If you didn't work commercially or you are counting the time you have spent on your own boat, you'll need to file a Coast Guard Small Vessel Sea Service form. There you will have to list the number of days you spent underway during each month and year. The Coast Guard licensing officer may ask for additional documentation, especially if you have an unusually large number of days in any given month or year. If you spent a winter running your sailboat around the Caribbean, you may have chalked up a lot of time underway. In order to verify that time, you can provide a copy of a ships log or passport and visa stamps.

Frank Mummet

THE EXAMS

The second requirement is that you pass four exams: Rules of the Road, General Navigation, Deck Safety/Operations and Chart Reading. There are two different ways to take these exams. The first is to take the tests at the nearest Coast Guard Regional Examination Center. This option is best if you have significant military or commercial experience or you're good at self-study, because it will require that you read and memorize information from the American Practical Navigator, Chapman Piloting & Seamanship, the Coast Guard Small Vessel Seamanship manual and a dozen other texts.

The other option is to take a course through any of the hundred or so companies and public institutions – colleges, extensions, trade schools and others – that offer training. Schools can have a single location, like Quality Maritime Training, in St. Petersburg, FL, or the Orange Coast College Marine Programs, in Newport Beach, CA or they can run classes in multiple locations. Mariners School, headquartered in Princeton, NJ, for example, runs classes along the eastern seaboard, Texas and southern California.

Most of these companies offer classes that involve between 54 and 100 hours of classroom time to complete, and cost between $500 and $2,000. The benefit is that the company has generally made arrangements with the Coast Guard to run its own testing program, using questions from the Coast Guard test database. Because of this, the course can be tailored toward the information actually necessary to know, and the test will determine your level of knowledge on that information.

All of the commercial classes require that you actually sit in a classroom for the instruction, although there are a few companies that are also offering on-line training. But even if you take a course on-line, you still need to go to a company location to take the exam. The on-line option is useful if you truly cannot find a course that fits your schedule and you are highly motivated and self-directed.

In addition to fulfilling the marine knowledge requirement, you will also have to show that you have training in CPR and first aid. Courses from the American Red Cross, the American Heart Association or the YMCA generally fulfill the requirement, although the Coast Guard also maintains a list of companies and organizations that teach marine-specific courses. If you use your license for hire, you will need to keep both your CPR and first aid training up to date.

MEDICAL ISSUES

The fourth requirement is a physical exam. Unlike a pilot's license, you won't need to find a specially-trained doctor. Your family physician can handle the exam. The form that the doctor will need to fill out lists the general physical requirements and gives an idea of some of the tasks that a merchant mariner might need to perform in the course of his duties.

If you have any questions or medical issues that might cause problems, this is the time to discuss them with the doctor. If you have problems that might restrict your ability to operate a boat, such as certain types of color blindness, the doctor can make a fair appraisal of your abilities and report them on the form. This may result in a restriction on your license. For example, you may be restricted to daylight running, vessels of a certain size or to a specific geographic location. But that is a better alternative than trying to explain why you couldn't tell a red light from a green one after an accident.

You may also need to have different doctors sign-off on the form. For example, if you have had laser eye surgery, your family doctor may want to have your eye doctor review the vision section. You may only be getting your license to operate your bass boat as a fishing guide, and you may never intend to take out more than one person, but your license, unless it is restricted in some way, allows you to operate any uninspected passenger vessel up to 100 gross tons, depending on your experience. Your doctor needs to assess your physical and mental abilities in all possible conditions, not just the conditions you plan to operate in today.