Vincentians participate in regional Navigation Course

Participants from St Vincent and the Grenadines and other RSS member states have spent two weeks at the Barbados Coast Guard Headquarters, HMBS PELICAN, attending a Basic Navigation course, delivered by a visiting training team from the Royal Navy (RN).{{more}}

Certificates of completion were handed out by Victoria Dean, British High Commissioner to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, to participants at the course’s closing ceremony. She was joined by Col Alvin Quintyne, Chief of Staff of the Barbados Defence Force and Lt Commander Howard Clark, leader of the visiting RN Maritime Training Team.

The participants studied a number of areas, including the following topics:

Collision Avoidance Rules, Chartwork, Basic Navigation Plotting, Harbour Hazards, Buoyage, Navigation Safety in Harbour, Command and Control, Coastal Passage Planning, Ship/Boat Handling, Shipping Reports

Participants had the opportunity to put the training to practical use with day and night exercises on board the vessels of the Barbados Coast Guard and the RSS.

Mrs Dean congratulated the participants saying, “You are all at the front line in the all important daily battle to stop illicit and dangerous drugs reaching these shores. You are helping stop the flow of marijuana and cocaine into your respective countries.”