MCA Master of Yachts 200gt - Limited & Unlimited Routes, Oral Exam

Prerequisites

This lesson covers the first MCA Certificate of Competency on the professional ladder: Master (Code vessels less than 200gt), usually called Master 200. Before starting you should:

• Have read the lesson on going commercial: the commercial endorsement, ENG1, STCW basic safety and area categories are assumed.
• Hold, or be working towards, a commercially endorsed RYA Yachtmaster Offshore or Ocean Certificate of Competence, which is the foundation of this certificate.
• Know the Yachtmaster Offshore syllabus thoroughly: the Master 200 oral examines the same ground at a professional standard, with business and law added.
• Hold the SRC, and understand what the GMDSS Restricted and General Operator's Certificates (ROC and GOC) are.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson you will be able to:

• Explain what the Master 200 certificate is, what it allows and why it exists alongside the RYA endorsement.
• Distinguish the Limited (near coastal, 150 miles) and Unlimited routes and the Yachtmaster and GMDSS certificates each requires.
• List the training and certificates needed: STCW basic safety, HELM (Operational), ENG1, GMDSS ROC or GOC, and the sea service.
• Describe the sea service requirement, how service is counted and verified, and the recency rule.
• Explain the Notice of Eligibility process and timescale.
• Describe the two-part oral examination: the online Part A and the oral Part B, and the time limit between them.
• Set out the oral examination syllabus areas and prepare for each.
• Avoid the errors that delay or fail Master 200 applications.

What Master 200 Is

The RYA commercial endorsement allows a Yachtmaster to skipper coded vessels under 200gt under the UK small commercial vessel codes. For many careers that is enough. The MCA Master (Code vessels less than 200gt) Certificate of Competency is the next step: a UK Certificate of Competency (CoC) issued by the MCA under Merchant Shipping Notice MSN 1858 (Amendment 1), the notice that governs deck certification on yachts. It is wanted by skippers who:

• Work on vessels operating under the large yacht codes or under flags that want an MCA CoC rather than an RYA certificate with an endorsement.
• Need a certificate recognised internationally as an STCW document.
• Intend to move on to the OOW (Yachts) and Master (Yachts) certificates, for which Master 200 is a common stepping stone and a way of banking the oral exam experience.

The certificate is also the OOW (Yachts less than 500gt) certificate in the same syllabus: the two share an oral examination syllabus published by the MCA.

Limited and Unlimited

Master 200 comes in two versions, decided by the Yachtmaster certificate and the radio certificate you hold.

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The Unlimited certificate therefore needs the Yachtmaster Ocean, with its qualifying passage and astro navigation, and the GOC, which covers MF/HF and satellite communications for sea areas A3 and A4. If you plan to work on yachts that cross oceans, go for Unlimited from the start; a Limited certificate can be upgraded later by adding the Ocean and the GOC.

The Requirements

The full list for a Master 200 application is:

1. Yachtmaster Offshore or Ocean (sail or power), shorebased and practical, with a current commercial endorsement.
2. STCW basic safety training: Personal Survival Techniques, Fire Prevention and Fire Fighting, Elementary First Aid, Personal Safety and Social Responsibilities. Where PST and FPFF are over five years old, updating training is required.
3. GMDSS ROC (Limited) or GOC (Unlimited).
4. ENG1 medical certificate, in date.
5. HELM (Operational): the Human Element Leadership and Management course at operational level, a three-day course covering situational awareness and risk assessment, communication and teamwork, leadership, workload and fatigue management, and cultural awareness.
6. Sea service, verified.
7. A pass in the MCA oral examination for Master (Code vessels less than 200gt), in two parts.

Sea Service

The MCA requires six months of actual sea service on vessels of any size while holding a Yachtmaster Offshore (or IYT Master of Yachts Limited) certificate. At least six months of qualifying service must have been performed within the five years before the application. Points on counting:

• Service is counted in days and converted to months at 30 days per month; a "month" is 30 days of service, not a calendar month.
• Actual sea service means days on which the vessel was at sea or under way, in the deck department, in the role claimed. Days in port or on standby count under different rules and in limited amounts, as set out in MSN 1858.
• Dual-role service (for example a skipper who also acts as engineer or chef) counts at 50 per cent.
• Standby service (the vessel idle with the crew aboard) cannot exceed the actual seagoing time claimed.
• Service on large yachts must be verified through the Professional Yachting Association (PYA) or Nautilus International under Marine Information Note MIN 543 before it is sent to the MCA; unverified yacht service is the commonest cause of long delays. Service on coded vessels and training yachts is evidenced by testimonials and discharge certificates in the formats in the annexes to MSN 1858.

Keep a sea service record from the first day of your first job, with the vessel's name, flag, official number, gross tonnage, length, your role, dates, days at sea and days in port, and a signature from the master or owner. The lesson on career planning covers the record in more detail.

The Notice of Eligibility

When the certificates and service are complete, you apply to the MCA for a Notice of Eligibility (NoE). The application contains the forms, the original certificates (or certified copies), the sea service testimonials and discharge documents, the verification from PYA or Nautilus where applicable, and identity documents. The MCA processes the application in about 28 days. Once the NoE is issued you are eligible to take the oral examination and you book it with the MCA. The flow is shown below.

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Check every certificate is in date on the day the MCA receives the application, not the day you post it. An expired PST or ENG1 means a rejected application and a month lost.

The Two-Part Oral Examination

The Master 200 oral has two parts.

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• Part A is an online written examination of 15 questions, each with four test points, to be completed in 40 minutes. It covers the knowledge parts of the syllabus (for example collision regulations, buoyage, tides, passage planning calculations) and must be passed before Part B.
• Part B is the oral examination proper, conducted online with an MCA examiner, and must be taken within 12 months of passing Part A. It lasts about an hour and ranges across the whole syllabus with the examiner asking scenario questions and following up answers until the depth of understanding is clear.

The oral is a professional examination and is conducted accordingly: a candidate who cannot state the lights of a vessel engaged in towing or the action in a crossing situation without hesitation will not pass. The examiner is also assessing judgement, in questions of the form "you are master, this happens, what do you do?"

The Oral Syllabus

The MCA publishes the oral examination syllabus for Master (Code vessels less than 200gt) and OOW (Yachts less than 500gt). Its two sections and their topics are summarised below and in the diagram.

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Section 1: Navigational safety

• Plan and conduct a passage, chartwork and position determination. Passage planning with the navigational publications; IALA buoyage A and B; the limitations of electronic charts; radar and ARPA; checking position by all available means; variation and deviation; fixing by bearings and ranges; transits; chart symbols; notices to mariners; tidal heights and streams.
• Meteorology. Sources of information; interpreting forecasts and the characteristics of weather systems; the use of shipborne instruments.
• Maintain a safe navigational watch. The principles of watchkeeping at sea and at anchor; bridge equipment including the echo sounder and NAVTEX; steering control systems and changeover; keeping the navigational record; when to call the master; watch handover.
• Collision regulations. Safe speed; lookout; lights, shapes and fog signals; manoeuvring signals; assessing risk of collision by radar and visually; restricted visibility; traffic separation schemes; narrow channels.

Section 2: Response to emergencies, operational safety and pollution control

• Distress signals and communications. When and how to send distress, urgency and safety messages; pyrotechnics, EPIRBs and SARTs; GMDSS.
• Manoeuvring the vessel. Getting under way; mooring and securing; helm orders and conning; propeller and environmental effects; steering failures; anchoring; winch and windlass precautions; mooring safety.
• Responses to emergencies. Man overboard, collision, grounding, flooding; fire prevention and fire fighting; lifesaving appliances; launching liferafts; survival.
• Pollution prevention. In port and at sea; bunkering precautions; response to a pollution incident; garbage and oily residues.
• Seaworthiness. Watertight integrity; stability characteristics and the effect of weight changes; freeboard; preparation for heavy weather.
• Business and law. The Small Commercial Vessel code and the Large Commercial Yacht Code; the Code of Safe Working Practices; musters and drills; the obligation to ensure a seaworthy vessel; the basics of salvage; safe manning; crew agreements.

Most of Section 1 and the emergencies and seaworthiness parts of Section 2 are the Yachtmaster syllabus examined to a professional standard. What is new for most candidates is business and law: the codes of practice, the Code of Safe Working Practices for Merchant Seafarers, safe manning documents, crew agreements, musters and drills, and the legal duty of seaworthiness. Read the codes; the examiner will ask what they require of you as master.

Worked Example: Planning a Master 200 Unlimited Application

Aisha has a Yachtmaster Ocean (sail) with a commercial endorsement, obtained after a transatlantic qualifying passage as mate. She has worked two seasons as skipper of a 70-foot sailing yacht in the Mediterranean and Caribbean. She wants Master 200 Unlimited.

Her 280 days at sea are 9.3 months, comfortably over the six required and all within five years. Her plan runs: ENG1 this month, HELM and updating training next month, GOC the month after, NoE application in month four, Part A and Part B in months five and six. She spends the waiting time on business and law, reading the codes and the Code of Safe Working Practices, and on scenario practice for the oral.

Common Mistakes

• Applying with service that is not verified or not in the MSN 1858 format. The commonest cause of delay, sometimes of months.
• Counting port days as sea days. Actual sea service is days at sea; the MCA checks.
• Letting PST or FPFF go over five years. Updating training is required before the application.
• Taking Part A and then leaving Part B too long. Twelve months is the limit; after that Part A is retaken.
• Treating the oral as a Yachtmaster exam. The standard is professional and the business and law section is new.
• Choosing Limited when the career needs Unlimited. If ocean work is likely, get the Ocean and the GOC early.
• An ML5 instead of an ENG1. The MCA requires an ENG1 for its certificates.
• Forgetting HELM. It became a requirement for Master 200 and the OOW certificates and is often the item candidates have not heard of.

Summary

• Master (Code vessels less than 200gt) is an MCA Certificate of Competency under MSN 1858 (Amendment 1), built on a commercially endorsed Yachtmaster, for skippers who need an internationally recognised STCW document or intend to climb the MCA ladder.
• Limited (150 miles) needs Yachtmaster Offshore and the ROC; Unlimited needs Yachtmaster Ocean and the GOC.
• Also required: STCW basic safety (PST and FPFF within five years), HELM (Operational), ENG1, and six months of actual sea service while holding the Yachtmaster, with six months within the last five years, verified.
• Apply for a Notice of Eligibility (about 28 days), then sit Part A (15 questions, four test points each, 40 minutes, online) and Part B (the oral, within 12 months).
• The oral syllabus is navigational safety (passage planning, meteorology, watchkeeping, collision regulations) and emergencies, operational safety and pollution control (distress, manoeuvring, emergencies, pollution, seaworthiness, business and law).

Check Your Understanding

1. What distinguishes Master 200 Limited from Master 200 Unlimited?

Answer: Limited is restricted to 150 miles from a safe haven and is built on a commercially endorsed Yachtmaster Offshore with a GMDSS ROC; Unlimited has no area restriction and is built on a commercially endorsed Yachtmaster Ocean with a GMDSS GOC. All other requirements are the same.

1. List the training certificates required for a Master 200 application besides the Yachtmaster and the radio certificate.

Answer: STCW basic safety (PST, FPFF, EFA, PSSR, with PST and FPFF updated if over five years old), HELM (Operational) and an ENG1 medical.

1. How much sea service is needed, and what is the recency rule?

Answer: Six months of actual sea service on vessels of any size while holding a Yachtmaster Offshore (or IYT Master of Yachts Limited), with at least six months of qualifying service within the five years before the application.

1. How is dual-role service counted?

Answer: At 50 per cent.

1. What is a Notice of Eligibility and how long does it take?

Answer: The MCA's confirmation, after checking the application, certificates and verified sea service, that the candidate is eligible to sit the oral examination; it takes about 28 days to process.

1. Describe Part A of the examination.

Answer: An online written examination of 15 questions, each containing four test points, to be completed within 40 minutes, which must be passed before Part B.

1. What is the time limit between passing Part A and taking Part B?

Answer: Part B must be completed within 12 months of passing Part A.

1. Name the topics under "business and law" in the oral syllabus.

Answer: The Small Commercial Vessel code and the Large Commercial Yacht Code, the Code of Safe Working Practices, musters and drills, the obligation to ensure a seaworthy vessel, the basics of salvage law, safe manning and crew agreements.

1. Why does yacht sea service need verification by PYA or Nautilus?

Answer: Under MIN 543 the MCA has delegated verification of sea service on large yachts to the Professional Yachting Association and Nautilus International; unverified service causes severe delays (around 160 days) or rejection.

1. A candidate has 200 days at sea as skipper over the last four years, but 60 of them were on a vessel where she was also the only engineer. How much counts?

Answer: 140 days in full plus 60 at 50 per cent, which is 30, giving 170 days, or about 5.7 months at 30 days per month. She is short of the six months and needs about ten more days at sea.

Sources and Further Reading

• HSS: what is Master 200: Limited and Unlimited, requirements, sea service, two-part oral, NoE timescale.
• gov.uk: certification for deck officers on commercial and private yachts: the official routes and required courses.
• MSN 1858 Amendment 1: the governing notice, including sea service definitions and testimonial formats.
• MCA oral syllabus: Master (code vessels less than 200gt) and OOW (yachts less than 500gt).
• MIN 543: sea service verification on large yachts.
• HELM (Operational) course content.
• RYA: skippering commercial yachts: where the RYA certificates fit into the MCA routes.