Anchors Aweigh!

 

Allow me to pause from complaining about job hunting to tell you about something I’ve been doing this past week that I could not have done were I not unemployed: The Seafarer Readiness Program.

I learned about this opportunity at a recent Worksource Job Fair. Worksource is the Washington version of Missouri’s Employment Security, which I suppose is still a thing.

The Seafarer Readiness Program is a Monday through Friday, 9 – 3 class, for three weeks. The entire class is on a boat, and for 40 hours of class time the boat is underway. Upon successful competition of the class, you come away from it with the Merchant Mariner Credential (MMC) and a Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC card). These credentials are generally required for any job on the water, and to get them you also have to pass a physical, background check (complete with fingerprinting) and drug test, so that’s of value to land-based, non-transportation jobs as well.

Getting these credentials would cost about $600 if you were paying for them out of your pocket. The class costs participants nothing. They even give you a free lunch every day.

The class is funded by the Washington State Department of Transportation. Washington has an extensive ferry system, and those ferries employ a lot of deckhands who need the credentials that this class provides.

In week one, we were familiarized with our vessel, the 110-foot-long Doolin Rogers. I used to think my National Guard boat, with it’s twin-engine, 600 hp diesel engines, was big and powerful. Not compared to the Doolin Rogers, it isn’t. The Doolin Rogers also has twin diesel engines, but its C18 Cats crank out 1,136 hp each. It carries 1,650 gallons of potable water, can handle up to 104 people on board, and can accommodate four crew and 20 passengers. 

We’ve learned some basic seafaring terminology, safety protocols, onboard fire-fighting and how to secure the vessel to the dock, which included knot tying,

The next two weeks will involve more fire training, man overboard drills, deploying the life raft, more knot tying and will get into the basics of navigation and piloting the vessel.

I was a 12-Charlie (combat engineer bridge crewman) in the Missouri Army National Guard, and I used to know the half dozen or so knots we will learn in this class. I soon found in the class that my knot-tying ability has gone the same way as my trumpet playing and high school Spanish – meaning it has vanished without a trace. I’m not going to say how many attempts it took me to tie a basic bowline on Friday. I’ve got it now, though.

The instructors for the class have been top-notch across the board. Mostly this week we had Scott, who

has spent a lot of time at sea and a lot of time as a firefighter. His teaching technique is engaging, bordering on theatrical. He does a great job of holding everyone’s attention.

The class is all about worker-readiness, so it even gets into resume review and interviewing preparation. The curriculum they have put together is impressive.

What isn’t apparent is whether or not there will be any job opportunities following the class. I’m guessing there will be for people willing to relocate, or be gone for an extended time, I’m just not sure anyone will be hiring it good-old Tacoma, or if something does get posted, it won’t have hundreds of experienced applicants.

Either way, I’m learning a lot of good stuff that is valuable to any boat operator, be it commercial or just weekend fun. And I’m having a much better time taking a class down at the marina than I was spending all day on my laptop applying for jobs. I’m still applying for jobs, but I’m able to fit that in during the evening hours just fine. It may cut into my blog-posting a bit, though.