Mates/Masters Orals - COLREGs Questions, 1st Ed

Published: July 2025

In depth knowledge and application of the COLREGs is absolutely critical when preparing for any CoC oral exam. This publication (part of the Mates/Masters Orals series) aims to provide you with comprehensive and practical support, helping you build a solid understanding of all key areas.

While there are countless combinations of navigation lights and shapes, this guide focuses on those that are truly essential for examination success and professional competence. This guide comprises of 4 sections as follows:

1.Colregs

When we learn the collision regulations, we often learn one rule at a time. However, we must understand that in a real world scenario, multiple rules apply at the same time. Hence the correct interpretation and application of the rules is key to success in the exams.

This Guide is based on scenarios that break each situation down in to three key steps, assessing the situation, then applying them in a manner and style that clearly demonstrates your knowledge to the examiner and will remove the need for the examiner to have to probe with follow-up questions to determine your comprehension of the Colregs.

2.Radar

Understanding Rule 19 ?Navigation in Restricted Visibility? is typically assessed as a follow on question to radar plotting. In addition to covering a solid base of radar situations, this section will cover the most common mistakes which candidates make in these questions such as interpretations and clarifications on a vessel being overtaken and the specific term 'shall avoid' in the context of Rule 19 and will present scenarios where altering for one vessel for which risk of collision exists, creates a new collision risk situation with another vessel.

3.Buoyage

This section will discipline you to ensure you study the buoy carefully, before attempting to answer the question. It will deal with preferred channel marks and how to address 'top marks' that are 'CAN' in or 'CONE' shaped and you will learn that the colour of the buoy will not affect your action, but it will help you identify which IALA region you are in.

4.Lights

This section will drill you on the 4 structured responses to each light scenario that will satisfy an MCA examiner at every CoC level.

Other aspects that you will learn are:

• How do you determine the length of a vessel and what are the vessel types where length cannot be determined?
• Which vessels switch ON their side lights and stern light when making way through the water?
• Which additional lights will a vessel that is RAM have on?
• Which vessels when underway are possibly making way?

These 4 sections combine to make the ultimate primer in preparing candidates for the Colregs aspect of their oral examination.

Contents Listing:

1. Colregs

2. Radar

3. Buoyage

4. Lights