Entry & progression
The prerequisite for this certificate is Master <500 GT (Yachts). Chief Mate <3000 GT (Yachts) is NOT a qualifying prerequisite. If you take one thing from this course, take this. It is the most commonly-got-wrong fact in the Australian yacht system, and it costs people a season.
Watchkeeper Deck <3000 GT (Yachts) → Master <500 GT (Yachts) → Master <3000 GT (Yachts).
Chief Mate <3000 GT (Yachts) is a fourth certificate. It is not a rung. It is a side branch, and it hangs off the ladder without holding any weight.
What MO74 Schedule 2 actually says
The prerequisite limb for Master <3000 GT (Yachts) requires the applicant to hold or have held either a Master <500 GT (Yachts) certificate of competency, or another certificate AMSA considers at least equivalent. Chief Mate is not named. The prerequisite limb for Master <500 GT (Yachts) requires a Watchkeeper Deck <3000 GT (Yachts) certificate, or an AMSA-considered equivalent. Chief Mate is not named there either.
Chief Mate appears in exactly one place in the Master <3000 provision: the service-accrual limb. It is one of the certificates you may be holding while you build the 24 months. That is a completely different function. Holding a certificate while you accrue service is not the same as that certificate qualifying you to apply.
WARNING — Chief Mate does not get you here Someone who climbs Watchkeeper → Chief Mate and stops has not reached the gate for Master <3000 GT (Yachts). They must still obtain Master <500 GT (Yachts) — which means going back and doing that certificate's 12 months as officer in charge of a navigation watch. Anyone writing or teaching WK → Chief Mate → Master has the ladder backwards.
So what is Chief Mate for?
It is worth understanding, because the name misleads. Its Schedule 1 permitted duties are word-for-word identical to Watchkeeper Deck: watchkeeper deck officer on yachts <3000 GT in any operating area; rating forming part of a navigational watch; if endorsed, master under 200 GT and under 24 m. AMSA's own page for it says the certificate allows you to perform the duties or functions of a Watchkeeper Deck less than 3000 gross tonnage (yachts).
It requires zero extra sea service over Watchkeeper — the same 36/8/6 months. It is Watchkeeper plus advanced firefighting, plus medical first aid, plus a final assessment. And it does not even require you to hold Watchkeeper first: it requires you to satisfy Watchkeeper's paragraphs. It can be issued as a first ticket.
| Watchkeeper Deck <3000 (Y) | Chief Mate <3000 (Y) | Master <500 (Y) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duties | OOW on yachts <3000 GT | OOW on yachts <3000 GT — identical | Master <500 GT; OOW <3000 GT |
| Extra sea service over WK | — | None | 12 months as OICNW |
| Qualifies you for Master <3000 (Y)? | No | No | Yes |
Read that table until it is boring. A Chief Mate certificate is a good thing to hold — it adds advanced firefighting and medical first aid, and a lot of yachts want the title on the crew list. But it is a lateral qualification with a vertical name, and treating it as the step below command is the trap.