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Hong Kong Part A Written Test study materials
Hong Kong Part A Written Test study resources

Hong Kong Part A Written Test: Seamanship and Boat Handling

Hong Kong Part A Written Test · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.

All guide sections

Seamanship and Boat Handling

Part A tests practical seamanship on small craft in Hong Kong conditions - crowded anchorages, tidal streams of one to two knots in the harbour, and constant berthing alongside pontoons and typhoon moorings. Questions focus on anchoring, line handling, propeller effects and close-quarters boat handling rather than ocean passage-making.

Anchoring

  • Scope is the ratio of cable or warp to depth. Chain: about 5:1 in ordinary conditions, 7:1 or more in a tideway; rope: 7:1 to 10:1. Hong Kong anchorages are tight, so choose holding ground carefully when you cannot veer more.
  • Never anchor in a fairway, on a submarine cable, on coral, or in an anchorage you have not been directed to.
  • Lay the cable out under power rather than dumping it, then set the anchor with a gentle stern movement.
  • Confirm the anchor is holding using two shore transits or bearings ahead, plus a GPS anchor alarm.

Lines and mooring

  • A spring stops fore-and-aft movement; a breast line holds the vessel in. Get a headline or sternline and a spring ashore before you stop the engine.
  • Double up for a typhoon and strip canvas and other windage.

Propeller and helm

  • With a single right-handed propeller, going astern walks the stern to port.
  • The pivot point when going ahead lies roughly one third of the length from the bow.

Worked example

You are berthing a 12 m single-screw launch with a right-handed propeller, port side to a pontoon, in a channel where the ebb sets east at 1.5 knots. The wind is light.

Reasoning: approach from the east and stem the ebb, about 20 degrees off the pontoon, so the current holds the bow clear. Reduce to dead slow two lengths out; at one length engage astern. Transverse thrust walks the stern to port - toward the pontoon - while the current keeps the bow off. Pass the headline and a spring first. Then slow ahead with the wheel to starboard against the spring, which swings the stern in. Make fast before stopping the engine.

Traps

  • Quoting a scope ratio that suits the wrong cable type.
  • Ignoring transverse thrust and being surprised when the stern swings the wrong way.
  • Coming alongside with the tide under the stern, losing control of the bow.