way” was commonly used. We all know the COLREGS changed the phrasing and it never meant “I can just run into people and tell them to fix my paint because I have rights”.
OK - maybe some people don’t know that, I gave it a rethink after recalling a locally famous idiot who sailed a small boat around Annapolis and contrived “right of way” situations that caused near-collisions doing shit like tacking back and forth across an open draw bridge or what must have been his moron cousin doing the same at the Bay Bridge making a freighter dodge him. Got a few 5-blast salutes for that.
I tell the mates take care of first problems first. Come right to clear the fishing boats then see what happens.
On second thought coming left is the shorter way round, Isn’t “B” at 10 kts too? Should be able to cross ahead?
Are these same junior officers trusted to get from the anchorage to the dock in a launch in daylight? Maybe start them out with that! (depending on your budget for dinghy repairs I guess)
yea - believe the way we set it up you were not in a collision course with the fishing boats - but it was a close CPA 1/4 mile or so, and the crossing boat was still hull down - just a radar target. No one answer on how to act - can go left or right - was just a good scenrio to see how they percieved the situation.
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Do you get to talk to anyone, like Fishing Boat: Are you staying put or about to get underway?