Navigation and Watchkeeping (STCW Chapter II)
What the exam tests
Navigation and watchkeeping under STCW Chapter II tests whether a candidate can keep a safe navigational watch as officer of the watch or master, applying COLREGs, passage planning and bridge resource management rather than reciting definitions.
Core rules
- STCW II/1 sets the OOW certificate standard; II/2 covers master and chief mate; II/4 covers ratings forming part of a navigational watch.
- A proper look-out uses sight, hearing and all available means; radar, ARPA and ECDIS supplement, never replace, visual lookout.
- The passage plan runs berth to berth and includes no-go areas, abort points, contingency anchorages and under-keel clearance, consistent with SOLAS V/34 and bridge procedures.
- Watch handover covers position, course and speed, traffic, weather, machinery status, standing orders and any active alarms.
- Rest hours: at least 10 hours in 24 and 77 hours in 7 days, in no more than two periods, one of at least 6 hours.
Worked example
At night in a traffic separation scheme your ARPA shows a contact fine on the starboard bow with a constant bearing and decreasing range. You are the give-way vessel under Rule 15. Reason: a constant bearing and reducing range establishes risk of collision. Make an early and substantial alteration to starboard, avoid crossing ahead, sound the appropriate manoeuvring signal, plot the result and inform the master if the situation is not resolved. Do not assume the other vessel will act.
Traps
Treating a stand-on vessel as having no duty; waiting for the master before taking avoiding action; using ARPA without visual confirmation; forgetting rest-hour records; planning a passage on the chart alone without contingency plans.