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The professional title of skipper fails to set sail. After the executive decree that last May established the methods and subjects for taking the exam for “Recreational Navigation Officer 2nd Class“, or the new figure of professional skipper, everything seemed ready to go.
This is excellent news for so many aspiring recreational skippers (about 3,000 according to estimates by Confindustria Nautica) who have been waiting for years for a qualification released from the merchant sector, as well as for dozens of charter companies forced to deal with untraceable professionals and to focus on leasing (unmanned) rather than chartering (crewed). Instead, months after the publication of the decree, no captain’s office, the facilities in charge of conducting the exams according to at least a six-month schedule, has these tests scheduled. Everything is at a standstill. How come?
Blocking the measure would be a set of interpretive, organizational and even economic difficulties that are effectively paralyzing maritime authority commands. Beginning with the criteria for access to the training courses required to access the professional title. Let’s see why.
One of the essential features of the new professional skipper is that he or she is an unprecedented “simplified” figure in the maritime industry. In fact, for the first time, those who work on board are not required to have a seaman’s logbook or registration with the Seafarers’ Registers, nor even an apprenticeship in navigation. A bureaucratic streamlining that has been demanded by the industry for years.
However, among the requirements for the new 2nd Class Recreational Officer is the obligation to pass specific training courses: basic firefighting, medical first aid (First Aid), survival and rescue, personal safety and social responsibility (Pssr). These courses are actually already required by the international convention “Stcw” (Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping) for embarked seafarers and carried out by special authorized institutes, which in most cases require those participating to be registered with the Seafarers. A requirement, the latter, which is particularly stringent especially for the First Aid course to be conducted at public health facilities.
However, as mentioned, the new professional title of skipper does not require registration with the Seafarers. So can new recreational skippers participate in these courses? It is unclear. Nor would it help, in this regard, a circular issued by the Ministry of Infrastructure last May 30 with the peremptory title: “Non-eligibility for Stcw courses of personnel not registered with the Gente di Mare intended to acquire the professional title of Officer of Navigation of the pleasure craft 2nd class.” So: no courses, no qualification? Clarification is awaited. But not only on this.
Among other things, the decree that established the new professional title of skipper in fact provides that instead of the “survival and rescue, personal safety and social responsibility (Pssr)” course, a “personal safety course for offshore sailing” organized by Coni federations or other recognized suitable bodies can be taken. Currently, however, there is only one such course scheduled, the one required by the Offshore Sailing Regulations of World Sailing, the world sailing federation, for participation in the most demanding offshore races. Would this also apply to certifying the recreational officer, or must a specific one be established (as the decree seems to indicate, by the way)?
Also slowing down the start of the skipper exams would be organizational problems. They would still lack the necessary forms and guidance on how to coordinate examination schedules among the various maritime authorities. Last but not least, some Captaincies would report a problem of lack of funds. It costs money to organize the exams (participants in the commissions receive an attendance fee) and no specific funds would be allocated for this new title. An obstacle, the latter, that could be partly obviated by merging this exam with others intended for seafarers. Assumptions. The reality is that everyone is waiting for clarification on how to proceed. It seems very unlikely, however, that the new professional recreational skipper will be able to get off the ground any time soon.
Fabrizio Coccia
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