Diver Rescue drills

[Tug]

Frank,

Your thoughts echo a lot of my concerns about the way that a lot of dive boats are run. I come from the world of STCW and SOLAS classed tug boats so it's quite the culture shift when I step onboard the 6 pack dive boat I drive in my free time "for fun".

I wish that there was some sort of Basic Training that covered small boats or at least more hands on assessments when it comes to limited tonnage licenses. We're lucky in that most of our crew has 25-50 ton licenses so at least they have some book knowledge.

...and don't get me started on the people that get their sea time pencil whipped and get licenses..... my favorite are the people with 25 ton license and commercial assistance towing endorsement that claim that they have a towing endorsement/license

 

[Wookie]

Jim, you are probably the only professional dive boat captain down here that actually knows the business of captaining, and that's because of your experience in another world. Lewis, same for you. I have nothing against a hawsepiper, my Captain's license is a hawsepipe license, but for many years the Keys were a no-go zone for the coast guard. Even when I got here with the Spree out of Sector Galveston, I couldn't believe how lax it was. I remember how surprised the inspections guys were when I showed up with alcohol screening kits and drug collection kits and had a certified collector onboard and they asked why I did that. "Uhhh, it's in the CFRs?" And the real reason is that Sector Galveston had hammered us on it years before.

Jim, any marine school offers a class called STCW Basic Training. You can even get it here in Key West. It's a 5 or 3 day class, depending on your license size, that covers 2 days of firefighting, a day of Personal Safety and Social Responsibility (No Grabassing class), a day of basic first aid (not required for DMs), and Personal Survival techniques, including use of a gumby suit, SOLAS liferaft, shark feeder, and a helo ditch, but I took the class in the oilfield. I'm sure a helo ditch is not taught in the keys.

A shark feeder takes real skills to use. I'd bet there are only a handful of folks in the keys that have ever practiced with one. The SOLAS A Pack is also difficult, they tend to inflate upside down, so you have to right it and then figure out how to get in it in a gumby suit.

Now, are these skills real life in the Keys? Well, ask anyone who has sunk a boat or had a fire onboard. My point is, the class gets folks thinking about their own boat, and how it's set up. I am working on my very first boat now with a CO2 system. The learning curve is steep, as we have to have Keys Fire Protection come inspect it, and it failed, so rather than pay them $12k to fix it, I was assigned. The learning curve is steep, but immensely satisfying when it all comes together. I wonder if most deckhands know what happens when the handle is pulled? I sure didn't.

 

[Tug]

Jim, you are probably the only professional dive boat captain down here that actually knows the business of captaining, and that's because of your experience in another world. Lewis, same for you. I have nothing against a hawsepiper, my Captain's license is a hawsepipe license, but for many years the Keys were a no-go zone for the coast guard. Even when I got here with the Spree out of Sector Galveston, I couldn't believe how lax it was. I remember how surprised the inspections guys were when I showed up with alcohol screening kits and drug collection kits and had a certified collector onboard and they asked why I did that. "Uhhh, it's in the CFRs?" And the real reason is that Sector Galveston had hammered us on it years before.

Oh don't get me wrong, I have nothing against hawse pipers, just the people with a 6 pack or 25 ton that think they are all that and a bag of chips...

 

[Wookie]

Oh don't get me wrong, I have nothing against hawse pipers, just the people with a 6 pack or 25 ton that think they are all that and a bag of chips...

The Coast Guard does.....

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

I dunno what a hawse piper is --I do know what a hawse pipe is.??

 

[Tug]

From Wikipedia:

Hawsepiper is an informal maritime industryterm used to refer to a merchant ship’s officer who began his or her career as an unlicensed merchant seaman and did not attend a traditional maritime college/academy to earn the officer license

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

Roger that. Thanks.

Hawsepiper is an informal maritime industryterm used to refer to a merchant ship’s officer who began his or her career as an unlicensed merchant seaman and did not attend a traditional maritime college/academy to earn the officer license

 

[nolatom]

Traditionally the crew on ocean sailing ships lived forward, just aft of the anchor chain locker and "hawsepipe" (with lots of pitching and wave-slamming) while officers and passengers lived aft (where it was quieter on both counts) Low-rent, high-rent neighborhoods, respectively ;-)

So if you made it up to officer status (aft), you "came up through the hawsepipe". Or in the military, a "mustang" rises from enlisted to officer.

 

[Capt Scotty]

Sorry, have not been on in a while...During my last inspection I expressed my concern about not being able to find a proper log book that fit our needs other than writing in ships log. Our MSO told me he was concerned about this issue for all the vessels he was responsible for. He is personally writing up a lob book that is dive boats both day trips and livaboard. He said when it was complete he would get it to all of us...

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

Our MSO told me he was concerned about this issue for all the vessels he was responsible for. He is personally writing up a lob book that is dive boats both day trips and livaboard. He said when it was complete he would get it to all of us...

Are you in the Florida Keys?