alanxparr asks:

- - in the long-term is there a certification for pilot or navigator that is
worth obtaining for cruising?-

Bilge- There's some down sides to obtaining USCG licensure that not many folks
are acquainted with.

If you've ever had a DUI conviction, you may not be eligible to be licensed
without jumping through a lot of bureaucratic hoops. If you do get a license,
and you subsequently get a DUI, the Coast Guard will likely "ask" you to
"surrender" your license. The National Driver Registry is now open to the
USCG,(Hazelwood's Legacy to the industry).

And, I'm not sure if it applies down at "Six-Pack Level", but upper level
licenses and Mariner's documents have to be renewed every 5 years now, showing
at least one year of seatime in the interval.

You also might have to "dance" to IMO's STCW (Standards of Training for the
Certification of Watchstanders), which has been imposed on us recently.

On the upside, you become a licensed captain. The Coast Guard holds your
license "in esteem". So, say you are involved in a collision with "Cap'n" Joe
Blow, and there are "gray areas" to what happened...it comes down to your word
against his word.
You have an up to date bound logbook, corrected charts with your course track,
waypoints...all that "literate deck-ape" stuff, and your Master's license in
the "stud rack".

Whose insurance company do you s'pose is going to eat the expensive fecal
biscuit?

It's well worth consideration.


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