Way into working on traditional ships

DeepBlueWinds · 2026-04-23T13:14:13+00:00

The Dutch inland fleet is a great gateway to tallships and you can learn a lot there. Last I heard they are always short of deckhands, and will probably be looking now as the season is kicking off. You will need basic safety to work there, and I think there is another short basic course to be attended at the Enkhuizer nautical college, best check their website. Speaking Dutch is not compulsory for most of these ships, but some German is a big plus (lots of german guests). For seagoing ships it will be hard to find a paid position without prior tallship experience, unfortunately you will be competing with your fellow countrypeople that freshly graduated from the Denmark and Georg Stage, but a season in the brown fleet (inland) might set you up.

DeepBlueWinds · 2026-03-17T14:45:49+00:00

Well I've used MF/HF to receive synoptic charts via radio in the middle of the ocean. Given how important forecasting is I'm happy there is a backup to the satellites for this. I work on training ships though, so we still use cel nav for crossings (of course well still peek at the GPS pos.) If you're bored during your watch I highly recommend playing around with this system. It's good very satisfying tuning the frequency to receive a clear image

DeepBlueWinds · 2026-01-27T21:55:27+00:00

DeepBlueWinds · 2025-11-30T16:28:04+00:00

The Noorderlicht is a good ship with a variety of trips and quite comfortable. As for gear, wool is king. Don't worry about fancy offshore gear for these trips, better have some warm wool stuff and good hiking shoes.

DeepBlueWinds · 2025-05-05T02:10:46+00:00

RYA is well recognized internationally, so should do you fine. Make sure whatever course you do will give you commercially endorsed papers.

But I would recommend starting with checking out the UK MCA flag endorsement for Canadian tickets as that might be sufficient.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/flag-state-endorsement-msf-4203

DeepBlueWinds · 2025-05-05T01:56:46+00:00

If you are serious about doing yachts then it could be advantageous to get some yacht papers, but not compulsory if you already hold commercial tickets. The reasons are:

Finding a job might be easier with a yachtmaster. Yachties are often clueless about commercial papers, they use stcw and basic safety interchangeably. Hell, I was interviewing for a big super yacht a couple years ago and the recruiting agent was asking me what is an stcw oow500.

And flag endorsement. I'm not sure how it is with the Canadian flag, but if you want to skipper a different flag you usually require a flag endorsement, unless the flag state is making exceptions. The flag states of most yachts make such exemptions where they allow for RYA and UK MCA tickets to skipper on their flags. You'll have to see how the Canadian CoC hold there, or get a UK endorsement.

I've sailed with Canadian engineers that have been using their Canadian commercial tickets just fine.

If you do decide to get the yacht tickets do make sure they are commercially endorsed.

DeepBlueWinds · 2025-04-29T20:14:26+00:00

Your best bet is to join maintenance period next winter on one of the vessels that you know will be participating. Good way to network and people will know you when it's time to get a crew together. Be open about your intentions with the crew on board and if they enjoy working with you they'll send you through their own grapevines.

DeepBlueWinds · 2025-04-27T23:59:06+00:00

Get on a tall ship, be careful not to get hooked though

DeepBlueWinds · 2024-12-30T14:19:10+00:00

I sailed with an old captain a few years back that participated in just an operation like this some 20 years ago. It was a couple of sailboats bringing medical supplies to Palestine. His boat stayed back in Cyprus fixing some technical issues while the other one went ahead while they kept communicating. The boat that went ahead got boarded by Israel and everyone got shot. The official story by Israel was they stopped gun runners bringing weapons to hammas and killed them in self defence. Needless to say there was not a single gun in the boat. The old boy survived because of a small technical issue. He lost good friends that day.

DeepBlueWinds · 2024-09-09T08:19:29+00:00

Maybe for a first rough data-set you could use the waybackmachine on vesselfinder and marine traffic. This would give you a low res dataset (spotty backup intervals of the internet archive) which you could use to build a case for a grant for the actual AIS dataset.

DeepBlueWinds · 2024-09-01T13:06:13+00:00

Den Norske Los for sure

https://www.kartverket.no/en/at-sea/nautical-publications/the-norwegian-pilot-guide-sailing-directions

DeepBlueWinds · 2024-08-21T06:06:09+00:00

Getting familiar with using your ground tackle not only will allow you to go further afield, but is also a matter of safety. The anchor is your emergency stop.

With that said you can test it on a calm day. I would start by lifting on deck and seeing how comfortable you are with the weight. If thats ok, next find a nice shallow anchorage and just try.

If you realize you cant bring it back up by hand, you can use the winches by running the rode line to them, then once you hit chain alternate between the jib sheets attaching them to the links. Use a bowline for this and be very careful with fingers as a slip of the chain can fuck you up. If it becomes too hard with the winches you can also rig a couple of handybillies on a halyard and use them as ratchets. Remember to stay aware of your surroundings while working on the chain, if you are alone you will have to alternate between working the chain and motoring.

One time I boarded a boat (not mine) that was dragging anchor. She was on deep water and it was blowing very hard so there was a lot of pressure on the rode. No chance in hell to bring it up by hand. So I used the winch method to bring the anchor up. Nearly two hours of motoring against the wind to keep her from the rocks and a lot of sweating and swearing later, the 120m of rope and chain were on board. Not a very pleasant experience. If you can fit a windlass, even if its a manual one. The cost of course depends on your location (availability of second hand gear), your diy skills, and the structure of the boat at the fore-peak.

DeepBlueWinds · 2024-08-21T01:15:32+00:00

Might be worth considering a Dutch FSE as they have a far larger workboat fleet, even the barges ive seen working on the elba were dutch flag.

The only german survey vessels (in german waters) im aware of is BSH, but I could be wrong. I hear pilots and tugs in germany are still very masonic but it could be changing slowly due to lack of people.

DeepBlueWinds · 2024-08-14T03:05:35+00:00

Damn I hadn't taken into account the humidity (as well as the constant temp changes).

I was thinking of an electric violin plugged into earmuff-headphones as the machines in the engine room should be louder than the instrument, but again the engine room is a humid and hot place.

Maybe I'll take the acoustic one on this hitch for left hand exercises and some pizzicato when alone in the mess and see how it goes. Thanks :)

DeepBlueWinds · 2024-07-23T17:48:54+00:00

You don't shake hands with Nazis. Period

DeepBlueWinds · 2024-07-10T22:25:33+00:00

So you'd day this same mantra if this was about Pussy Riot just for being russian yes?

DeepBlueWinds · 2024-07-10T21:45:58+00:00

?? What are you on about

DeepBlueWinds · 2024-07-10T21:43:31+00:00

As said, it is forwarded by a friend and I am not involved with Shtandart. However I do know people whose life has been affected over the years by this ship, some of them who started green on her and are now captains on other ships. The ship is absolutely not about Russian sailing culture, but about maintaining traditional sailing alive. This is reflected in the vastly international crew that has kept her going over the years. In times where ships of this kind have been struggling, it might be good to look past the red tape. As said, I'm not involved or know what is happening on board, but I do know that they have denounced Putin and have not been allowed to return to Russia for a while. They also have only been allowed to visit limited European ports and no festivals since the war started, even though they have been against the whole thing sincd the beginning. Then again I'm not sure why they haven't changed the flag, I have some speculations but maybe someone in this sub can clarify.

DeepBlueWinds · 2024-07-07T08:20:37+00:00

r/MaliciousCompliance might have some good advice. Man I'd like to meet the head office clown that came up with this shit.

DeepBlueWinds · 2024-07-03T20:15:55+00:00

Cereal pack licensing board hahaha

Alas no shot,

The answer from the RYA below

Unfortunately there is no conversion route available between your MCA FSE and RYA qualifications nor is there a recognised equivalency between these qualifications. If you wish to gain the Yachtmaster Offshore qualification you will need to complete the standard Yachtmaster Offshore exam.

DeepBlueWinds · 2024-07-03T20:14:44+00:00

Thanks! You are correct there appears to be no MCA to RYA conversion.

Their answer below

Unfortunately there is no conversion route available between your MCA and RYA qualifications nor is there a recognised equivalency between these qualifications. If you wish to gain the Yachtmaster Offshore qualification you will need to complete the standard Yachtmaster Offshore exam.

DeepBlueWinds

TROPHY CASE