USCG master - worth having? benefits?

[marineruscg]

It depends on where you're located but I've found on the east coast of the U.S. that there is more work than there are captains. It seems like most Masters are in their late 50s and 60s so it's an aging workforce. If you want to work on the water a Master's ticket is a big help.

[gjordan]

I agree with Billkeni that the off shore ticket (all oceans endorsement) is a big help for getting long distance deliveries. I had years of doing celestial nav when I took that exam and found it the hardest and most useless exam the CG made me take. I understand that the oceans endorsement is now mostly GPS/other electronics on the exam, but having done several deliveries from Hawaii, that endorsement helped get the jobs. I slowly worked up my tonnage by working and crewing on deliveries on large motor yachts. It is interesting to note that the British license system takes considerably less sea time for the same tonnage as USCG, but they require a practical exam. When I sat for my first license (25 ton masters) I think my wife and I were the only ones in the room that were not lying thru their teeth about sea time. A practical exam would have wiped out 3/4 of them. We had a kid in the class that didnt know that there were 360 degrees on a compass and his sea time was running down wind with a skiff and towing hotel guests back up wind because they could not get a windsurfer up wind. He became a licensed opuv. Kind of scary!!!! _____Grant.

[David M]

Jammer, only sea time accumulated over the past 5 years counts. The larger the tonnage and distance offshore, the more hoops the Coast Guard makes you jump through.

[Mithril Bham]

If you have the sea time go for highest rating you can get.
I bought "Get Your Captains License" used with a CD for rules of the road. Studied it and took the test for $50.
Well worth getting.

[gjordan]

David, I believe you are correct about the 5 years FOR YOUR FIRST LICENSE, but once you have a license you dont loose your sea time. I was told by a school that without time in the last 5 years, I just had to take an additional test. Maybe with current time I would not have had to take any test. I dont remember exactly but my time was already recorded. I chose not to renew my expired license because of the expense and not planning on doing any more deliveries. _____Grant.

[Symphony]

after 40 years owning and delivering sailboats I had plenty of time to log, even Outside the Boundary. I enjoyed the study of the material, started on a OUPV then decided to go for the Master after taking the OUPV tests plus towing and sailing endorsements. I am a university professor and so I enjoy taking tests. : -)

Liberty offered a 5% discount for the license; Mapfre said it was a commercial license and didn't change anything on my boat's insurance (my boat is not a commercial boat). Mapfre was cheaper than all others so I went with them anyway.

The only use I've had for the Master 50T ticket is delivering boats on blue water, makes the insurance company comfortable that you have knowledge of the rules at least.

If you have the time and money - get it.
If I had to give up a bit of kit on my boat I wouldn't get the license.

[Howler]

Reading your original post carefully, it looks like you're trying to decide whether to do any USCG certification at all rather than deciding between OUPV vs. master, 50 vs. 100 GRT, etc.

I recently completed the course out of interest and went to the expense of full master certification (100 GRT near coastal with sailing and towing endorsements).

As a recreational cruiser, you learn more about rules of the road, chart plotting, fog sounds, nighttime visual recognition, etc, than years of sailing experience and/or prior ASA-type courses. As mentioned, this isn't the course to take if it's to learn to be a better sailor or vessel operator in practical terms, but there's questionable value of doing the certification.

The only value (almost) derived from actually having gone to the trouble of obtaining the certification (TWIC, drug test, CPR exam, etc.) is that when stopped for a routine coast guard safety inspection, I mentioned the license at the end and the ensign told me that had I shown it to him when first boarded, they would have skipped the inspection assuming we "knew what we were doing!"

[Lihuedooley77]

Lots of good infsormatiion :

1. PASSENGERS FOR HIRE.....( six pac )....Max passengers ' 360 days at sea documented time.

Perform all of the requirements, and paper work and pass the exam.

2.

[Snore]

If you are not going to use the Lic- don’t get it. I have heard from people I trust that as an OUPV or USCG Master you will be held to a higher level of anything happens. For example if the local cops find expired flares, you are likely to get a warning. I am not as confident they would be as lenient with me on a delivery.

The licensure is all classroom time. To earn the license you need documented sea time. That time could have been grinding winches or sitting offshore watches- not exactly the way to learn how to handle a boat. I know some guys with 25 and 50 Ton licenses that cannot handle boats well. But they have the license.

An OUPV (operator of uninspected passenger vessel) is limited to 100 miles, and 6 passengers on an uninspected vessel. A Master can operate an uninspected vessel or an inspected vessel to the tonnage of his license and the number of passengers on the certificate of inspection. If the License held is near costal he can operate to the be territorial limits of the US.

Candidly, if I was not doing deliveries and teaching- I would not have the license.

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by Jammer

Had I begun logging my boating experience when 16 years old, I would meet the experience requirements for a master's ticket. I'm logging time now in case I decide to pursue it.


I'm wondering if there are any benefits beyond being able to work commercially in the U.S. Insurance rates, recognition by bareboat charter operators, ease of dealing with bureaucracies here and abroad.


If worth pursuing, any reason to obtain 100 ton rating rather than OUPV?

Isn’t that enough reason? We both have Masters. I consider it worth it.

[jmschmidt]

Some good advice here from the other responders.
• You can’t just log your time no matter how long you’ve been on the water. Your times must be submitted on USCG Form CG-719S. Download a copy so you can get the hang of it. This form must be signed, “Under penalty of perjury” by the master, owner or operator of every vessel you plan on using for “logged sea time” in if it is to be used on an application for an OUPV (Six Pack 360 sea days) or Merchant Mariner Credential (720 sea days. If you were the master, owner or operator, you can attest to your own time under the same perjure conditions. In the old days sea time forms had to be notarized by the aforementioned master, owner or operator. It was good luck finding some of them. Military sea time is accepted and your military service will give you documents acceptable to the USCG.
• Any Merchant Mariner master rating, regardless of tonnage, is authorized to operate any vessel in Six-Pack operations up to 100GRT. Yes, a 25 ton master can operate a Six-Pack boat up to 100 tons with no more than six paying passengers. OUPV Six-Pack does not allow voyages to foreign waters or the carriage of cargo.
• Each tonnage upgrade requires significant recent sea time in the next highest tonnage that you currently hold.
• 200GRT ratings require additional training and testing not needed for the lower tonnages.
• As one responder mentions, some rivers and lakes require special ratings.
Even though I don’t use my master’s ticket much I do own a small charter company. I enjoy the learning experience for the recurrent study for license renewal.

[Jammer]

Thank you all for the comments.

Originally Posted by jmschmidt

You can’t just log your time no matter how long you’ve been on the water. Your times must be submitted on USCG Form CG-719S. Download a copy so you can get the hang of it. This form must be signed, “Under penalty of perjury” by the master, owner or operator of every vessel you plan on using for “logged sea time” in if it is to be used on an application for an OUPV (Six Pack 360 sea days) or Merchant Mariner Credential (720 sea days. If you were the master, owner or operator, you can attest to your own time under the same perjure conditions.

I know.


A good deal of my time has been in my own modest vessels. I doubt if I can find records to substantiate ownership as far back as I might like.

[Howler]

Originally Posted by jmschmidt

I enjoy the learning experience for the recurrent study for license renewal.

Do you need to re-take all the exams to renew?

[Lihuedooley77]

kind of depends on the individual....

If you are not sailing, or skippering a motor vessel for compensation or hire you do not need a U.S.C.G Masters Licence. My USCG license says,
MERCHANT MARINE CAPT. Last issue was issue number 5, and they all expired after five years. I had to have 720 days at sea documented time to sit for the original 100 ton .

Took five years to earn that time. I was not just sailing around on weekends spinning winches, or making up lines. Back in those days, those years were spent instructing and taking out charters. As well as international bare boat sailing trips. Then, all of us instructors and the owner of the sailing club were informed that we had to get our U.S.C.G 100 ton licenses.

All of us attended a U.S.C.G. lic. prep course, and we all were on the edge of our seats drinking up every once of knowledge that was imparted to us.We loved it .

Agree with many of the posts here.

* If you are not planning on working for compensation or hire, just keep on sailing your local waters.

* If you are planning on bare boat chartering in some of the waters across the atlantic, some of them require some kind of a license. That situation you need to check into, as the regs seem to change with the individual authorities. I did not need anything for Ireland. Other countries do.

* A six pac, USCG license is good for six paying passengers or less and you need 360 days at sea documented time as one of the qualifications and requirements to sit for the USCG examination.

* We suggest, if a person intends to sit for the U.S.C.G. captains exam, might be a good plan to take a course ......which will prepare you for the exam. For those who have not prepared, they will generally not pass it.

* What I also suggest, is that, if you are interested in adding to your knowledge, you certainly can lay out some bucks, and take the U.S.C.G
License pre prep course, and study. YOU WILL LEARN MORE THAN YOU EVEN IMAGINED WAS POSSIBLE. And possibly making you a more knowledgeable and safe skipper.

if you wish to take the exam, then super . You will be a better skipper for it as long as you have put in sea time

I have been around this biz for nearly 40 years, and have amassed a lot of knowledge, but, none of us will ever know it all.

However, the license prep class, that I took many decades ago; better prepared me to be a safer more informed, and professional skipper.

I passed that down to my students at the sailing club . Put everything I could in their favor as responsible skippers. Sometimes that info was taken very seriously, other just shined it .

Yep, all comes back to what a person individually wants, and their motivation.

On CF, just reading the posts most every day, there is a huge amount of excellent information on many, many different subjects. I have said it before.......this is one fantastic forum. I am learning something new every day. How great is that !! Keeps life interesting and postive.

As to the original poster.....do what feels good to you , but what ever it is, continuing learning thru others, thru courses and seminars, reading, this forum, and thru actual experiences.

Or, not.

[Lihuedooley77]

U.S.C.G License renewal...

Actually those requirements have changed over the years.

The last renewal of the 100 ton, 5 th issue, I had to submit my sea time over the past five years. I cannot remember what that number was, but it was no problem.

If I had not put in the necessary sea time, I would have had to take the whole test again.

Not sure what it is like now..

First day :

There are several different sections. Some of them you needed to be in the 90 % in order to pass. Others were in the 70%. I think there were about six or so different sections at that time. If you did not pass any section, ( you took them all individually ).

If you did not pass the section you were working on...

YOU WERE DONE. You could go home, study up a bit and return the next day and re take the section you failed and then continued on.. If you blew it again, you had to wait for 30 days, bone up, and then come back.

For me, i was there all day with the written sections, and passed each one of them.

I came back on the next day to do the NAVIGATION , coastal nav, section, and passed that. It took me quite some time, and you had to score 90%

The procedure then, you walked into the main office area, where they typed up your 100 ton certificate .

Things may have changed, since it has been decades, so a person can check on current procedures.