The Maritime School Of The West Indies
(MSWI) will commence its first Standard Training, Certification and Watch-keeping (STCW'95) course on October 8 in preparation for the upcoming yachting season. All crew working on vessels (mega yachts, day charter boats, fishing boats, dive boats, charter yachts etc.) with paying passengers must complete the official five-day STCW'95 basic safety course. This comprises Personal Safety and Social Responsibility, Basic First Aid, Basic Fire Fighting, and Basic Sea Survival.
The Simpson Bay-based school said three-day course offered in islands such as Anguilla and the Virgin Islands is not an official STCW'95 course and is not recognized by the Maritime and Coastguard Association (MCA) and will never be recognized by professional captains and owners. The official STCW'95 certificate is requested by International law and local coastguard and port authorities are supposed to do regular controls on board all vessels to enforce this maritime law. Each person who wants to become a yacht crew member needs to be able to swim before entering the STCW'95 course. "The minimum requirement for candidates to be able to embark on a challenging career in the exciting world of the Mega yacht industry is the completion of the five-day STCW '95 basic safety course, although for those with little or no yachting experience we would also recommend considering further courses, such as the 4-day Mega Yacht Crew course," said Maritime School principal, Veerle Rolus.
"There is a world shortage of suitably qualified personnel. Career opportunities are available for both male and female candidates and our school receives requests for crew all the time." MSWI will also offer a new Mega Yacht Stewardess course and a RIB (small tender) course. Other professional courses already available at MSWI include the captain courses Master of Yachts 200 Ton Coastal, Offshore and Ocean, and others. MSWI is a partnership school of International Yacht Training (IYT) Fort Lauderdale and is the only school which is officially recognized by the government of the Netherlands Antilles.
Most of the courses are MCA-approved. IYT is the only company in the world which specializes exclusively in the training and placement of mega yacht crew. Many of the world's finest, most Luxurious yachts are manned by IYT graduates. MSWI also offers a crew placement service which is coupled to the IYT Fort Lauderdale career placement services. IYT and the MSWI are offering the crew placement services free of charge. Interested crew can log in to www.MSWI.org and fill out the crew forms online so that the information may become available in the database. For more information, call 523-1209 or visit the office in Palapa Center and Marina, Airport Road 28.
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