Practical Benefit to USCG OUPV License?

[HoppySailor]

My wife and I just completed the Mariners Learning System Course and passed our USCG OUPV exams. All that's standing between us and 6-pack licenses is about $600 each in medical exams and background checks. That being said, is there any real benefit in having the licenses if we're just going to be cruising? We learned a lot in the Mariners Learning System course and that's probably enough for us if there's no practical benefit to having the license. I'm thinking about things like insurance cost, entry to foreign ports, coverage for short handed passages, etc. Your comments would be appreciated. Thanks.

[cabo_sailor]

I picked up a six pack license some years ago thinking I could make some extra cash on deliveries, get an insurance discount and so on.

Never happened. Too many of the boats wanting delivery I wouldn't trust to get out of the marina. The insurance companies didn't care.

I suppose if you got the towing endorsement you might get some work with a towboat company.

On the downside, in an accident, you will be held to a higher standard tha someone without a license.

I let mine expire. It cost too much for what I was getting.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by cabo_sailor

On the downside, in an accident, you will be held to a higher standard tha someone without a license.

No offense, but...

I hear this all the time. I think it's just another one of those urban legends. I have never seen any credible evidence that it is true. All I have ever heard are stories about how someone heard that a guy had said one time, that this guy's brother told him how it was true.

I wonder if anyone can actually point to a case where a boater with a 6-pack license was out on his own time--not actually working a job--had some sort of an incident, and suffered some punishment that he would not have suffered if he had not had the license. I certainly have never seen any evidence that such a case exists.

(And, cabo_sailor, I hope you don't feel like I'm picking on you. I certainly do not mean to. I just hear this all the time and I really have my doubts.)

[Roy M]

I get a reduction in my boat insurance for having a master's license, I have picked up work operating a water taxi, I have done deliveries up and down the coast, and I have worked as a standby skipper for multi-day fishing boats. If you don't have a license, you can't qualify. If you can't qualify, you can't walk in the door. You must have the credentials before you can effectively perform the work. Once you start working, even part time, you now have a work history.

[HoppySailor]

I have a request in for insurance quotes with and without the OUPV license so we'll see how that goes. I really hadn't planned on using the license to work but I guess you never know what will come up along the way while cruising. It wouldn't take a lot of odd jobs to pay for the additional fees to get the license so it may well be worth while. Anybody else with stories of extra income earned, or money saved because they had the license? Thanks again for the replies.

[CSY Man]

Having a ticket gave me an insurance discount. (On my boat(s)
Made plenty of money not only as a hired Captain, but also doing
deliveries and pilot services.
I don't really use the ticket much these days, but sure keep it current.
Now on the 4th edition. (Renewal)

As for accidents and being held to a higher standard:
Heard the same urban myth, but no beef.
Once I was involved in an incident and wrote a complete report to the State of Florida as requested my the Marine Police.

Guess who's report had more credibility, the one from a Licensed Master, or the one for the amateur who waked me while I was anchored and caused damage as I was rafted up with a fellow CSY 33? (The mast tops hit and pieces came raining down, lifelines snapped, etc.)

[contrail]

A license can help with insurance, not only with costs but with some details of coverage. It can give you a credential for sailing in other countries, some of which require a certificate of competency. You can definitely pick up work, as has been stated, but your other qualities - personality, appearance, experience, etc. etc. are what gets you the work. The license permits it. That said, if you were to work abroad, you would probably need a Master's License, but the OUPV gets you started. Lots of cruisers fall into some marine job or another, short or long term, along the way. A license can help or be a requisite. I would echo the comment about not letting it expire. I have had to get my license, from scratch, three times (!!!), because I let it expire twice thinking I would never need it again. And the requirements and the tests have gotten much, much harder over the years. So, keep it current!

A word of advice for would be skippers. I have never been short of work, even in quite competitive markets. And I observed others, whom I considered to be much better sailors than I was, sitting around. At one point, I asked the owner of the company for whom I skippered a lot, why I seemed to be getting preference and I have never forgotten his answer: " You arrive at the boat at the scheduled time if not before. You have taken a shower and wear clean clothes. If you are unfamiliar with the boat, you come the day before to give it a look or take it out. You bring the guests back happy. If something is wrong with the boat, or was difficult with the charter, you report it. I don't care whether the other guys are better sailors. The waterfront is full of flakes, and you aren't one of them!" I have always remembered his comment about the waterfront being full of flakes, and, sad to say, he was correct. Who knew it was that easy to get an edge? So, if you want to be a skipper, forget all the attitudes and eccentricities and posturing, and remember it's a business for the person who hired you, so be professional. Good luck.

[basenay]

First I let mine lapse followed by my wife b/o expense & hassle factor and did not find any real benefit to having it. If I was younger and wanted to use if for work then would get as many endorsements could which would then open doors to better paying jobs.

Bruce
s/v Dreamcatcher IP 45
lying Shelter Bay, Colon, Panama

[CruisingKitty]

We got a discount on insurance. My husband has a Master's ticket and I have an OUPV. In foreign countries, the Master's counts for many things; the OUPV is not often recognized. It pays to go for the Master Mariner credential. He's got sailing and towing endorsements and both have come in handy.

We know a couple who were forced by their insurance company to hire a licensed skipper to cross the Atlantic with them even though they were quite experienced but did not have the license.

[captmikem1]

You have to get a "TWIC" card in U.S. now thats another 130.00 but if you went through a class get an OUPV or if you go to a USCG regional exam center they might even bump you up to a Master. Get the sailing and towing endorsement on it. If nothing else you can say you have one and that in itself is one great accomplishment!!

[Arthur Garfield]

Originally Posted by captmikem1

You have to get a "TWIC" card in U.S. now thats another 130.00 but if you went through a class get an OUPV or if you go to a USCG regional exam center they might even bump you up to a Master. Get the sailing and towing endorsement on it. If nothing else you can say you have one and that in itself is one great accomplishment!!

captmikem1- What do you mean by saying "USCG might pump you up to a Master"? Please explain with more depth-honestly I don't understand .Curious


All the Best

[captmikem1]

I got my first ticket 18 years ago. Studied by myself, (8 months I was rehabbing from m/c wreck) I went in for OUPV test which is the same test as 100 ton master. It was USCG Sector Charleston. The examiner said since you drove up from Fl we'll make it a 25 ton Master. From there I was a SeaTow skipper which is fun and you can make good money but you never get of the boat. Then the private yacht delivery offers started coming in, went from 25, 100 to 200 Master. It's a pain going through it all but it is well worth it when they swear you in. Go for it, you've gone this far.

[Capt Gary]

Got my OUPV three years ago and my 50 ton Masters shortly after. The OUPV is absolutely the hardest, as the Masters can be done in a weekend. I had a great gig running boats with the Spectator Fleet at the Americas Cup in San Francisco and have since started doing some charters for fun on my own sailboat. I'm not going to get rich with it, but I have met some interesting people doing something I love to do. You can get a break on your insurance, but if you do any chartering it will cost you a little more, but it isn't ridiculous. Once you get it, don't let it lapse as the tests are pretty difficult now. Just my 2 cents.

[psneeld]

There are lots of jobs and lots of lower license captains.


From my experience...only about 1 in 50 have the experience and the competency to actually land most decent jobs.


I have worked for an assistance tower for the last 13 years and a Maritime tug and barge/salvage company for more than half of that.


I have seen dozens of captains come and go and hundreds not get hired.


I also taught licensing up through 100 ton for 5 years...a lot of people passed the course that I knew would never exercise the license for many reasons and almost as many that would need a huge amount of experience and work ethic before they would get hired beyond the yacht club launch for the summer (or start their own charter business hiring themselves).

[adlib2]

Originally Posted by cabo_sailor

I picked up a six pack license some years ago thinking I could make some extra cash on deliveries, get an insurance discount and so on.

Never happened. Too many of the boats wanting delivery I wouldn't trust to get out of the marina. The insurance companies didn't care.

I suppose if you got the towing endorsement you might get some work with a towboat company.

On the downside, in an accident, you will be held to a higher standard tha someone without a license.

I let mine expire. It cost too much for what I was getting.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

I have Offshore Yachmaster Ticket for years, doesn't expire, acceptable for Insurance and deliveries, and in many jurisdictions to operate passenger paying charters. Never seen the benefit of the 6 Pack other than it being good to take the course to improve one's knowledge.