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SKILL-BASED OPERATOR CERTIFICATION

Certification of operators is intended to assure that any person who operates a NOAA small boat has passed minimum criteria relating to knowledge and skill. The wide range of operational risks inherent in the vast array of NOAA small boat operations dictates that field activities must be responsible for implementing operator skill certification criteria. The importance of text-based training and evaluation toward establishing and verifying a basic knowledge base for all small boat operators is not superceeded or replaced by certification through demonstration of practical skills.

Skill criteria should be used:

1. in conjunction with underway time accumulated with out accident in order to establish "grandfathering" criteria for existing operators,
2. to supplement the minimal operator training criteria in NAO 217-103 when that criteria is not sufficient or not applicable to address specific operational risks, or
3. as a means to ensure that boat operations are conducted in a safe and professional manner which, when visible to the general public, will reflect positively on NOAA.

The following exercises involve various degrees of small boat handling expertise and can/should be considered in developing skills-based certification criteria. For skill based certification to be meaningful, the successful demonstration of the skills must include specific criteria for evaluation and passing. For example, being able to dock a boat with out causing a 2" bolt standing on its head to fall over, is a specific criteria for passing a docking exercise.

High Speed Operation and Handling

• Describe cautions to take when bringing a boat up to full speed, identify engine RPMs for full ahead
• Demonstrate bringing the vessel up to full speed
• Demonstrate and describe importance of maintaining a proper lookout
• Conduct tight radius turns without causing propeller cavitation and describe signs of propeller cavitation
• Demonstrate high speed avoidance techniques including turns and emergency astern
  

Close Quarters Maneuvering

• Maneuver boat through 360 degrees within two boat lengths by utilizing back and fill turns
• Maneuver boat astern around obstacles/bouys
• Maneuver boat through anchorages

Docking/Undocking

• Demonstrate use of various lines (fore and aft spring, endlass, breast, stern, bow) in getting away from and alongside a dock
• Demonstrate docking and undocking in currents and wind
• Demonstrate mooring a boat in a slip

Anchoring

• Demonstrate dropping anchor, setting anchor, selection of proper scope for bottom characteristics
• Describe effect of scope, bottom type, and environmental conditions on anchor watch radius
• Raise anchor and dicuss tactics or cautions in freeing fouled anchors

General Operations

• Maneuver and hold station within 1 boat length of a fixed object (buoy, mooring, piling)
• Maneuver and take an adrift object alongside and aboard the vessel (PFD, float)
• Deploy and retrieve SCUBA divers
• Demonstrate coming alongside an underway vessel

High Risk Operations

• Describe risks and demonstrate proficiency for landing and launching boats from low energy coasts
• Describe risks and demonstrate techniques for landing and launching boats in high energy coasts (Surf Zone or Beach landings).
• Describe risks and demonstrate techniques for towing vessels alongside or astern
• Describe risks (stability and general risks) and demonstrate deploying and retrieving fishing gear or heavy apparatus

Miscellaneous

• Demonstrate safe speed and navigational techniques for various situations including reduced visibility, heavy weather, or large traffic avoidance
• Describe precautions to take prior to encountering heavy weather
• Identify of signs of impending weather
• Identify local hazards to navigation