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ashandcopper · 6 years ago

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Basic Training at SEA Semester

I'm currently in a class at SEA in Falmouth, MA. The past week I have been in BT, or Basic Training, and next week I'll be taking Wilderness First Responder (WFR). If you are planning to work on boats that travel internationally, you will need an international endorsement. STCW-95 is a rating that is required for the entry-level endorsement, Ratings Forming Part of a Navigational Watch (RFPNW) - the international equivalent of the domestic OS/Wiper endorsement. I'll be talking more about ratings and endorsements in another post but for now, I just want to cover what you can expect while in the class.

Basic Training, previously known as Basic Safety Training, is made up of four modules that satisfy the training requirements of STCW, The Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping for Seafarers. It includes an 8-hr First Aid/CPR class, 12-hr Personal Survival Techniques, Firefighting & Fire Prevention, and 4-hr Personal Safety & Social Responsibility. The idea is to raise the knowledge base for sea-going sailors. Many topics in the class were already familiar to me and that was a good thing. I was able to build on my experience with safety equipment and emergency procedures and there was plenty of new material too.

First Aid / CPR On our first day, we had First Aid / CPR taught by Deborah Hayes, an experienced EMT / First Responder. This class was much more comprehensive than the one I took a couple years ago, with topics ranging from wound cleaning, emergency assessment, anaphylaxis, and hypoglycemia. This past year on Kalmar Nyckel we had a string of medical emergencies which I responded to as medical officer. I'm thankful that none of the topics in this class were breezed over; when you are on a ship you have to know this stuff. You must know how to approach patients, assess their condition, and determine if they need to be taken off the boat.

Personal Survival Techniques

This 12-hour class was split into two days and was taught by Jason Quilter and Allison Taylor, both instructors and crew at SEA. A good part of this class was spent in the pool, where we learned how to properly deploy self-inflating life rafts and don Personal Floatation Devices of PFDs. As safety officer on Kalmar, I was already familiar with the means of launching life rafts - either manually with the use of the painter or with the hydrostatic release if the carriage is held underwater by a sinking vessel. Once the life-rafts are deployed, the hard part begins - getting the raft righted, crewmembers inside, and survival at sea (rationing, controlling drift, signaling, etc). If there is time before abandoning a vessel, the crew would don immersion suits, sometimes referred to as "Gumby" suits. Imagine yourself as a floating, rubber, blob with limited dexterity. This is what it's like to be in one of these suits. They do keep you warm, afloat, and - unless you have to don one in the water - dry. A large part of our time in the pool was in these suits, practicing correct entry and chain linking techniques. Later in this class, we learned about flares (got to fire off a couple, too), and distress communications. Probably the dryest part of the class, but super relevant. Communications included major acronyms such as GMDSS, COSPAS-SARSAT, SSB, DSC, etc. Many of these were systems I had seen on Kalmar but knew nothing about. Probably a good topic to write about on its own.

Firefighting & Fire Prevention

This class was held at the Barnstable Fire and Rescue Station. It was comprised of an excruciatingly long lecture but an entirely fun, hands-on training the following day. The lecture focused on the construction of fire and strategies to fight and prevent them. Also discussed were the goals of fighting specific kinds of fires (Class A, B, C, D, K). The hands-on training was probably the most informational. We learned how to don the SCBA masks and gear and practiced indirect and direct firefighting. We also learned how to use water as a barrier and suppress fires to achieve other goals (turning off gas valves, for instance). It was certainly an eye-opening part of the class.

Personal Safety & Social Responsibility

Much of the content for this class I already knew from volunteering at South Street Seaport and yard. How to protect yourself during maintenance work with rust, chipping metal, high VOC paint, particulates, etc. A lot of this is common sense but it does need to be said. Protect yourself or wreck yourself. The materials we work within the maritime industry can cause lots of harm from repeated exposure. Social Responsibility includes topics such as sexual harassment, waste management policy, interpersonal communication. In short, don't be an asshole to others or the earth.

I felt confident that by taking the class at SEA I would get a comprehensive instruction and I wasn't wrong. It would be easy to look at this class as a requirement for licensing, but it's practical and lifesaving knowledge. It was also fun!

On one last note, these classes are not cheap and I imagine for many tall ship sailors they might be even prohibitive. I was fortunate to be a recipient of the Arthur M. Kimberley Crew Development Grant from Tall Ships America, which reimbursed me with half of the cost of the BT class. If you are struggling to afford these classes I encourage you to apply. It only requires a letter of financial need and a reference letter from your captain. It was not hard at all. You also need to be a TSA member, which is $40 annually but your membership goes to supporting an important organization within our industry. It also comes with a subscription to Sea History magazine, which I think is a pretty great publication.

#MMC #merchantmarine #tallship

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