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From one capt to the another....congrats.
I did mine a few years ago too. I had so many offshore hours that it was a shame not to put them to some potential use and it has been on my personal "to-do" list for about 20 years. Its good stuff to know even if you don't use it in a comm capacity. I stuck around for the masters (it was a cold winter that year with not much going on) . I might get the towing add-on this winter and take another advaced navigation course. I like to talk boating in the winter and these courses are interesting...and you get to meet some great people too. I have met two close and very interesting friends thru these classes. Some of the sea stories you hear are incredable. One of the guys in the class explained how he was helo-rescued when his sailboat was sinking off bremuda, and the nightmares of getting into a life raft in open ocean when it is really rough and your going down. I think the most memorable thing I remember from the class was a movie they showed of a real collision (two big comm fishing boats) at sea on a foggy day. You watched a large comm fishing tralwer sink in less then 30 seconds when the one ship backed off the water flooded in and guys getting pulled down in the rigging, they had no idea what the hell was happening until it was too late. No time to put a pfd on or ready a life raft, only time to jump the hell off. The sound of the final looooooong blast given by the capt as the ship went down put chills in my spine. (really), It was chilling to actally witness this from the perspective of the other boat and hear that sound. It was the sound that says...someone help us we are ****ed.
Again, congrats Capt Van!
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