The Skipper’s Companion E-Book

 

Twenty six years ago, the idea to write a quiz book germinated in my mind
to help National Coast Guard (NCG) boat coxswains, as well as skippers in
general, achieve higher nautical education. Inspired by the way ‘Collision
Regulations’ were taught at the US Coast Guard Training Centre in Virginia
USA during my training under the Officer Candidate programme, I had
envisioned as from 1998, a quiz book covering various subjects in line with
internationally recognised standards of skipper competence.
The book was intended to motivate the learner to extract knowledge from
those Books of Reference (BRs), Nautical Publications (NPs) and International
Marine Legislations Handbooks which I started reading as a young trainee
in the NCG. But the problem was that these BRs, NPs and Handbooks were
not available on the Mauritian market. Even today, they have to be ordered
from abroad or bought on the internet at hefty prices. I therefore put the
project on hold.
Many years later, I felt that there was a need for an instruction book to
provide quality nautical education and especially one which would also be
helpful to those who did not understand English. I then switched my focus
to creating “Le Guide du Skipper”. The slow but palpable success of the
book encouraged me to come up with its English and French versions“The
Skipper’s Guide”. But I never detached myself from my initial project and
decided to dedicate an hour every morning to work on it. “The Skipper’s
Companion” which you are now holding in your hands is what I initially
intended to produce.
This quiz book is purposely structured in such a manner that the reader
will naturally upgrade his nautical knowledge as he will progress through
the quizzes. Navigational safety in all weather conditions is of paramount
importance. This is why overriding emphasis has been laid on ‘Collision
Avoidance’ by setting 150 questions on this crucial subject. Likewise, the set
of questions under each subject is destined to steer the reader towards the
appropriate study sources. But in no way, is this quiz book some kind of
alternative to time-honoured BRs and NPs on the science of seafaring.
I strongly believe in the saying ‘A little knowledge is dangerous’ and even more
so, at sea. Experience has proved that without a thorough understanding
of the nautical subjects and their practical applications at sea, a skipper
would be jeopardising human lives including his own. It is my deep-rooted
conviction that a skipper should not operate a boat at sea if he does not
have or does not aspire to have what is termed as ‘the seaman’s eyes’.
This quality is not obtainable in any nautical school. It is rather developed

through meticulous observation of good seamanlike precautions over
time, coupled with a flair for what can go wrong. A good skipper is one
who can anticipate problems at sea by paying keen attention to signs and
symptoms and then immediately takes preventive or mitigating measures.
My experience at sea has taught me that nothing just happens. There are
always precursors but sometimes we fail to recognise them either because
of overconfidence or poor sense of appreciation.
To conclude, I would like to thank all those skippers including my buddies at
the National Coast Guard who have reportedly appreciated my past works
aimed at enhancing safe boating operations in Mauritian waters. I need to
stress on the fact that even though I no longer wear the white glorious NCG
uniform, I am still a Coastguard man in body, mind and spirit.
I can just hope that aspirant NCG bridge watchkeepers, boat coxswains
and the skipper community will find this quiz book helpful.

Captain O. Kishun