Processing Applications for National Officer/Rating Endorsements that Expire on March 24, 2019

The Coast Guard amended regulations to qualify for national officer and rating endorsements in a final rule titled Implementation of the Amendments to the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW), 1978, and Changes to National Endorsements (78 FR 77796).  The rule was published on December 24, 2013.  The portions applicable to national endorsements became effective on March 24, 2014.

The final rule provided grandfathering provisions for mariners who began the service and/or training for their endorsement before March 24, 2014.  Under these grandfathering provisions, mariners who began service or training for a national endorsement may qualify for the endorsement under the regulation and polices existing before March 24, 2014, provided they apply for the endorsement before March 24, 2019.

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National Maritime Center (NMC) and Regional Examination Center (REC) Operating Status Update

•      The NMC reopened January 28, 2019, and is implementing measures to address increased levels of application inventory.

•         Merchant Mariner Credentials (MMC) and Medical Certifications (National Endorsements only) set to expire in December 2018, January 2019, or February 2019 remain valid until May 31, 2019.  (See Update 3 – Mitigation Efforts Due to Lapse in Fiscal Year 2019 Appropriations and Partial Government Shutdown.)

•         Additional Information (AI) letters, Qualified Assessor (QA) letters, Designated Examiner (DE) letters, Proctor Approval letters, Approval to Test (ATT) letters, and mariner training completion certificates set to expire in December 2018, January 2019, or February 2019 remain valid until April 30, 2019.  (See Update 3 – Mitigation Efforts Due to Lapse in Fiscal Year 2019 Appropriations and Partial Government Shutdown.)

•         Mariners seeking to operate on STCW endorsements that expired on or after December 1, 2018, may request continued service STCW dispensations via e-mail at STCWDispensations@uscg.mil.  (For application details, see STCW Mitigation Efforts Due to Lapse in Fiscal Year 2019 Appropriations and Partial Government Shutdown.)

•         All RECs will be fully operational and open to the public by Wednesday, January 30, 2019.

•         The scheduling system for REC examinations, application drop off, and other credentialing business will be active beginning Thursday, January 31, 2019.

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Coast Guard Mitigation Efforts Due to Lapse in Fiscal Year 2019 Appropriations and Partial Government Shutdown

This is still valid at this time

To mitigate the impact caused by the partial lapse in appropriations and shutdown of National Maritime Center (NMC) operations, the following updated actions are being taken:

• Merchant Mariner Credentials (MMC) (National Endorsements only) and Medical Certificates that expire in December 2018, January 2019, or February 2019 are extended as valid until April 30, 2019. Print the attached letter and carry it with your credential.

Additional Information (AI) letters, sent to mariners that expire in December 2018, January 2019, or February 2019 are extended to April 30, 2019.

Approval to Test (ATT) letters and mariner training course certificates that expire in the months of December 2018, January 2019, or February 2019 are extended until April 30, 2019.

For mariners whose 90-day testing cycles were interrupted by Regional Exam Center (REC) closures (starting on December 26, 2018), the days the RECs were closed will not count against the 90-day period. REC appointment calendars will be re-opened immediately once appropriations are restored.

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Top 10+ Cookbooks for Boaters - Recipes To Keep Your Crew From Jumping Ship

The Boat Cookbook: Real Food for Hungry Sailors
by Fiona Sims

For anyone with a tiny galley kitchen and an appetite for fresh, gorgeous food, there's good news: no more tins or bland leftovers aboard. These fabulous and easy recipes (all using no more than two pots and taking no longer than 30 minutes) will allow you to spoil yourself in harbour, keep things simple at sea, and make delicious meals and tasty snacks in advance. Featuring baked eggs with salmon, chorizo and chestnut sausage rolls, spicy lamb burgers with tzatziki, herb-stuffed trout, salted caramel and banana crunch, chocolate fruitcake and an amazing rum punch, this is seriously tasty food that's genuinely easy to make.

As well as the author's recipes, there are contributions from top chefs (Chris Galvin, Angela Hartnett, Kevin Mangeolles and Ed Wilson) and sailing legends (Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, Brian Thompson and Dee Caffari). There are handy tips on setting up the galley, an idiot's guide to filleting fish, and how to host the perfect beach barbecue, all illustrated with tempting colour photographs and beautiful hand-drawn illustrations.

'There really is something for everyone to try, and enough scope for you to really spoil yourself and your crew the next time you are on board. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I intend to - happy cooking!' Chris Galvin, sailor and Michelin-starred chef

for more cook books or to order thsi one, click here

Anchoring quote of the day:

Quote of the day:

"If your anchor is not holding as well as you might like, consider your options. The insurance of having a good modern anchor may just let you sleep peacefully through the night secure in your chosen anchorage."

https://www.whiteseahorse.ie/publishing/HappyHooking.html

Anchoring Made Easy

“Anchoring Made Easy” was to have been the title of our anchoring book, had the publisher with whom we wanted to work had his way. Instead we named it “Happy Hooking – the Art of Anchoring”, as hooking your boat to the bottom in a lovely spot should always be fun and easy. Sadly, there are still some people out there who are clearly not having fun when they try to set their hook. We suppose they have not read the book – and their boat may not necessarily always stay put either. As our cruising takes us ever further afield, and we check the cruising guide for the anchorage in the harbor we would like to visit next, we often see statements like “anchorage marked on the chart has poor holding”. I write this as we are (very securely) anchored just below a picturesque castle in a beautiful bay on the west coast of Ireland. Once again the guide notes that this spot has poor holding. It’s at this point that it occurs to us that perhaps it was not the bottom that provided questionable holding but rather the anchor being used when the observation was made that was at fault.

Turkish Bling or the Real Thing?

Rocna and Ultra side by side As anchoring is perhaps the single most important part of boating, any mention of anchoring or gear preferences in the company of sailors is always sure to stir up a storm of commentary from all sides – even from people who may only rarely leave the dock. So when word of Quickline’s introduction of the Turkish manufactured Ultra Anchor to the US marketplace trickled into our consciousness, we just had to take a closer look. Long proponents of what we term as modern generation scoop type anchors, we have several older pieces of hardware decorating our front lawn. These include a huge Luke (fisherman-type), a smaller and very elegant collapsible fisherman, a massive CQR and a well-used Delta (maybe we should start a museum of anchoring). Had we any of the other types of anchors designed to plow, claw or drag through the bottom, these too would have become ornaments. As an old saying goes, “The plow was a great invention until some eejit made an anchor out of it.”

Draft Merchant Mariner Medical Manual Notification of Availability and Request for Comments

Revised Comment Period: Draft Merchant Mariner Medical Manual Notification of Availability and Request for Comments

The Coast Guard is seeking public comment regarding the draft Merchant Mariner Medical Manual. The guidance in this manual should assist medical practitioners, the maritime industry, individual mariners, and Coast Guard personnel in evaluating mariner applicants’ physical and medical statuses to meet the requirements of the merchant mariner medical certificate. This draft commandant instruction manual incorporates and consolidates prior guidance on the medical evaluation of merchant mariners contained in several Coast Guard documents. The manual includes guidance on the medical certificate and related processes, including procedures for application, issuance, and cancellation of the medical certificate.

The Coast Guard requests public comment on the draft Medical Manual, with emphasis on its readability, clarity, and ease of use. We welcome suggestions on how the manual can be improved.

We are particularly interested in whether the draft manual adequately addresses safety concerns in situations where the Coast Guard receives information indicating that a medical certificate holder has developed a medical condition that poses a significant risk of sudden incapacitation, or is taking a medication that poses a significant risk of impairment.

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