Nautischer Erster Offizier (NEO) · Kapitän (NK)
Chief mate and master (STCW II/2)
Units15
Modules8
Ready now2
Done0
Management level, after sea service as officer of the watch. Academy covers the theory; approved courses and the national exam are separate.
What you study
Navigation
Chief mate and master
- Voyage planning at management level: ECDIS, routeing, ice and restricted waters
- Chief mate and master: navigation exam
Stability
Meteorology
Chief mate and master
Emergencies
Chief mate and master
Medical care
Chief mate and master
Manoeuvring
Chief mate and master
- Handling a ship in all conditions: pilot stations, rivers and estuaries, ice, emergency towing, beaching and dry-docking (STCW A-II/2)
- Ship handling at management level: exam
Ship and engines
Law and watchkeeping
Chief mate and master
- Leadership, crew management and training on board
- The master's business: certificates, port state control, ISM audits and the law
- Management-level law and leadership exam
It starts with a review of Nautischer Wachoffizier (NWO), which it builds on.
COLREG
Inshore skipper
- Who the rules apply to, and key definitions
- Look-out, safe speed, risk of collision and action to avoid it
- Narrow channels and traffic separation schemes
- Sailing vessels, overtaking and head-on situations
- Crossing: who gives way, who stands on
- Responsibilities between vessels
- Restricted visibility
- Quiz: the steering and sailing rules
- Lights you show and see on a small boat
- Lights: definitions, power-driven and towing vessels
- Lights: sailing, fishing, restricted and anchored vessels
- Quiz: lights and shapes
- Vessel lights in 3D
- Sound and light signals
- Distress signals (Rule 37 and Annex IV)
- Quiz: sound signals
- Game: sound signal guess
- Key terms: COLREG
- COLREG foundations check
Coastal skipper
Offshore skipper
Seafarer: support
Officer of the watch
- Annexes I–III, exemptions and compliance (Rules 38–41)
- COLREG for watchkeeping officers: exam
IALA
Inshore skipper
Coastal skipper
- Lighthouses, sector lights, leading lights and light ranges
- Practice: identify marks and lights at night
- Lights and aids to navigation check
Offshore skipper
GMDSS
Inshore skipper
- Your first VHF call: channels, phonetic alphabet and Mayday
- Radio simulator: first practice
Coastal skipper
- GMDSS basics, frequencies and sea areas
- VHF DSC: distress alerts and routine calls
- NAVTEX and the 406 MHz EPIRB
- SART, portable VHF, GNSS, antennas and batteries
- Distress, urgency and safety calls: Mayday, Pan-Pan and Sécurité
- Quiz: short-range radio (SRC)
- Key terms: GMDSS
- VHF radio practical exam
- Signal flags and the phonetic alphabet
- Game: signal flags
- Signal flags certificate exam
Offshore skipper
Ocean skipper
- Ocean passages: satellite communications and safety information
- Long-range radio check
Officer: near-coastal
- The restricted operator (ROC): the GMDSS in sea area A1
Navigation
Inshore skipper
- Reading a nautical chart: latitude, longitude, symbols and depths
- Steering a compass course and taking a bearing
- GPS and chart plotter basics: position, waypoints and limits
- Quiz: charts, compass and position
- Navigation foundations check
- Reading a Portuguese tide table
Coastal skipper
- Compass course, variation and deviation
- Chartwork: plotting courses, distances and bearings
- Position fixing: cross bearings, transits and bearing with distance
- Dead reckoning and estimated position
- Tides and heights
- Tidal streams: atlases, tidal diamonds and timing a passage
- Tidal stream and leeway: set, drift and course to steer
- Chart exercises: a coastal passage step by step
- Pilotage: transits, clearing bearings and harbour entry
- Electronic navigation: GPS errors, AIS and a paper backup
- Passage planning: appraise, plan, execute and monitor
- Key terms: Navigation
- Coastal navigation exam: chartwork and tides
Offshore skipper
- Tides in depth: secondary ports, tidal curves and clearances
- Nautical publications and chart corrections: almanacs, pilot books, lists of lights and Notices to Mariners
- Compass error by the Pole Star, and time: UT, zone time and legal time
- More fixes: running fix, doubling the angle and dipping lights
- Rhumb-line sailing by calculation
- Radar on a small vessel: range, bearing, clutter and echoes
- Radar plotting simulator
- Radar plotting practical exam
- Offshore passages: night sailing, watches and landfall
- Offshore chart exercises: tides, streams and fixes
- Offshore navigation exam
Ocean skipper
- Great-circle sailing: distance, initial course and vertex
- Ocean passage planning: routeing charts and seasons
- Ocean navigation exercises: great circles and the day's run
- Ocean navigation exam
Officer: near-coastal
Officer of the watch
- Gyro compass, repeaters and compass error checks
- Radar/ARPA console
- ECDIS basics: ENCs (S-57 and the new S-101), safety settings and alarms
- ECDIS simulator: plan and monitor a passage
- Navigation for watchkeeping officers: exam
Stability
Offshore skipper
Officer: near-coastal
Officer of the watch
- Displacement, draught and hydrostatics
- Centre of gravity and metacentric height (GM)
- Trim, list and free surface
- The GZ curve and the stability criteria (2008 IS Code)
- Load lines, freeboard and draught marks (Load Line Convention)
- Loading, ballast and the stowage plan
- Stress tables, loading instruments and partial loss of intact buoyancy
- Cargo securing and dangerous goods basics (CSS and IMDG Codes)
- Worked stability calculations: GM, list and trim
- Stowage and stability studio
- Stability and stowage exam
Meteorology
Crew
Inshore skipper
- Quiz: marine weather
Coastal skipper
- Pressure, air masses, depressions and fronts
- Clouds, humidity and dew point
- Weather lab: clouds
- Weather lab: fronts
- Reading a synoptic chart: isobars, wind and the coming weather
- Weather lab: synoptic charts
- Local winds: sea breezes, katabatic winds, gusts and named winds
- Fog and visibility at sea
- Key terms: Meteorology
- Meteorology certificate exam
Offshore skipper
Ocean skipper
Officer of the watch
Ropes and knots
Crew
Coastal skipper
Emergencies
Crew
- Safety equipment and the crew safety briefing
- Fire on board: prevention and fighting
- Safety on board: foundations check
Coastal skipper
Offshore skipper
Seafarer: support
- Emergency types, alarm signals and muster lists (STCW A-VI/1-1)
- Life-saving appliances: lifejackets, immersion suits, lifeboats and liferafts
- Personal survival: abandoning, in the water and in survival craft
- Fire on ships: fire chemistry, ignition sources, detection and fixed systems (STCW A-VI/1-2)
- Fighting fire: extinguishers, hoses, breathing apparatus and the fire party
- Basic Training check: survival and fire fighting
Officer: near-coastal
Officer of the watch
- Launching and handling survival craft and rescue boats (STCW A-VI/2-1)
- Survival craft and rescue boats check
- Advanced fire fighting: control, organisation and investigation (STCW A-VI/3)
- Advanced fire fighting check
- Emergency organisation on board and responding to distress (IAMSAR)
- Emergencies for officers: exam
Medical care
Coastal skipper
- First aid and resuscitation
- Hypothermia, cold-water immersion, drowning and heat illness
- Wounds, burns and fractures
- The medicine chest and seasickness
- Practice: first-aid scenarios
- First aid on board check
Offshore skipper
Seafarer: support
- Body structure, shock, electric shock and moving a casualty (STCW A-VI/1-3)
- Elementary first aid check
Officer of the watch
Manoeuvring
Inshore skipper
- Propeller walk, rudder, wind and current
- Berthing and leaving the berth
- Towing and being towed
- Anchoring manoeuvres: choosing a spot, letting go and the anchor watch
Coastal skipper
- Turning and handling in tight spaces
- Handling in heavy weather
- Quiz: boat handling
- Boat handling check
Offshore skipper
- Storm tactics: heaving to, running off, drogues and sea anchors
Officer: near-coastal
- Handling a small ship: wind, current, shallow water and berthing
Officer of the watch
- Ship handling: turning circles, stopping distances, squat, bank effect, interaction, anchoring and mooring
- Working with tugs and pilots
- Bridge and ship handling simulator
- Ship handling exam
Celestial navigation
Ocean skipper
- The celestial sphere, stars and planets
- 3D night sky
- Time, the almanac and the Sun's position
- The sextant and its corrections
- The noon sight: latitude by the Sun
- Sight reduction and the position line
- Star, planet and Moon sights; latitude by Polaris
- Compass error by azimuth and amplitude
- Worked sights: a day's work from morning sight to noon
- Celestial navigation exam
Ship and engines
Inshore skipper
Coastal skipper
- Boat structure, dimensions and ship types
- Types of propulsion, one by one
- The marine diesel engine
- Batteries, charging and electrics
- Steering, fuel, water and bilge systems
- Quiz: engines and systems
- The boat and its engine: check
Offshore skipper
Seafarer: support
Officer of the watch
- Ship construction: structure, watertight integrity and dry-docking
- Ship construction and machinery exam
English and signals
Ocean skipper
- Nautical English: key phrases, pilot books and forecasts in English
- Practice: listen and reply in maritime English
- Nautical English check
Officer of the watch
- Standard Marine Communication Phrases (SMCP)
- Practice: SMCP exchanges on the bridge and on the radio
- Using the International Code of Signals
- Morse code and light signals
- Maritime English and signals exam
Law and watchkeeping
Seafarer: support
- Personal safety, social responsibilities and preventing violence and harassment (STCW A-VI/1-4)
- Personal safety and social responsibilities check
- Security awareness: the ISPS Code and security levels (STCW A-VI/6-1)
- Designated security duties: access control, searches and security equipment (STCW A-VI/6-2)
- Maritime security check
- Keeping a watch as a rating: helm orders in English and handovers (STCW A-II/4)
- The rating's watch: lookout and helm orders check
Officer of the watch
Ocean and tides
Inshore skipper
- Pollution at sea and MARPOL on board
- Protected areas and marine life
- Quiz: ocean and environment
Coastal skipper
- Why tides happen: Moon, Sun, springs and neaps
- Ocean and environment check
Offshore skipper
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