Any advice?

Ok, so I'm starting Dartmouth on the 3rd November and I've been told that I need to learn the 'Rules of the Road' off by heart as I'm going in as Warefare SM.

Over the phases, the Rules of the Road exam comes up in each one, so is it broken down into section A for the first term, B for the second term etc?

I'm just looking at the book, thinking that this is going to be a heck of a challenge. Can any one offer any info on what the exams are like?

Thanks!

 

For some reason you have to be able to quote the rules verbatim, with no experience or knowledge of how to actually apply them in a real situation. Can't remember if tests cover different sections - it was that long ago and I'm an engineer.
As a dabber officer this is your trade. Get used to it.

 

For an aspiring idiot like you - bloody hard ! For someone with a modicum of common dog F - well fairly easy. Think about it, 'Rules of the Road' - it's not bloody brain surgery !

 

The good old basics are not that difficult but the last 40 odd years since I first had to do this have spawned a plethora of new lights daymarhs etc without getting rid of any of the older ones

 

Thanks for the speedy replies! So it is a case of commiting them to memory...no sweat!...

 

The Light on the Right should be Bright

 

deep breath:

where the government of any state has decided that a vessel of special construction or purpose cannnot comply with the provisions of these rules with regard to the number position range or arc of visibility of lights or shapes, as well as to disposition and charactersitics of sound signalling apparatus, such vessel shall comply with such other provisions with regard to the number position range or arc of visibility of lights or shapes, as well as to the disposition and characteristics of sound signalling apparatus, as her government shall have determined to be the closest possible compliance with these rules in respect of that vessel

or something like that- and I haven't done a ror test since January 2005.

BRNC will start things off nice and easy with just knowing what to do in a given situation. The pass mark slowly rises and you have to give more and more detailed answers. The last time all branches sit an ror test is at the end of IST, and by that stage you have to be verbatim. You will do one at least once a month at sea as a dabber- and some ships will test weekly depending on how keen the navs is. You have to be verbatim- or so I was always told- so that you come across better when giving testimony at a court martial or boi.

They don't break it into sections because this is not a modular GCSE! :thumright: An awful lot of what you learn at Dartmouth is learn and dump, but, as a dabber, the ror really are not. You have to be able to quote any of them, off the top of your head, at any time of the day or night. It really isn't difficult. I can still give approximations of them- see above- and I've been outside since 2006 and was shoreside before that so havn't looked in the book for years. It will come and it's not something to worry about before you even get there by any means.

 

A Seaman's Guide to the Rule of the Road (Paperback)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seamans-Guide-Rule-Road/dp/0948254580

 

Thats brilliant! Thanks!

I've got that book sitting beside me! Consider ones mind more at ease.