International Yacht Training Florida (IYT), jumps ahead of the curve as always the industry leader, they introduced the first ever ECDIS training for yachties.

As of January 1 2012 begins the process for certifying operators using the ECDIS equipment and will be mandatory for vessels equipped with the EDCIS system under IMO regulations.

The LY2 Large Yacht code will come under this regulation in the near future.

The first ever MCA and USCG certified ECDIS course was given October 24-28 2011 at IYT. With the first four students for the inaugural course the personal instructor attention and hands on time with the simulators enabled a 100% pass rate for this general operators certification course.

The positive feedback from the students included comments on the comprehensive training, relevant real world applications and case studies, that showed how to best use the system. This course is designed to give the users of ECDIS a well rounded over view of the benefits and pitfalls of the system. The practical portion of the course gives time on real time simulators with real world problems and challenges to the bridge team, this gives an enlightening look onto the capabilities of the system.

Since the systems have been introduced the practical application has been revolutionizing the wheelhouse bringing together navigational aids into one user friendly and comprehensive system. As the Radar and GPS gave us tools to aid in navigation that revolutionized and increased safer navigation on the high seas. ECDIS will also improve safety, decrease overall navigation cost while improving economy and provide records for any unforeseen incident by real time logging and hard drive storage of route and other pertinent information.

Personally this course enabled me to bring together the previous knowledge of Electronic Navigation Charts and gave me a comprehensive overview of the benefits of having the ECDIS of my bridge. One of the outstanding benefits was the ability to go to a paperless charting system with automated updates saving me countless hours of time and money doing safety updates and chart corrections. It has many benefits for the owner first and foremost the long-term cost savings of efficient and effective navigation and the benefits of going to a paperless charting system.

 

Tags: charting system, ECDIS, International Yacht Training, navigation, paperless charting, Yacht Training