Get 6 pack license now on river be advantageous for ocean charter captain.

[tennis4789]

Originally Posted by TheOffice

Maybe look to see what licensing charter companies require and work for them first.

Yep. Think might be a good way to go. But maybe little bit of a chicken n egg. With needing licenses before being able to work for them.

But would be really useful knowing how they deal/dealt with issues that are sure to come up. Getting paid, drunks, health emergencies, etc etc.

[Sailshabby]

Originally Posted by tennis4789

daaang you giving me useful detailed information to read! how dare you? thank you. switched over to my kindle to read your article. i didn't realize how much more to check out on a sail boat. i was thinking's it wouldn't be a ton more than a 18 foot freshwater boat.

i started my current job about 10 years ago. I had a background in what I do. & kind of arrogantly thought that i could do it without much training. i definitely needed the training.

i probably need to backup & listen more to advice given on here.

And what kind of chartering? Sunset cruises are one thing, couple of hours wandering around, no biggie. Anything more and you’re suddenly looking at folks placing their well-being in your hands. That sort of ‘captaining’ only comes with experience, and not all of it good. One thing to read about calamity, another to live (and learn from) it.

[Sail Away 3]

Originally Posted by Sailshabby

And what kind of chartering? Sunset cruises are one thing, couple of hours wandering around, no biggie. Anything more and you’re suddenly looking at folks placing their well-being in your hands. That sort of ‘captaining’ only comes with experience, and not all of it good. One thing to read about calamity, another to live (and learn from) it.

Even a sunset cruise, fishing in the harbour, or having your buddy help you take it over to the pump out dock... If the drunk stumbles and hurts his pinky you as the captain are responsible for all the soles under your care. The judge and prosecutors will always refer to you as Captain...
...and you thought the Captain going down with his ship was just being noble...

[boatman61]

I would suggest you get, as a minimum, the RYA Coastal Skipper licence with Commercial Endorsement..
Its an internationally recognised certificate so useful away from American shores..
https://www.rya.org.uk/training/prof...l-endorsements

[MyCatLife]

Erroniously posted in the OP's "Dealing with drunks" thread,... more appropriate here:

Just curious,... and certainly not asking for myself!!!!

Are there special permits required to take tours to the dry tortugas from key west / south Florida?

Seems like a place where a private operator could make a go of it. Would a Six Pack suffice there?

[tennis4789]

Originally Posted by MyCatLife

Erroniously posted in the OP's "Dealing with drunks" thread,... more appropriate here:

Just curious,... and certainly not asking for myself!!!!

Are there special permits required to take tours to the dry tortugas from key west / south Florida?

Seems like a place where a private operator could make a go of it. Would a Six Pack suffice there?

No worries on off topic. My threads pretty much a wandering hot mess at this point. . Learn the most that way sometimes neways.

[MyCatLife]

Originally Posted by tennis4789

No worries on off topic. My threads pretty much a wandering hot mess at this point. . Learn the most that way sometimes neways.

I agree with your approach. Ask enough questions to find out if there is an issue that you are not willing to solve before you invest time and capital.

A couple observations:

Most owner / operator captains I've run across are sailing lifestyle people to the core. They wouldn't do anything else. Is that you?

Is you GF 100% on board with this? Being a passenger on an NCL ship has nothing to do with running a 44' Cat yacht for charter. Is she in a service industry and a people person?

[capt jgw]

Do you have any experience or documentable sea time yet? For an Inland or Great Lakes license of any grade you need 360 days sea time with a day being at least 4 hours underway. You can go back to age 16 counting up the days. For Near Coastal which you would need to operate on the ocean up to 200 miles offshore you need 720 days, at least 360 of which you actually went out on the ocean beyond the harbor limits. (Demarcation Line, it's marked on the charts.) There's no point in taking a license course or studying for the exams till you get the sea time. If you take a course, you only have one year from completion to get everything else done and you can't do 360 sea days in a calendar year. At least they won't believe you if you say you did. So you're on the Illinois, are you close to Lake Michigan? Great Lakes time now counts towards Near Coastal. Almost all my time was Great Lakes but I was able to upgrade to NC by just taking another exam. So if you need to get the time, try to do so on the Lakes, it will save you a step.

[tennis4789]

Originally Posted by MyCatLife

I agree with your approach. Ask enough questions to find out if there is an issue that you are not willing to solve before you invest time and capital.

A couple observations:

Most owner / operator captains I've run across are sailing lifestyle people to the core. They wouldn't do anything else. Is that you?

Is you GF 100% on board with this? Being a passenger on an NCL ship has nothing to do with running a 44' Cat yacht for charter. Is she in a service industry and a people person?

I'm not a die hard. In my younger days you couldn't get me off the lakes in Minnesota. Fishing. Skiing. Out at 6 am. Fish til 4 am for walleyes. Joke uncle tells. Guy asks him yiu own a lakehouse? Yep. You must get to do alot of fishing!? Uncle nope i own a lakehouse aka alot of work mowing maintenance docks so no time to fish.

Gf n I went to Puerto Rico exploring moving there for retirement. We love cruising NCL. All her vacation time is accounted for in 2022 four cruises. We've done 2 already. I've got 7 total. With her last vacation week She wants to go to Wisconsin cabin fishing. Our cabins reservation got messed up. I'm trying to sell her into using that vacation to go sailing on Illinois river instead.

It will be a struggle for her to get a captain's license & be able to competently sail. She isn't the strongest car driver/navigator.

Last ncl cruise captain n crew weren't forthcoming on why we were headed nw vs s towards bvi usvi. & mysteriously the gps channel on our tv on our cabin was mysteriously not working. About 8 pm noticed. Captain Didn't explain what was going on til next morning. I was little irritated were we canceled back to Miami was what i thought with all cruises being canceled. We had itinerary change explained in morning.

& we love snorkeling. But near Atlantis nassau bahamas tried to walk to cabbage beach but land owners almost got it locked except for two access points. We like doing our own thing walking ports vs $100 excursions. One access point was a bar we walked to about 4 miles away from ship. Closed for a holiday. We made it to the beach but at the time we didn't know how many access points.

So I'd like to do my own thing. & inflation/ ncl cruises are gonna go up especially hopefully after covid under control Thermal spa was $250 now $320.

She's a people person. Gets in trouble for talking with people too long at work . We'll see she seems to like fishing & snorkeling & shopping . She's on board for half verbally. But we'll see how our first charter goes.

Looong rambling response. I'm wanting to do it as long as we're using the boat a ton & enjoying it & breaking even. If we aren't I'd rather sell & find something else to do.

[tennis4789]

Originally Posted by capt jgw

Do you have any experience or documentable sea time yet? For an Inland or Great Lakes license of any grade you need 360 days sea time with a day being at least 4 hours underway. You can go back to age 16 counting up the days. For Near Coastal which you would need to operate on the ocean up to 200 miles offshore you need 720 days, at least 360 of which you actually went out on the ocean beyond the harbor limits. (Demarcation Line, it's marked on the charts.) There's no point in taking a license course or studying for the exams till you get the sea time. If you take a course, you only have one year from completion to get everything else done and you can't do 360 sea days in a calendar year. At least they won't believe you if you say you did. So you're on the Illinois, are you close to Lake Michigan? Great Lakes time now counts towards Near Coastal. Almost all my time was Great Lakes but I was able to upgrade to NC by just taking another exam. So if you need to get the time, try to do so on the Lakes, it will save you a step.

Thanks so much good info. I'm down south not on great lakes.

[AK_sailor]

One way many people log the necessary sea time is to get a job on a boat. One young friend of ours is currently down in the Caribbean working on a large sailing yacht. Here in Alaska, lots of folks work toward their 6-pack license by working as a deck hand on fishing charters. Besides getting paid (minimum wage + tips), this also gives you some exposure to the business side of things. You can both get your sea time, and learn how the business works (or doesn’t) on someone else’s dime.

[MyCatLife]

Tennis,

I second working a boat. Do it for a season. See if it's for you. Do it a couple more years while you learn the biz...

Going to a restaurant with table clothes couple times doesn't qualify one to open a 5 star restaurant!

I may have missed it,... but can I ask how old you are?

[jmschmidt]

I’m afraid that your wish list is overly optimistic. Most of us who are licensed, insured and qualified to engage in the activities you mention started like me; running power boats on the Columbia River at the age of 14. I am now 77. I’ve owned both 47’ sailing and power charter catamarans and a 41’ mono-hull.

Living next to a marina will not count to meet the “sea day” requirements for USCG licensing for either 6-Pack or MMC (the so-called “captain’s license”).

Furthermore, nearly every foreign country will require licensing and insurance for operations within that country’s territorial waters. Even if you meet the “sea day” experience for a USCG 6-Pack license that may or may not meet the requirements of a foreign country. To get a foreign license you will need to speak their language fluently. Even so most countries reserve such licensing for their own citizens first. I imagine there are ample charter boat captains out of work in every country in the world due to the pandemic.

I my case, for commercial operations, my license is limited to 200 nautical miles offshore. My insurance is further limited to 150 nautical miles offshore for charters and for my own private use I am insured for the entire Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico and the lower Atlantic, meaning the Bahamas. My insurance does not cover the embargoed countries of Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela and parts of Columbia.

If you are young and self-supporting financially and can dedicate yourself for the next five to ten years exclusively to building sea time, knowledge and experience, you may qualify to achieve some of your aspirations.

[Doubleplay]

Originally Posted by dcondit

I'll leave the whole "Why would you want to do this" questions to others.



6-pack = 6 or less passengers for hire. 3 couples = 6 people so 6-pack should be good for your plan. Size doesn't really matter for what you intend. Get any boat, get your time, get your license.

Not true. 6 pack will only be valid in US for commercial operations. Anywhere else in the World you need a commercially endorsed international license for insurance and operational purposes. A 6 pack license is a joke compared to something like a Yachtmaster Offshore or Ocean with commercial endorsement.
I know because I have both and operated boats in US and Europe.

[Cynara]

I applaud anyone who wants to put up with a bunch of strangers for any length of time on your boat

Don't know if this was covered, but if i was going to charter a boat with a captain I would expect them to cook my food and wash the dishes. How will you know if they get seasick, etc. For long distance trips you will have to have a plan to get an injured passenger off the boat, etc.

I hope you can get it to work for me