A new course is available for students at the Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training and Education.Last month, a group of eight Seafarers became the first to complete the school’s new 30-hour fast rescue boat course—a U.S. Coast Guard-approved class which satisfies the requirements of Table A-VI/2-2 of the STCW Code.
As with virtually every other course available at the Piney Point, Md. facility, the fast rescue boat curriculum blends hands-on training and classroom instruction. Students receive practical assessments each day; they must also pass a 50-question test.
“It’s a fast-paced class,” stated Paul Hall Center instructor Stan Beck (with no pun intended). “A lot of newer ships have these types of boats and the davits to launch them. The intent is exactly what the name suggests—faster rescues.”
Beck pointed out that the center’s fast rescue boat is jet-driven (like those carried aboard ship), and the absence of propellers helps ensure safety during the class. The boat has a rigid hull and can stop very quickly—from 30 knots to a complete stop in one boat length.
The course’s hands-on components include familiarization with the boat, pivot turns, sector searches (utilized when there’s evidence of mishap, such as a capsized boat) and expanded-square searches (embarked upon when mariners essentially are making a “best guess” about the possible location of someone in distress).
Other practical training involves approaches to the training vessel Osprey, under way at 6 to 8 knots, and securing a line from the vessel that keeps the boat alongside (as may be done when transferring people).
Predictably, everyone who takes the class gets wet. That’s because students are required to swim two boat lengths, and each mariner takes a turn as the “man overboard.” The other members of the class then simulate different types of rescues—“direct” for an unconscious victim, indirect for one who’s conscious. The latter technique uses a rescue line.
A second fast rescue boat course was scheduled for late August, and the school plans to schedule additional classes on a regular basis.
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