You have decided to try. The first thing anybody will ask you for is not your CV — it is your certificates. Without them, no reputable captain can legally put you on the crew list, and no serious agency will send you to an interview. This is where the money starts going out.
STCW Basic Safety Training
STCW is the international convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers. Every crew member, interior included, needs Basic Safety Training before working commercially at sea. It is typically delivered as a course of around five days at an approved maritime training centre and covers, in broad terms:
- Personal survival techniques — life jackets, liferafts, in the water
- Fire prevention and fire fighting — extinguishers, breathing apparatus, a smoke-filled compartment
- Elementary first aid
- Personal safety and social responsibilities — your rights, shipboard life, pollution
There is also a security element (see the next lesson). STCW elements carry refresh/revalidation requirements — commonly every five years for the survival and firefighting parts. Confirm current requirements with your training centre and your flag state.
You will get wet, you will be in a smoke house, and you will carry equipment. It is physically demanding. If you have a medical condition, tell the school in advance.
The ENG1 Seafarer Medical
The ENG1 is the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency seafarer medical fitness certificate, issued by an MCA-approved doctor. Most yachts ask for it, and many flag states accept equivalents.
- Equivalents: other flag administrations issue their own seafarer medicals (for example Marshall Islands, Cayman, Malta and others). Some yachts will accept an equivalent; some will insist on ENG1. Ask what the yacht's flag requires.
- Typical validity: up to two years for adults, shorter in some cases.
- What it checks: vision, hearing, blood pressure, general fitness, mental health, medication, and anything that could make you a risk at sea.
- Outcomes: fit, fit with restrictions, temporarily unfit, or permanently unfit.
Do the ENG1 first, before you pay for STCW. If you are going to fail a seafarer medical, you want to know that before you have spent thousands on training and flights.
What This Course Is Not
These xplor lessons are preparatory study only. They are not STCW, not an ENG1, not a food safety award and not a GUEST certificate. Nothing here certifies you for anything. Do not work at sea without the correct certificates — you put yourself, the crew and the yacht at risk, and you may be uninsured.
Onboard Notes
- Book the medical early: approved doctors get busy at the start of season, and appointments can be weeks out.
- Colour vision, uncontrolled conditions and certain medications can complicate an ENG1. Be honest with the doctor; hiding something is how people get hurt.
- Carry the originals in a document wallet and keep clear scans in cloud storage. You will be asked for them constantly.