The Four Watchkeeping Regimes
STCW and the COLREGS impose a continuous watchkeeping obligation. As Master, you set the watch — but you remain accountable for its adequacy under all conditions. The examiner will probe whether you can distinguish the four distinct regimes and justify your decisions at command level.
Sea Watch
The baseline regime. The OOW has the conn and is responsible for collision avoidance, course-keeping, and maintaining a proper lookout (COLREGS Rule 5 — all available means). Your obligation as Master is to ensure the OOW is competent, not overloaded, and aware of your standing orders. Standing orders must be written, vessel-specific, and read/signed by each OOW before they take the watch. The OOW must call you without hesitation: define the call criteria clearly in writing and reinforce them verbally.
Key principle: the OOW cannot delegate the watch. A sole OOW must be the sole decision-maker — autopilot, AIS, and ECDIS are aids, not watchkeepers.
Pilotage Watch
Pilotage increases workload and risk simultaneously. The pilot advises; you and your OOW retain command and navigational responsibility — the pilot's presence does not relieve you of that duty. In practice, the Master should be on the bridge throughout compulsory pilotage. Assign a dedicated bridge team: helmsman on manual steering, OOW monitoring position independently (parallel indexing, transits, cross-bearings), and a plotting/communications officer if practicable. Standing orders should specify when manual steering must be engaged before entering pilotage waters.
Distinction: during sea watch the OOW may manage alone in suitable conditions; during pilotage the Master's physical presence is the standard.
Anchor Watch
Often underweighted by candidates. At anchor you have no propulsive momentum to correct a dragging situation rapidly. The watch must: monitor position continuously against a fixed anchor bearing and distance (GPS circle supplemented by visual bearings), monitor weather and tidal stream, maintain engine readiness appropriate to the conditions, and know the order for letting go a second anchor or proceeding to sea. At anchor the COLREGS impose lights, shapes and sound signals (Rules 30 and 35); the OOW is responsible for compliance.
Distinction from sea watch: you are not making way, but you are not safe simply because you are stopped — the hazard is dragging, not collision.
Port Watch
The vessel is secured alongside or at a mooring. The primary concerns shift to security (ISPS, if applicable), fire, flooding, and unauthorised access. A roving or gangway watch is typically maintained. The watchkeeper must know: emergency contacts, fire main status, bilge watch routine, and gangway/access controls. Standing orders should address minimum safe manning for port watches.
The Thread Connecting All Four
In every regime: proper lookout, situational awareness, defined escalation to the Master, and written orders that you have issued and enforced. The examiner is testing you as the person who set the system up — not the OOW who executed it.