Dear readers,

MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY! - "Help! What was I thinking again? As if I didn't already have enough on my mind!" I thought to myself at the end of this weekend course. For two days on a bitterly cold November weekend, I sat in a small sports boat school together with four fellow participants and tried to fight my way through a jumble of new information. Because this winter, I decided to tackle the subject of sparks. My mission: SRC and UBI. Two licences that will not only give me access to the radio, but will hopefully make me more confident in dealing with emergency calls, locks and all the radio operations at sea and inland.

The exam I am preparing for as I write these lines consists of three parts: The SRC exam begins with the dictation of a marine radio text in English, which must be written down and translated into German. Including the international radio alphabet. - YANKEE, ALPHA, CHARLY, HOTEL, TANGO - check, I can do it.

Then a German maritime text with specialised vocabulary has to be translated into English. Doable for me, but a real challenge for some of my "classmates" who last spoke English at school 30 years ago. In the second part, 24 (SRC) or 22 (UBI) multiple-choice questions on radio rules, technology, channels and operating procedures have to be answered from a considerably large catalogue of questions (180 questions SRC, 130 questions UBI). Okay, that's doable too - if you can find the time to study for it.

What I find really helpful in my busy everyday life is the Delius Klasing learning app. Because I can cram with her spontaneously as soon as I have a free minute. For example, on the train on the way to work. I'm usually staring at my mobile phone anyway - so why not do something useful at the same time? The app works with the index card system. Questions that I'm not sure of are repeated until the answers are correct.

• Learning for next summer - the best courses, webinars, books & co.

But what I still respect the most is the practical part of the test, for which I can't prepare myself one hundred per cent. I have to prove that I can navigate safely through the various programme points of a radio and then send a complete radio message. According to the standardised call schemes, in the correct sequence, without getting confused anywhere. And that's more difficult than I thought. As very few people have a radio at home, it is advisable to do a course where you practise speaking - as banal as that sounds.

If the worst comes to the worst, I also need to be able to differentiate: Is this an emergency? Urgency? Or just safety? When do I say what and in what order and what do I have to repeat and how often? Looking at the different call schemes makes my head spin. Especially when I try to recite the radio messages without the notepad in front of me. In my mind's eye, everything is whirring merrily around, I always forget something. Ship names three times, Calls Sign, MMSI, ship names again, once, Ah crap, I should have repeated the position. Then switching between sea and inland, English and German. Then all the routine traffic with its own channels and its own protocol: Harbours, locks, bridges, you name it. I just hope that the knot will come undone in the exam.

And suddenly I realise why a radio licence is more than just an annoying piece of paper for the on-board folder. In the end, everyone knows that nobody sits at the radio in an emergency in the same way as in the exam and, in case of doubt, still masters every call scheme down to the last detail years later. But the basics provide safety in an emergency and may make the difference at the crucial moment.

Winter is the best time to tackle something you've been putting off for a long time and learn something new. Before the next season starts, before other to-dos slip in between. And I can promise you: once you've started, it's even a bit of fun. And who knows - maybe we'll see you on channel 69 in the spring.

Silence Fini

Jill Grigoleit

YACHT editor

*** Vote/click to see the result! ***

Recommended reading from the editorial team

• Click here for all previous "YACHT Week" columns