Treat every syllabus topic as a decision point: who gives way, what action, and what signal. Worked scenarios, a distress-signal comparison table, and a timed sketch exercise turn COLREGs and chartwork into practical readiness for the Transport Malta licenses quiz.
Give-Way or Stand-On: Deciding Your Role Before the Rule Number
The steering rules in COLREGs Part B are conditional: your obligation depends on vessel type, relative bearing and visibility. Identify the situation first, then the role, then the action — never recite a rule number without knowing what triggered it.
Start with the three power-driven vessel situations: head-on, crossing and overtaking (Rules 13–15). Each has a fixed allocation of obligation. In a crossing where you have another power-driven vessel on your own starboard side, you are the give-way vessel; if the other vessel is on your port side, you are the stand-on vessel. Overtaking overrides everything: the vessel coming up from more than 22.5 degrees abaft the beam keeps clear regardless of type or bearing. Drill these as if-then statements, not paragraphs.
The stand-on role confuses learners because it is active, not passive. Rule 17 allows — and in extremis requires — the stand-on vessel to act when the give-way vessel clearly fails to. So 'I am stand-on' is never a complete answer. Practice phrasing both roles: 'I am give-way, I alter to starboard early and pass astern' and 'I am stand-on, I maintain course and speed, monitor the CPA, and prepare a bold alteration if he does not act.'
Worked scenario 1 (crossing): You are in a powerboat making 15 knots; another power-driven vessel is fine on your starboard bow on a steady bearing, closing at about 12 knots. The plausible mistake is panicking about rule numbers and doing nothing, or making a small, late course change that leaves the other skipper guessing. The better decision: you are the give-way vessel, so alter course to starboard early and substantially, pass astern of her, and keep clear until finally past and clear. This matters because late, gradual alterations violate Rule 16's requirement for early and substantial action and are the classic cause of a close-quarters situation between two vessels that both saw the other in time.
Reading Lights and Day Shapes as a Picture, Not a List
Light configurations encode vessel type, activity and aspect. Train yourself to translate a pattern — masthead, sidelights, stern light, all-round lights, day shapes — into 'what is this vessel doing' before you decide any action.
Build the picture from first principles. A power-driven vessel underway shows a masthead light (or two, if longer), sidelights and a stern light. When you can see only one sidelight, you are viewing her from roughly ahead on that side; a single white light abaft the beam suggests her stern, unless it is an all-round light, which points to anchoring, towing, fishing, piloting or restricted manoeuvrability depending on its colour and companions. A vessel engaged in fishing other than trawling shows red over white all-round lights; a trawler shows green over white — the lights tell you she is engaged in fishing, not that gear is physically in the water. A vessel constrained by draught shows three all-round reds; aground shows two all-round reds plus anchor lights.
Connect every pattern to the applicable steering rule. Seeing green sidelight and masthead light means you are looking at a power-driven vessel's starboard side: in a crossing she is on your port side and you are normally stand-on. Seeing red sidelight and masthead light means she is on your starboard side: you are normally give-way. A single white light with both sidelights out of view on a steady bearing from fine on your bow could still be an overtaking situation — check whether you are coming up from abaft her beam.
Worked scenario 2 (overtaking at night): You see a single white light slightly on your port bow and, as you close and draw forward past her quarter, her green sidelight appears. The plausible mistake is treating her as a crossing vessel on your port side, deciding you are stand-on, and holding course. The better decision: recognise that you are overtaking — you are coming up from more than 22.5 degrees abaft her beam — so Rule 13 makes you the give-way vessel whatever the lights suggest, and you must keep out of her way on either side. This matters because the overtaking rule deliberately overrides crossing and head-on allocations; misreading your role here creates risk in the exact encounter where relative speed is highest and closing time is shortest.
Chartwork You Must Do at the Table Before Doing It at Sea
Core chart skills — position fixing, converting true course to compass course, and distance–speed–time work — are examinable on paper. Practice them with instruments and a plotting routine so the sequence is automatic when a question compresses the time available.
Fix a position from at least two cross-checking sources: a bearing plus a visual transit, or bearings on two objects ideally near 90 degrees apart, or radar range plus bearing. A single bearing gives a line, not a position. Understand the three norths and their corrections: chart work uses true courses; the compass reads magnetic plus deviation, so you apply variation (from the compass rose) and deviation (from the deviation card) in a consistent chain — going from true to compass, easterly error is subtracted (compass least) and westerly error is added (compass best).
Drill the small calculations that underpin navigation questions: distance equals speed multiplied by time, so a boat at 9 knots covers 1.5 nautical miles in 10 minutes; doubling speed quadruples stopping considerations but roughly doubles head-on closing rates. Practice plotting a dead-reckoned position from course, speed and elapsed time, then correcting it with a fix. On Maltese charts, note the limited tidal range but do pay attention to charted depths, seasonal weather effects and chart datums — always read the chart's own notes rather than assuming habits from other waters.
Self-contained exercise (25 minutes): take any coastal chart, choose a departure point, and (1) plot a 3-figure true course to a headland 4 nautical miles away; (2) convert it to compass course assuming 2 degrees east variation and 1 degree west deviation — net error 1 degree east, so compass course equals true course minus 1 degree; (3) compute the time at 6 knots; (4) after 'sailing' 20 minutes, plot a DR position; (5) then apply a transferred fix from two bearings and note the difference. Expected observations: your DR position should sit close to the fix if course and leeway were accurately applied; a discrepancy shows how quickly estimated positions drift from measured ones, which is why frequent fixing is the skill, not one perfect plot.
Safe Speed and Look-Out: The Rules That Apply to Every Vessel
Rules 5–8 apply to all vessels in all conditions: keep a proper look-out, travel at a safe speed for visibility and traffic, assess collision risk primarily by compass bearing, and act early so your intentions are unmistakable.
Risk assessment is a specific technique: take a compass bearing on an approaching vessel and repeat it. A bearing that stays constant, with range decreasing, means risk of collision exists — the direction of relative movement points at you. If the bearing draws forward, the other vessel will pass ahead; if it draws aft, she will pass astern. Combine this with the picture from lights or day shapes: a fishing vessel, a vessel under sail or a vessel restricted in ability to manoeuvre changes who gives way under the hierarchy in Rules 9–10 and 18.
Safe speed is defined by conditions, not by a posted limit: visibility, traffic density, manoeuvrability, and the waters themselves. Narrow channels impose their own conduct — proceed as near the outer limit of the channel on your starboard side as is safe and practicable, and remember that small craft should not impede larger vessels that can only navigate in the channel. Any avoidance action must be positive, made in ample time, and easily observable: a bold alteration to starboard for a power-driven vessel is the textbook move; a series of small tweaks is not an action, it is a rumour.
Paper scenario: In fog with visibility of two cables, your radar shows a contact broad on your starboard bow closing on a constant bearing. Mistake: carrying on at unchanged speed because 'I have right of way' or 'I will assess later'. Better decision: reduce speed to a minimum where you can still make way, prepare to stop within half the visible distance, sound the prescribed fog signal, and if the contact closes without resolution, take early stopping action as the safer option rather than a late guess at his intentions. Why it matters: in restricted visibility no stand-on role entitles you to hold on; both vessels must navigate with special caution.
Distress, Urgency and Safety Calls: Getting the Priority Right
Radiotelephony distinguishes three priorities: distress (MAYDAY) for grave and imminent danger, urgency (PAN-PAN) for a safety message about yourself, and safety (SÉCURITÉ) for navigational warnings. Structure, channel discipline and content matter as much as the word used.
Memorise the content skeleton of a distress call — the vessel's name, position, nature of distress, assistance required and persons on board — because under stress you deliver a structure, not an essay. Know the escalation path both ways: a person overboard with the vessel under control may begin as a PAN-PAN, upgraded to MAYDAY if the person cannot be recovered; a fire under control that flares up changes priority immediately. Emergency equipment knowledge pairs with this: lifejackets, liferafts, flares, EPIRB or PLB, bilge pumps and fire extinguishers each answer a specific failure, and paper scenarios should ask which item, in which order.
Practice the whole sequence on paper, including the receiving end. Man overboard procedure is a deck drill as well as a radio event: mark the position on the GPS, post a look-out, approach downwind or from leeward, and have recovery gear ready. Grounding in a non-dangerous position is a different case: check for water ingress, engine damage and tide before attempting to motor off. The exam rewards matching the response to the severity — over-calling MAYDAY for a minor breakdown shows the priority system has not been understood.
Comparison table — the three urgency classes. Before any drill, check that you can state what each prefix means, on what circumstances it is used, and what content follows it, in that order. The prefixes are not interchangeable labels; they set how other stations behave toward your message.
| Prefix | Meaning | Typical use | What follows the prefix |
|---|---|---|---|
| MAYDAY | Distress: grave and imminent danger requiring immediate assistance | Fire out of control, sinking, person in water not recovered, grounding on a lee shore | Name, position, nature of distress, assistance required, persons on board |
| PAN-PAN | Urgency: safety of the vessel or person, no imminent danger yet | Engine failure with the vessel safely at anchor, person overboard with recovery under control | Station addressed, name, position, nature of the situation, intended action |
| SÉCURITÉ | Safety: navigational or meteorological warning to all stations | Drifting hazard, unlit obstruction, severe weather warning for the area | Warning content, area affected, repeat time if applicable |
Maltese Waters: Meteorology and Environmental Duties You Should Link Together
Weather and environmental rules belong in one study block: the same conditions that create hazards — strong seasonal winds, sudden visibility drops — also govern fair weather judgement, and pollution prevention duties apply on every trip regardless of weather.
Learn the wind regimes relevant to the central Mediterranean in general terms: the pattern of prevailing seasonal winds, the difference between a forecast gale and a local sudden squall, and how to read a simple weather forecast into a go/no-go decision for a small vessel. Connect barometric tendency and cloud changes to decisions: a rapid pressure fall and a building southerly regime are a cue to review the passage plan, not to extend it. Beaufort scale recognition matters because forecasts are issued in force numbers and descriptions, so you should know what force 6 means for a small open boat versus a displacement cruiser.
Environmental obligations are procedural knowledge: discharges of oil, garbage and sewage are restricted or prohibited, and the practical rule is to retain waste on board for shore disposal and to be able to explain why bilge pumping or hull maintenance can create a pollution risk. On a quiz this appears as applied judgement — what to do with oily bilge water, where to fuel, how to handle a small spill — rather than as treaty citations. Tie each duty to the sequence of actions: stop the source, contain, report, then clean up under direction.
Paper scenario: A forecast gives force 5–6 from a direction that will make your planned return leg dead downwind in a small open vessel, with the wind expected to increase during the afternoon. Mistake: deciding based on the morning's calm conditions only. Better decision: read the forecast as a trend, move the return earlier or postpone, and state the trigger (sea state building, wind veering and strengthening) that would cancel the trip outright. Why it matters: weather questions test whether you treat the forecast as a decision input over time, not a static snapshot of the departure hour.
A Four-Week Sequence with Readiness Checks You Can Score
Prepare in four passes: rules as conditions, lights and shapes as recognition, chartwork as calculation, emergencies as procedure — then a mixed scenario week. Score yourself against a rubric each week; self-check scores are learning milestones, not predictions of any pass mark.
Weeks 1–2: work Part B of the steering rules as if-then cards covering every combination of power, sail, fishing, restricted manoeuvrability and overtaking; draw ten random encounter sketches and answer role, action and signal within 30 seconds each. Week 3: lights, day shapes and sound signals as flashcards with sketches, plus the chartwork exercise above repeated with different courses and speeds. Week 4: distress, urgency and safety calls on paper, man overboard and grounding sequences, then mixed timed scenarios combining a weather decision, a light recognition and a radio call in one exercise.
Readiness checks to score yourself on: (1) given a sketch, state give-way or stand-on correctly on 10 of 10 attempts; (2) identify a night light configuration and the applicable rule within 15 seconds; (3) complete the true-to-compass conversion and a distance–speed–time computation without notes in under two minutes; (4) deliver a written MAYDAY skeleton from memory with all five content elements; (5) for the 25-minute chart exercise, your DR-to-fix discrepancy should shrink between attempts. If any item falls short, repeat that week's drill rather than moving on. Administrative matters — current licence categories, eligibility and booking — are set by Transport Malta, so confirm them on the issuer's site; this study plan addresses subject knowledge only.
Timed sketch drill, repeatable: shuffle a deck of ten hand-drawn encounter cards (mixing crossing, head-on, overtaking, sail versus power, fishing and fog). For each card, in 30 seconds, say aloud: the situation type, your role, your action, and the sound or light signal if any. Expected observations by end of week two: hesitation should concentrate in mixed hierarchies (fishing versus power, overtaking versus crossing), which tells you exactly which cards to rebuild — the drill diagnoses your weak combinations instead of just measuring total speed.
- Build every rule as an if-then card: condition, role, action, signal.
- Sketch encounters from random bearings rather than rehearsing textbook angles.
- Recalculate the chartwork exercise with new courses until the conversion chain is automatic.
- Write distress, urgency and safety calls from a blank page, not from a prompt sheet.
- Re-run the 30-second sketch drill weekly and track which combinations stay slow.
References and further reading
Use these references to explore the concepts and check the latest information from the relevant organizations.