Dear Brian,

I have reviewed you work in putting together various maritime things. You are to be commended for doing a superior job and presenting some thing which will be of great value to those interested. Keep up the good work. Your good work so far will be of great value and will go down in history for many to use in years to come.

Sincerely, Bruce Gillies, Vermont, USA

Hello Brian Strachan Gillies,

We reached your site ourselves and were impressed by the usefulness of the content and the noble cause behind the creation of this unique web resource.

Yours is the first web site that has won award without even applying for a review. It is an honor to consider your site for the Pakistani Maritime Web Awards.

We are delighted and honored to award your website the GOLD Pakistani Maritime Web Award.

The Pakistani Maritime Web Awards have been initiated to encourage those creating website's which intend to promote the maritime industry on the internet to the general public and provide useful information for the other segments of the maritime community.

Successful award winners demonstrate, meet and exceed the following criteria:

Maritime industry related content
Error free coding for most browsers
Choice of colors
Arrangement of graphics
Minimal loading time with respect to page content and
Quality of content.

The Pakistani Maritime web Awards are not given away to every applicant, rather granting of the gold award is very selective and the requirements include, though not limited to, comprehensive maritime content online for general public as well as for the benefit of the industry blended with excellence in web design skills and motives behind the online presence.

"Brian Strachan Gillies a mariner himself has initiated the World's first education website aimed at helping Candidates achieve their Certificate of Competency within the M.C.A. This website is designed to educate personnel to the highest standard yet being basic so everyone can understand it.
Stability and Checks section includes information on Ships Stability, Stability Definitions, Equilibrium, Stability Formulas, Stability Sums made easy, Stability Dangers, Dangers on a Ship, Checks on Deck and Wheelhouse checks.

Compass and Radar section provides help on Chart work, Compass Work, Azimuth Mirror, Passage Planning, Sextant, Radar Plotting and Radar information.

Lifesaving appliances section introduces to Liferaft's, Hydrostatic Releases and Senhouse Slip.

Educational notes and guidelines on the following subjects are a must read for the candidates:

Flooding prevention, Bilge Pumping, Marine Pollution, How to put out a Mayday, Learn about Buoy's, Emergency Anchoring, Hanging block checklist, Helicopter Rescue, Risk Assessment, Ice Accretion, Safe Watch Keeping, Skippers standing orders, Enclosed Spaces and Accidents at Sea.

An excellent section on Rules of The Road is by all means a must for the MCA oral exams. candidates for any class of Certificate Of Competency. It provides most up to date orals questions and answers asked to the candidates by the examiners. A must consult for orals candidates round the globe. We also highly recommend the section on radar plotting.

A photo gallery, links to related government bodies, references to important statutory instruments and M-Notices add greatly to the usefulness of this great resource.

Pleasing colour choice, ease of navigation and fast loading adds to the plus points offered.

We recommend this site to all seafarers at sea as well as at colleges and thank Mr. Brian Strachan Gillies for providing extremely useful information for the benefit of all of us on the World Wide Web. The Pakistani Maritime is honored for granting "Navigation Orals at it's best" the GOLD Pakistani Maritime Web Award and salutes the noble cause behind the creation of this great resource. This being the first web site that won GOLD award without even applying for a site review!!!!"

We enjoyed surfing your site, and we are sure everybody else will too. It is with great pleasure that we give you the Pakistani Maritime Gold Web Award

Alexander Buchan - Mate of the "Atlantic Challenge" PD 197 (5 Star material)

SAFETY AT SEA !
a subject close to every mariner's heart . .
and to the heart of every mariner's wife or child
who expect them safely home for tea.
That's why we have no hesitation in recommending
this link to an amazing website;
NAVIGATION ORAL'S AT IT'S BEST
a truly superb Navigation Educational website,
written by Brian Gillies, an authority in his field.
Whatever you need to know about the sea,
from the 'Rules of the Road', to Fire-Fighting, Safer Fishing,
and Dangerous Cargoes . . it's all here.
It should win awards, this site.
http://www.dovedale-video-studio.co.uk/titles1.htm#safety

Navigation Orals at its Best This site has been created by former fisherman Brian Gillies with the dual purpose of preventing accidents at sea and helping exam candidates achieve a Certificate of Competency within the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). Brian, has done a great deal of research in this area and his website provides a wealth of in-depth information for mariners.
http://members.tripod.com/~merchantships/merchantseamentributelinks2.html

NAVIGATION ORALS AT ITS BEST
This wonderfully educational site is a MUST for any junior deck officers who wish to progress. Brian Gillies has created a fantastic tutorial site on the subjects that all seamen need to know. There are also a few masters who could do with visiting Brian's site too. Easy-to-find index covering subjects from chart work to stability formulas.

http://www.geocities.com/uksteve.geo/award2.html

I would strongly advise anyone who has to sit an Oral Exam to take a look at "Navigation Orals at its Best" website as they are much easier to understand than any other text books I have seen and they're also a joy to read.

Chris Nicholson - Mattanja TN36 - Class 2 fishing skipper

"Navigation Orals at its Best" is invaluable when going for an Oral Exam for any deck ticket (Fishing or Merchant Navy) all the bullshit lawyer words are cut out and explained in human words.

Robert Murray - Standby oil vessel - O.O.W.

I firmly Believe that without the aid of "Navigation Orals at its Best" I would not have completed my Certificate. A lot of work and thought has gone into this website

Graham Willox - M/F/V Polaris - Class 2 fishing skipper

Without the use of "Navigation Orals at its Best" I strongly believe I couldn't have completed my ticket. I have picked up a lot in such a short time by looking over this website which is easy to read and understand, a lot of work has went into this website

Lewis Duncan - Sustain - Class 2 fishing skipper

"Navigation Orals at its Best" is a must for anyone thinking about a mates/skippers ticket. I believe that with the aid of the information provided in the website which is easily understood then the pressure to achieve it is greatly reduced. I think a lot of time and effort must have went into this website and that the standard of information greatly exceeds that of which I received in College

Michael McDonald - Karen Ann - Class 2 fishing skipper

I learned so much more with "Navigation Orals at its Best" website more than I did in class, I strongly advise anyone to get into this website, I can't see how anyone could pass without it.

William Bellamy - Class 1 fishing skipper

"Navigation Orals at its Best" is great, so much that it made my job much easier. My ticket is as good as in the bag, I'm home and dry

Brian Ritchie - M/F/V Helenus - Class 2 fishing skipper

"Navigation Orals at its Best" makes the job a lot easier, a lot of work and time was put into it. Everyone that sits these tickets should check out the valuable information in this website

Michael Plowman - Ross Anne - Class 2 fishing skipper

"Navigation Orals at its Best" is first class "Brilliant" a great help for my orals if it was not for this website my orals would not have been so easy as they where

Darren Patience - Pizalga - Class 2 fishing skipper

I Highly recommend "Navigation Orals at its Best without it I wouldn't have passed my oral's. I learned a lot from it and I can't take my eyes off it now, I would recommend it to anyone coming to sit a mates or skippers ticket. I learned more from this website than I did in 3 MONTHS at the college

Scott Milne - Tranquility - Class 2 fishing skipper

The information contained in "Navigation Orals at its Best" is LETHAL and a must for anyone going for their ticket. There is so much information involved that I know of where I would have found it, but this website has it all, I got it in a simple and fun manner making it a joy to read

Robert McBain - Sedulous - Class 2 fishing skipper

I recommend this website to anyone, I learned more from this website than at college, I know for a fact I would have struggled with my orals without it.

John Bremner - Polaris - Class 2 fishing skipper

The information contained in this website stand you in good stead, whether you are doing a fishing ticket or a merchant navy ticket, the lights and manoeuvre's tips are concise and to the point and take the pressure off the orals

I was asked a lot of questions that where not asked in the college, "Navigation Orals at its Best" has them all, every question I got asked was in this website. It's PERFECT, laid out nice, easy to pick up and is a must for achieving any certificate

Kevin Fraser - Utility/Resilient - Class2 fishing skipper

The information in this website was useful and helpful towards me passing my Merchant Navy O.O.W. Oral Examination

Grahame Duthie - crew member of Fraserburgh Lifeboat and supply vessels - O.O.W.

"Navigation Orals at its Best" website has everything you need for a Certificate of Competency. Everything is simplified, its a blessing I found this site

Alister Watson - Ability - Class 2 fishing skipper

This website puts things across the way I can understand them, they have given me lots of confidence as I can understand everything I need for an oral exam, I would advise anyone to check it out

Leeroy Smith - BF 219 - Class 2 fishing skipper

"Navigation Orals at its Best" is simple to read and understand. This allowed me to pick up information and situations more easily. Demonstrations are in graphic detail too

Ewan Robertson - Crystal River - Class 2 fishing skipper

I would advise anyone unsing the website "Navigation Orals at its Best" to study through it all, they are simple and easy to understand

Graeme Slater - Eshcol - Class 2 fishing skipper

Lots of useful information, broken down in simple terms thus saving a lot of time, the oral exam is a nightmare, you have to do a lot of research for it, but "Navigation Orals at its Best" saved me a lot of time as everything I needed was in the website. The graphic details of situations made it a lot simpler, the tips made it 100% easier, would not have made it without it

Leith Thompson - Maranatha 3 - Class 1 fishing skipper

Brian's website is very useful and without it I would not have passed my Oral exam first time (yup I said first time) Brian has got it together thinking about safety at sea, its always too late when seafarers always think about safety after its too late, its time the world got with this program.

Ian Bruce - Skipper of the M/F/V "Holly B" Class 1 skippers