RYA Dayskipper Course

[sailingdog]

Sorry, it's an invitation only gig... qualifications for invitation have to do with appearance and gender... and you don't qualify on either count.

Originally Posted by nolatom

Dog, I note the "20,000 Posts" above, and in only 2 years.

Drinks are on you? Where/When? ;-)

[Boasun]

Gesh!! Seeing that I'm an instructor for USCG 100/200 Master/Mates Licenses.
From what I read here: My 1600 Ton Master / 2nd Mate Unlimited Upon Oceans, GMDSS Radio license, Able Seaman Document, ARPA/Radar endorsement, must mean something here? So where do I fit in this certification mess?? I have taught sailing for the Naval Yacht Club San Diego CA. way back when... I won't go into on how long about it was, but it was a great while back. Have sailed on the S/V Lady Washington a few times and the schooner Diosa Del Mar out of San Pedro CA for awhile. But most of my time has been on Assorted Classes of Ships and Offshore Service vessels for the oil fields. And this isn't even counting my Navy time.
So where would I fit in here?

[nolatom]

Boasun,

I know only the US system, where you need the government license to be legal carrying even one passenger-for-hire. Maybe other nations place more stock in private school certificates. ASA and USSA are prominent in the US, but have no official standing. As an instructor, you can have all the ASA teaching certificates there are, but can't lawfully take paying students out on an auxiliary sailboat. I can, and do sometimes

I scanned RYA, the summary for YachtMaster said they could take a novice to master in their four-month course?

Really? I don't doubt the instruction's excellent (from what I've heard of their reputation). But four months?

My 100-ton aux sail license took two years' time, plus an additional year of sail (if I recall correctly), to sit for the exam. Yours is a much bigger license, and deep-water to my near-coastal, and you've done a lot of teaching. But I think comparing Coast Guard licenses to the private certificates is a bit like apples to oranges.

[sailingdog]

Nolatom—

Most of those RYA four-month courses are four-months of five or six days a week, and eight-to-twelve hours a day... they're not night course, they're more like boarding school from what I've been told. Several of my friends hold RYA Yachtmaster certificates...and they're pretty rigorous—far more so that ASA or USSA certs are and one reason they're recognized in most of the world.

[nolatom]

No doubt it's an excellent program, but is four months, even at the best of schools, enough *time* to make from a novice a master of a large yacht, responsible for others' safety under any conditions? What's the maximum size or tonnage they are signing you off for?

To me the term "Master" means someone who has more sea time than that.

Sorry to sound like a skeptic, but I don't know of any public licensing scheme that could make a captain, or even a mate, that fast.

Or maybe I have too much ignorance, therefore too much bliss.

[Davidrogerson]

Originally Posted by nolatom

No doubt it's an excellent program, but is four months, even at the best of schools, enough *time* to make from a novice a master of a large yacht, responsible for others' safety under any conditions? What's the maximum size or tonnage they are signing you off for?

To me the term "Master" means someone who has more sea time than that.

Sorry to sound like a skeptic, but I don't know of any public licensing scheme that could make a captain, or even a mate, that fast.

Or maybe I have too much ignorance, therefore too much bliss.

The RYA/MCA fast track (zero to hero) course are normally about 5 months long with a total of 1 week 5 days off. and with most of the time being at sea doing offshore passages. The reason such courses exist is because the MCA/RYA Yachtmaster qualification which certifies you up to 150 tonnes is now the stepping stone into the supe/Megayacht industry and even with this qualification you can only hope to start as a deckhand