Getting seamanship experience in Highschool...?

[JamesJim]

I was looking into Cal Maritime, and I read that if I submit a resume with my seamanship and leadership experience that will also be considered in my application.
Thing is, I have no clue how to get that experience... Can anyone shed some light on how I could obtain some solid experience in two years, or is there really nothing I can do?

Also, this is rather random but I am finishing up my Private Pilot's license now - do you think I could use that as a leadership experience or whatever and if so, would that boost my acceptance probability?

Thanks in advance,
James

[tugsailor]

Where do you live?

[JamesJim]

Central Florida - so I have two ports within 1-2 hours of me. Canaveral and Tampa.

[brjones]

Sea scouts

[dredgeboater]

Most definitely Sea Scouts.

[SSG33]

They're sea scout ships all over the SF Bay, Delta, Santa Cruz, and SoCal. Message me if you have any questions.
By the way almost every "ship" wants more youth 13-21

[JamesJim]

Where do you live?

I live in Central Florida.

[tugsailor]

I am impressed by a high school student with a private pilot's license. I think most people will be.

I suggest that you go for a summer course at Hurricane Island Outward Bound School. You will learn a lot of very useful nautical and life skills in a short time. You will also make contacts that will help you find your first boat job.

Beyond that, make sure that you take, and do well in, high school math and physics classes. Take honors or AP physics and calculus, if possible.

[brjones]

If you live in FL then why CMA? Florida gets instate tuition to NY and Mass dont they?

[LI_Domer]

Yea I would think staying East Coast would be better.

[PaddyWest2012]

If you want seamanship experience in high school get a job as a mate or a deckhand on a charter boat somewhere on the east coast. Not a boose-cruise striper-fishing boat but a day-sailer like a schooner or something. That's where I started, more or less, and it was the most fun I've had in my entire life, especially when you live aboard. It also taught me how to manage a crew, maintain a vessel, and run a boat in general. Depending on where you are the money's not bad for a high school student either. My last summer doing it I took home around $400-$500 per week, which is hardly an OSV but that's not bad for pocket cash when you're a teenage with relatively low personal expenses.

About your pilot's license: with a little more time and effort I'm told you can get your helicopter endorsement, or whatever they call it, on your private pilot's license. If you were willing to take the time and effort to do that I can tell you that that would take you a long way in one particular sector of the maritime industry: private yachts. If an owner can pay you to be their mate/captain/deckhand/what-ever AND their private chopper pilot, then so much the better! Two birds with one stone. A pilot's license is most definitely a serious competitive advantage when it comes to yachts.

I can't speak to this on any personal level but I have a suspicion that a chopper pilot's license might also help to a certain degree in the off-shore supply industry. I know most, if not all, of the rigs in the gulf, and indeed many of the vessels down there as well, have helipads and frequently do crew transfers and small supply-runs that way. If a company can hire a mate or a captain who can second as a back-up pilot for one of their choppers, then that could potentially put you a step above the rest.

Also about maritime academies, good to see you're looking ahead, I know I was early in high school, but don't leave any of the big six out (Maine, Massachusetts, Texas, California, Great Lakes, and Kings Point). If there is something you like in particular about Cal-Maritime that's fine, but don't forget that each one has things going for it that the other five don't have (except maybe Kings Point, they're having a pretty hard time lately so be careful there).

Just in the interests of shamelessly plugging for my own alma mater I can tell you that if you were to attend Maine Maritime Academy you could graduate with a 1600-ton mate's license (the largest tonnage license without being unlimited) and a towing endorsement (both HIGHLY marketable things), all without having to spend 4 years in the regiment and just living like a normal student at any other college, which is something you cannot do at any other of the big six maritime academies. MMA's graduates also have highly competitive job placement and starting salaries with the other maritime academies.


Good luck in your endeavors and godspeed! If you ever come up to visit Castine (Maine Maritime) send me a PM and I'll see you get a good tour!

- PaddyWest

[cmakin]

I don't believe that having a helicopter pilot's license will help one land a job in the GOM (except maybe with a helicopter company). Just about all of the helicopters flying offshore (maybe even all) are contracted with an operator like PHI, ERA, AirLog (or whatever they are calling themselves now). Of course the license, unlike maritime, are equipment specific, as well.

[tugsailor]

Don't waste your time in a limited license program, like MMA's 1600 ton. Go to school for an unlimited license and get a real 4 year college degree.

[PaddyWest2012]

Don't waste your time in a limited license program, like MMA's 1600 ton. Go to school for an unlimited license and get a real 4 year college degree.

If you think getting an unlimited license is more worthwhile than a 1600-ton, I can understand that, there are certainly pros and cons to both. Neither of them is the be-all, end-all, golden prize of the maritime industry and at the same time neither is anything to sneeze at. At the end of the day it all comes down to "to each his own." The pros and cons of license size aside though, be careful when you knock the education of Maine Maritime's 1600-ton program. It is the same 4-year "bachelor of science" degree that you get from the unlimited program. The V.O.T. students (1600-ton) sit side by side with the M.T.O. students (unlimited) in 80-90% of classes during all 4 years.

The real difference in the education comes in that the V.O.T. program has a small engineering component, enough so that a mate or captain could at least be conversant with the members of their engine department. During that portion of the course of study students in the M.T.O. major take classes that focus more on big-picture management topics like ship's business and paper work, management communications, and things of that nature. Whatever might have been said of the 1600-ton program in the past it is now fast becoming highly competitive with its unlimited license counterpart.

Below are links to the laid-out curriculum of both majors. You can see that even though the two majors don't always take things at exactly the same time in the curriculum most of the classes are, in fact, the same.

Marine Transportation Operations (M.T.O.)

Vessel Operations and Technology (V.O.T.)

[tugsailor]

If you think getting an unlimited license is more worthwhile than a 1600-ton, I can understand that, there are certainly pros and cons to both. Neither of them is the be-all, end-all, golden prize of the maritime industry and at the same time neither is anything to sneeze at. At the end of the day it all comes down to "to each his own." The pros and cons of license size aside though, be careful when you knock the education of Maine Maritime's 1600-ton program. It is the same 4-year "bachelor of science" degree that you get from the unlimited program. The V.O.T. students (1600-ton) sit side by side with the M.T.O. students (unlimited) in 80-90% of classes during all 4 years.

The real difference in the education comes in that the V.O.T. program has a small engineering component, enough so that a mate or captain could at least be conversant with the members of their engine department. During that portion of the course of study students in the M.T.O. major take classes that focus more on big-picture management topics like ship's business and paper work, management communications, and things of that nature. Whatever might have been said of the 1600-ton program in the past it is now fast becoming highly competitive with its unlimited license counterpart.

Below are links to the laid-out curriculum of both majors. You can see that even though the two majors don't always take things at exactly the same time in the curriculum most of the classes are, in fact, the same.

Marine Transportation Operations (M.T.O.)

Vessel Operations and Technology (V.O.T.)

If someone is going to spend the same amount of time and money to get a 4 year B.S. degree, I certainly cannot see any reason to take the track for a --- limited license, when an UNLIMITED license is available for the same time, money, and effort.

The only downside, if it is a downside, to the unlimited license track is mandatory participation in the regiment. If someone doesn't want to put up with the regimental aspect, then they may not like the crap that comes with going to sea either. Of course, if one doesn't like the idea of the regiment, that tilts the deck in favor of CMA or GLMA where the regiment is a very very minor part of the program.

[Traitor Yankee]

The real upside to the VOT (it was SVO when I was there) program is the amount of actual seatime you accrue outside of school while there. I left school with nearly enough time to sit for 500 mate NC without the schools time. You do three cadet ships instead of one and if you work more than the required time it can really pay off.

[LI_Domer]

Consider SUNYMC too, although the current administration seems to enjoy hiring naval officers who were forced out because of their controversial treatment of Detainees.... Somehow they think military prison command time makes them specially suited for a career in a military college.

Still the academics are good, and great networking.

[PaddyWest2012]

If someone is going to spend the same amount of time and money to get a 4 year B.S. degree, I certainly cannot see any reason to take the track for a --- limited license, when an UNLIMITED license is available for the same time, money, and effort.

The only downside, if it is a downside, to the unlimited license track is mandatory participation in the regiment. If someone doesn't want to put up with the regimental aspect, then they may not like the crap that comes with going to sea either. Of course, if one doesn't like the idea of the regiment, that tilts the deck in favor of CMA or GLMA where the regiment is a very very minor part of the program.

I don't disagree that the unlimited license has more of an obvious appeal (bigger is always better, right?) but now more than ever it's not just about what license you have but also about what comes with it. The V.O.T. program is diversified in a unique way that provides its graduates with not just a very large (even though not unlimited) license but also a skill set, the combination of which at this time seems to be unrivaled in the other maritime academies. V.O.T. graduates leave school and enter the industry with not only the license but also a strong background (for deckies, that is) in diesel engineering and general vessel systems (electric, gray water, black water, potable, desalination, hydraulic, refrigeration, the list goes on) as well as marketable endorsements such as towing (via the school's real and fully functional tug and barge unit).

My argument is not that the V.O.T. program is the best major out there, or even that Maine Maritime Academy is the best academy in the country, but what I do feel very strongly about is that both the V.O.T. program and Maine Maritime Academy have a lot going for them and are so much more than they were even just a couple of years ago. I believe that the program is worthy of equal consideration with an unlimited license program at any academy, anywhere in the country. I completely understand the sentiment that was felt towards this program when it was just a 2 year, 200-ton program but those days are long gone and MMA's limited license program and students are making a good name for themselves in the industry.

[z-drive]

I don't disagree that the unlimited license has more of an obvious appeal (bigger is always better, right?) but now more than ever it's not just about what license you have but also about what comes with it. The V.O.T. program is diversified in a unique way that provides its graduates with not just a very large (even though not unlimited) license but also a skill set, the combination of which at this time seems to be unrivaled in the other maritime academies. V.O.T. graduates leave school and enter the industry with not only the license but also a strong background (for deckies, that is) in diesel engineering and general vessel systems (electric, gray water, black water, potable, desalination, hydraulic, refrigeration, the list goes on) as well as marketable endorsements such as towing (via the school's real and fully functional tug and barge unit).

My argument is not that the V.O.T. program is the best major out there, or even that Maine Maritime Academy is the best academy in the country, but what I do feel very strongly about is that both the V.O.T. program and Maine Maritime Academy have a lot going for them and are so much more than they were even just a couple of years ago. I believe that the program is worthy of equal consideration with an unlimited license program at any academy, anywhere in the country. I completely understand the sentiment that was felt towards this program when it was just a 2 year, 200-ton program but those days are long gone and MMA's limited license program and students are making a good name for themselves in the industry.

Yes and yes. The engineering background has proved invaluable. Guess there are a few us us "svo" folks on here.

[tugsailor]

Yes and yes. The engineering background has proved invaluable. Guess there are a few us us "svo" folks on here.

Practical hands on engineroom experience certainly is an advantage. My experience as a deckineer and an unlicensed engineer has certainly served me very well.