OUPV/Six-pack Captain’s License Online

What is your reason for doing online rather than classroom?

I'm a supporter of online learning but when it is interactive, includes teachers, and isn't 100% self-guided. I've seen some excellent online college courses in which all the attributes of classroom instruction were included. Unfortunately, the online captains training is just digital. We had captains training us and we had lake experience, but I still found benefit to the classroom environment.

Among the online schools, Mariners Learning System has been around a good while and I've known those who completed it and praised it. Many others are still textbook based and not even digital.

How much sea time do you have? Have you documented it? We had enough inland boating to go for Masters rather than Six Pack even though initial licenses were very low tonnage.

There are many ways to document Sea Time. Look at boats you've owned, times you've gone out. Document ownership. Try to figure out usage to the best of your ability. That should be the next thing you do in your quest as it will tell you where you stand. You may well find you have enough time to skip the six pack. However, you may still decide not to, but to do it in two stretches, six pack and later, Masters. Regardless, you need your Sea Service documented up front before going for either.

Here's a link on documenting sea service.

https://www.dco.uscg.mil/Portals/9/NMC/pdfs/professional_qualifications/crediting_sea_service.pdf

And, the form:

https://www.dco.uscg.mil/Portals/9/NMC/pdfs/forms/CG_719S.pdf

If you could get time to fly to Fort Lauderdale, I believe it would be worth it. Unfortunately for you, I believe Fort Lauderdale is no less convenient than the Texas schools.

I took Mariners Learning Sysrem to get my 6pack. I had enough documented inland hours over 20 years of runabout lake( literally on paper notebooks- my own logs). Coast guard doesn’t check them BTW…

It was good for rules of road and practical navigation… BUT IT IS NOT A DRIVING TEST; it’s a piece of paper that helped me begin to understand what I didn’t understand. I think Insurance companies look at it as much a test of are you diligent enough to finish?—if so you are probably a serious and therefore insursble person.

I didn’t “solo” on my boat (54’ Flybridge) until I had 86 hours over 15 days with my Cap’n aboard… and each of those trips were all about checklists, engine rooms, Genset, fuel management, previewing our trip (on Garmin… not the paper), provisioning and discussion of what we were doing- and why we were doing something —- sometimes that mirrored the Cap’n test. I’m glad I have both; but the class would be meaningless without experiencing with a pro.
I’m now up to 482.2 hrs over 141 days/nights over last 4 hrs (lost 1 whole year to Covid) and I feel confident that I now understand how much I still
Don’t know…. You are in the fun stage of opening up a big box of learning.

Having used Mariners Learning, do you now feel you would have benefitted more from an interactive classroom course or not?

If you can show ownership and length of time, CG isn't likely to dispute. Just dispute the extreme or obviously questionable or those with no documentation.

Did you, or do you now, have the time for a Masters, and, if so, do you plan on pursuing it?

I thought the online instruction was good/ better than I expected. Lots of video animations that you could watch as many times as you needed. I could go on my own pace, the quizzes were good and when you got something wrong it referred back to where to read/watch animation again.

I didn’t want to try to cram it in with a room full
If strangers in a short time. And I had a few question that the owner Bob Figular answered.

not sure I’ll ever run across a “Red over Red Captain’s Dead” , but it’s good to know.

If you ever head to The Bahamas, you'll see this lots in the Northwest Providence Channel off Freeport. It's relatively calm, but deep there, so ships will just drift while awaiting berths nearby.

Yep. Not very exceptional circumstances, but I've seen it many times in that area.