| “You are right in that the "paper" knowledge is about to kill the real world knowledge.”
Let’s look at this from another point of view. The number of commercial yachts is growing rapidly. The number of trained and experienced mariners is dropping nearly as quickly. The passengers carried aboard a commercial yacht have every right to expect that the crew and yacht both meet the highest standards in every respect. The increased training standards were developed to protect passengers and the environment, not to eliminate “real world knowledge.”
STCW and the other IMO conventions related to maritime safety did not just appear because the regulators were bored, they were developed in response to a real need to improve safety and reduce the number of deaths of crew and passengers and reduce marine pollution. None of this really applied to yachts in the past, yachts were for the most part privately owned and the public was at little risk. The only yachts that traveled the oceans were mostly privately crewed by professionals with a long history and a great deal of experience. Very few advertised themselves as charter boats and offered international cruises to anyone with enough money.
With charter yachts over 300 tons becoming the norm and yachts over 500 tons very common in international trade, they have become commercial shipping as much as a bulk carrier or containership. The life of a yacht charter passenger is no less worthy of a qualified crew than one onboard a cruise ship or ferry.
We are talking about international trade, not the small boats being used to take people fishing on near shore waters or day-trips around a bay somewhere. There are no new requirements for US issued “6-pax” or the other highly limited domestic tickets that have no application or validity on commercial yachts.
There is a new world order, we can either adapt or become irrelevant. The seatime and experience of the old guard is not gone but unless they have evolved with the system and made the choice to continue their professional development through recurrent training and upgrades they will be left in the past. It is a matter of keep up or get forced out. It isn’t necessarily fair but it is the only way to eliminate those who can’t keep up. And that is what is most important to the future of the industry.
Do I think the “system” is going is the right direction? Mostly yes, but I believe it is a flawed system, especially in the case of yacht restricted licenses. The sea-time requirements are so very low that we are becoming highly dependent on technology to replace experience and a quick review of the accident reports makes it very obvious that technology alone is not sufficient.
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