Alistair Baillie

So thats week one of phase 5 at Warsash down. We all arrived back nice and early at 9am on monday to the wonderful news that the MCA had decided that the “NARAS” component that is built into the foundation degree course is rubbish and that we have to do an individual 36 hour NARAS theory course!

For those doing this course a year behind us, its not a big problem, the college just added it to their phase 3 timetable, however for us they are fast running out of time and have replaced what we expected to be 3 weeks of Orals preparation with 9 – 5 NARAS theory with a bit of Orals preparation dotted around.

One bonus is we now have 3 copies of the notes with 3 different covers – but still with the same mistakes in them!

So… moving on, after the next 2 weeks we all start our short course period. There are 6 short courses in total, which in no particular order are;

• CPSC – Proficiency in Survival Craft & Rescue Boats
• EDH – Efficient Deck Hand
• AFF – Advanced Fire Fighting Course
• MFA – Medical First Aid On Board Ship
• GMDSS – General Operator Certificate
• NARAS Simulator

These take place randomly dotted throughout the months of May and June with me finishing my last short course on the 3rd of July.

The timetable for the next two weeks remains a mystery at the time of writing, however I shall assume it’s probably going to be much the same as last week.