In order to gain an OOW Yachts <3000gt CoC, you will need to do some classroom training, some yacht and sea service, and finally an oral exam.
Required Service:
You need to have 36 months of Yacht service on vessels of any size, including 365 days of Sea service on vessels 15 metres or over in loadline length.
(Yacht service is being signed onto a yacht, whether you are on passage or not, and does not include leave. Actual Sea Service is when you are actually at sea, on passage)
The 365 days of Sea service can be broken down, to make it easier to achieve – you must have 250 days of Actual Sea Service, but the balance of 115 days can be made up with 90 days in the yard and up to 14 consecutive days of standby service at a time (fully fuelled/victualed/crewed whilst waiting for guests to arrive. NOTE: no period of standby service may exceed the length of the previous voyage.)
Sea Service Verification Process – please click here to read about new regulations.
You must also have a Training Record Book, filled in over at least 6 months, and each individual task must be signed off by Captain/Chief Mate/Chief Engineer (you do not need a training record book if you can prove 36 months of Actual Sea Service on vessels of at least 24 metres in loadline length. NOTE: when MSN 1858 replaced MGN 1802, there was an error in the wording for the service required to be exempt from completing the TRB. The service required has not changed from MGN 1802 – the MCA have issued MIN 521 to clarify this)
The course certificates that you must have for OOW <3000gt are:
STCW Basic Safety Week certificates (PSTor RYA Basic Sea Survival/PSSR/Elementary First Aid/Basic Fire Fighting)
RYA Yachtmaster Offshore Shorebased cert, plus RYA Yachtmaster Offshore or Yachtmaster Coastal¹ CoC commercially endorsed (either sail or power). Or IYT equivalent.¹
CPSC&RB/Advanced Sea Survival certificate²
GMDSS GOC certificate
OOW Navigation & Radar Theory (course completion & pass) & Simulator certificates
OOW General Ship’s Knowledge course completion & pass certificate
Efficient Deck Hand (EDH) certificate³
Human Element Leadership & Management (Operational) certificate
ECDIS certificate
ENG1 Medical certificate
If you are yet to receive any of these certificates, you can still apply for the NoE, but you will need to submit the certificates to the MCA before the CoC can be issued.
¹ NOTE: you don’t need to have a shorebased Yachtmaster Offshore certificate if your Yachtmaster CoC was issued before 31st July 2003. If you do not hold the appropriate mileage for the Yachtmaster Offshore CoC, the MCA will accept the Yachtmaster Coastal CoC. This is detailed here
² NOTE: if you submit an Advanced Sea Survival certificate, your CoC will be endorsed as follows: “not for use on ships equipped with davit launched lifeboats”
³ NOTE: after 1st January 2017, your EDH certificate must have been issued at least 18 months prior to the issue of your OOW CoC
Updating Training for CoC applications– anyone serving on board ship, who holds any of the following certificates must, as of 1st January 2017, have documentary evidence of either completing the training course or updating training within the last 5 years:
- Personal Survival Techniques
- Proficiency in Survival Craft & Rescue Boats (CPSC & RB)
- Proficiency in Fast Rescue Boats (PFRB)
- Basic Fire Fighting
- Advanced Fire Fighting
Applying for an NoE:
To do the final oral exam for OOW Yachts <3000gt, you will need a Notice of Eligibility. This document is issued once the MCA have assessed your eligibility, and an oral exam cannot be booked until the NoE is issued. (NOTE: until recently, applicants for an OOW Yachts <3000gt NoE were also given Master Code Vessels <200gt. The MCA now issue these as 2 separate NoEs, and candidates will be required to sit an additional oral exam if they want the Master Code Vessels <200gt added to their CoC.)
Your service needs to be proved with 2 forms of evidence for each vessel on which you are claiming service time. Usually a Testimonial and a Certificate of Discharge. If you have a discharge book, this can be used with a testimonial for each vessel, or if you are a member of the PYA they will attest your PYA logbook.
You must send a form of ID with your application. You can send a copy of your passport, signed by your Captain and with their CoC number noted, but you can also send any form of National ID – birth certificate or Discharge Book are usually easier to cope without!
It should be noted that written exam pass certificates have a validity of only three years. If your module pass certificates are more than 3 years old when you apply for an NoE you will have to submit new pass certificates to the MCA before they will issue an NoE.
Click here to view MSN 1858 (the testimonial and certificate of discharge can be found as annexes of the M Notice on pages 33-37)
Update to Electronic NoE application process & online oral exams
You will need to download the application form. You must complete the form and send all of your original certificates and testimonials to the MCA.
The NoE will be processed in about 28 days. Once the NoE is issued you are deemed eligible to take the oral exam.
JPMA offers oral preparation courses for the OOW <3000gt oral exams. Click here for details.