Recommendations for learning Colregs - YM Offshore

I learned this stuff almost 40 years ago. Slight exaggeration. :)
I did it with a copy of the rules(now slightly out of date but I still have it)
Flip cards. and the use of colored magnets and a black metal back ground.

I have been helping people to get through this for a long time. Using same.

The best way is flip cards with a friend doing the same thing. Test each other.

A book is good for resolving arguments. there are a variety most a pretty dull. Cockroft is probably the best reference. But might be one of the dullest.

Good for you and good luck. If you have any questions. Instead of being bored with a book. Start rules argument here. :) Quite seriously, a good discussion will make some of the finer points much clearer than trying to figure it out from a book. If you have an instructor ask questions if you are studying by yourself. Ask here. There is a lot of people with all kinds of opinions here. Some are very good.
 
On my YM exam I was asked some quite detailed questions on col regs. I rattled off the light patterns for the cardinal marks no probs, but was then told that was day skipper standard, and how would one distinguish between two say N cardinals close together at night. He also asked what light pattern would never be seen on a port or s'brd lateral mark, and went into some detail about the specific lights a fishing vessel displays when shooting or recovering nets, or indeed getting them stuck.
 
Kwik Decision said:
On my YM exam I was asked some quite detailed questions on col regs. I rattled off the light patterns for the cardinal marks no probs, but was then told that was day skipper standard, and how would one distinguish between two say N cardinals close together at night. He also asked what light pattern would never be seen on a port or s'brd lateral mark, and went into some detail about the specific lights a fishing vessel displays when shooting or recovering nets, or indeed getting them stuck.
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At the risk of making a fool of myself - I hadn't thought about these before -

2 proximate N cardinals: I hadn't thought about it. Is the only choice Fl or QFl? Might explain why sometimes the cardinal mark you see is not the one you'd expect from its bearing from the obstruction!

Light pattern never seen on a P/S lateral mark: certainly the 2+1 signature that distinguishes a preferred channel lateral mark; anything else?

Lights a fishing vessel displays while 'shooting' its nets - I had to look this up and see it's 2 whites vertically - makes sense as that means towing, which effectively it is until the nets have sunk. But embarrassed to say I didn't know this and I'm glad I wasn't asked during my own YM Offshore exam - not sure I'd have made the logical connection.​

Please correct me if I've made other mistakes!
 
Uricanejack said:
Flip cards. and the use of colored magnets and a black metal back ground.
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A friend of mine did his Day Skipper as a teenager in the Cadets. They did light recognition using different-coloured jellybeans on the saloon table - if you interpreted the scene correctly you got to eat the sweets that made it up :)

Of course, the more complicated the scenario the more lights involved and hence the bigger the reward - all very neat :encouragement:

Pete
 
Gladys said:
Seaman's Guide to the Rule of the Road... best £12.50 you can spend for learning IRPCS
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-1. I know lots of people like this and it's an "industry standard" but it seems to be geared towards "less academically inclined" folks with a learning style which might have been in vogue 60 years ago. If I want rote learning I'll just memorise the rules which I believe can be found in the much cheaper "Pocket Book of the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea: A Seaman's Guide" by the same publisher, although my reference is indeed the appendix to the "full" book others seem to favour.

Rules alone + flip cards would be my recommendation.
 
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