Entry & progression
Certificate: STCW Proficiency in Fast Rescue Boats (A-VI/2-2) — to take charge of and operate fast rescue boats, as carried on many larger yachts and offshore vessels. Entry: PSCRB (survival craft and rescue boats). Revalidation: refresher required (typically every 5 years).
Handling a powerful boat
- Understand the FRB, its engine, its construction and its equipment.
- Launch and recover the boat in a seaway, including the single-fall and hook arrangements used.
- Handle the boat at speed safely, allowing for its power, its trim and the sea state.
- Manage the crew, their harnesses and the communications during operations.
A fast rescue boat's speed is both its value — reaching a casualty quickly — and its hazard, because at speed in a seaway the boat can broach, capsize or throw the crew. The coxswain matches the speed to the sea and to the safety of the crew and casualty, keeps the crew harnessed, and handles the boat with the power respected rather than exploited. Launch and recovery from a moving parent ship in a seaway is itself a demanding evolution, done with a briefed crew and the correct hook and fall procedures.
WARNING — Speed and sea state A fast rescue boat's power is a hazard as well as an asset. Match the speed to the sea state and to the safety of the crew and casualty; a boat driven too hard in a seaway can broach or throw its crew.
TIP — Harness the crew and brief the launch The crew are harnessed in a fast boat, and the launch and recovery from a moving ship is briefed and rehearsed. These evolutions go wrong fast, so preparation and discipline matter.