Jeff wrote:
Ryk wrote:

Is it a "sea day" if I'm out sailing my own 35 foot sailboat, or do I
need to be under the supervision of a licensed captain?


It is supposed to be a full 8 hour day, but at the discretion of the
testing officer they will accept 4 hour days. If you "self certify"
you have to show that you actually own a boat. . . .

There's a lot of "wink wink nudge nudge" around this point.

There's a lot more winkin' and nudgin' going on than that [in the US].

I know somebody who had nowhere near 360 days afloat, who'd convinced
skippers to pad his seatime a ridiculous amount. The trick is to
involve several skippers who don't know what the others are reporting.
One of the skippers was very irate when he learned an applicant for
whom he'd been generous reporting seatime, and who claimed he was "only
going for a 6 pack and just a few days short", showed up later with a
720 day license.

And the "self certify" route is rife with fudging too. If the
applicant is the only one lying, who's gonna dispute it? Know a
skipper who has a 6 pack ticket, who was a weekend sailor with only
three years of ownership at the time. When I called him on it, he
winked and said his boat had been very, very busy those three years,
according to his logs. Know of another with a similar incredulous
story, and he said, "Every morning I'd go out to the dock and step into
my punt." Also miraculously passed the eye test, with 20/500 eyesight.

I don't fault the Coast Guard, though; they're hugely understaffed
and, especially since 9/11, have bigger fish to fry than 6 pack
cheaters.