RYA Dayskipper Course

[Jim H]

Just an update.

My wife and I have four ASA certifications, including the ASA 104 certification. We've owned two sailboats so far, and chartered twice in the San Juans. Since moving to London, UK, however, we've been starting over again with the RYA certifications. My wife has her RYA 1 (dinghy sailing) and RYA 2 (competent crew), and I have one weekend left to earn my RYA 2 (need those four night sailing hours).

We're also doing the "theory" part of the RYA Dayskipper course. This is forty hours of classroom instruction, which we're doing one night a week for 13 weeks at an office building in downtown London. (The last two sessions, six hours, involve exams.) To receive the certification, we need to do an additional five days of practical practice on the water, doing docking and navigating and night hours.

We had our first night of classroom work last week, and today we did about two hours of homework for the course with the RYA learning charts, exercise book, plotter and dividers. It was fun learning more about the Admiralty Charts and symbols and methodology used over here. We plan to complete most of the "practical" part of this certification on seven day cross channel trips this spring.

I have to admit that this is a lot different than the "weekend" courses we did for the ASA certifications. They were fun, and we sailed and chartered successfully afterwards, but I'll admit that doing more chart work and navigation and practical experience with an instructor is fun and rewarding. It's also cool that there are mileage requirements and required night hours of sailing for even the "competent crew" certification.

To charter over here, the expectation is typically "RYA Coastal Cruiser" certification, which is an additional five days of practical experience after Day Skipper. With luck, we'll aim for that through "on boat" instruction.

Just a report-- it's fun to be learning more.

[SailSolomons]

RYA is a great organisation. Its a non-profit and has a lot of weight in the UK to get things done right. A number of countries have successfully followed their example.

[SVAuspicious]

I'm working on my Yachtmaster and USCG Master in parallel. I think the Brits have it right for recreational sized boats. My opinion, YMMV

[nolatom]

My first and only license has been the USCG 100-Ton Near Coastal Auxiliary Sail. So I have never bothered with any of the ASA, USSA, not RYA certificates. I do teach ASA basic keelboat on occasion. If someone tells me I really need one of these non-gov't certs (why?), then I guess I'll get one, but am not in a hurry to do so. I regard the government license as being "bigger" than the private certificates. But I think the US may be unique in this regard.

[SailSolomons]

I'm very surprised you are teaching ASA courses withour being an ASA Instructor. You should know that only ASA certified schools can award qualifications and ASA rules are that only qualified instructors can teach. Otherwise, anyone regardless of their knowledge or experience could become an instructor. Having a USCG licence is required too if any of the students are paying for instruction on an auxillary powered boat, as that falls in the "Passengers for hire" category. Ridiculous I know when a 25ft outboard needs to have a USCG captain on board for instruction, but these are the rules in the US. That's where the RYA has an advantage in not having to have qualified captains for instructing on recreational vessels.

[nolatom]

Originally Posted by SailSolomons

I'm very surprised you are teaching ASA courses withour being an ASA Instructor. You should know that only ASA certified schools can award qualifications and ASA rules are that only qualified instructors can teach. Otherwise, anyone regardless of their knowledge or experience could become an instructor. Having a USCG licence is required too if any of the students are paying for instruction on an auxillary powered boat, as that falls in the "Passengers for hire" category. Ridiculous I know when a 25ft outboard needs to have a USCG captain on board for instruction, but these are the rules in the US. That's where the RYA has an advantage in not having to have qualified captains for instructing on recreational vessels.

Of course, I could look at it the other way, those instructors who have the certif (I teach the folks who aren't taking the lessons for certification, just so they can one day charter the boat) but no Coast Guard license, go outside the law once they put that 5 hp outboard in gear.

Eventually I'll get the instructor cert, especailly if I want to do this as a retirement gig rather than just once in a while. I wonder if the "Instructor instructor" will be someone I taught to sail over the last 40-odd years ;-)

[SailSolomons]

Good point Nolatom!
Of course having a CG license doesn't mean one is competent! It just means one passed a test and spent a required number of days on the water is some capacity.
Likewise being an Instructor doesn't necessarily mean you're a good sailor, just that one is competent to teach others!!
However both the CG and ASA have their rules and the saying goes if you join the Club you have to abide by the rules!

[Davidrogerson]

If you are looking for on boat instruction for MCA/RYA Coastal skipper may i suggest Peter Hart who is a reasonably priced instructor (also an examiner)
you will find him at peterhart@rya.co.uk

[sailingdog]

If you want to work outside of the USA... the RYA Yachtmaster is much more useful from what I've seen. The RYA YM is recognized in far more countries than is the USCG license, in terms of using it for employment purposes. In fact, the largest country that doesn't recognize the RYA YM is us AFAIK. I have a several friends doing delivery work down in the Pacific, Med and Caribbean, and they all have RYA YMs, and only one of them has a USCG license.

[nolatom]

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

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