Orals Revision: Maintaining a Safe Navigational Watch (Master 200/OOW 500 Yacht Route)

Orals revision card — Master (code vessels less than 200 GT)/Officer of the Watch (yachts less than 500 GT) Oral Examination Syllabus, Section 1.3 'Maintain a Safe Navigational Watch' (MCA, gov.uk, updated 17 June 2026). Small-vessel/yacht route — a different syllabus from the Unlimited CoC track covered elsewhere in this series.

The Authority Behind This Competence

• A thorough working knowledge of navigational watchkeeping principles at sea and at anchor, benchmarked explicitly against STCW Code A-VIII and the ICS Bridge Procedures Guide — know that these are the reference documents examiners expect you to be aligned with

Equipment & Systems

• Practical use of bridge equipment, including the echo sounder and Navtex
• Steering control systems, including the autopilot, and the operational procedure for changing over between manual and automatic control in both directions

Watch Discipline

• Maintain navigational records properly — this is a recurring examiner theme, not a formality
• Know the circumstances that require calling the Master to the bridge, and don't hedge on this in the oral
• Understand the principles for handing over and relieving a navigational watch correctly

Quick Self-Check

• Which two reference documents does this competence explicitly cite as the standard for watchkeeping principles?
• Give three circumstances that would require you to call the Master to the bridge.
• What should you check before formally taking over a watch from another OOW or the Master?

Test yourself: Navigation · Safety Knowledge Checks.

Related Reading

• BML Revision: Bridge Watchkeeping & Navigation — the Boatmaster's Licence version of watch discipline fundamentals
• OOW Revision: Seagoing Service & Watchkeeping Evidence — how watchkeeping duty gets documented and evidenced on the Unlimited route, useful context even though the syllabus differs