Should a complete newbie go for a Yachtmaster course?

[ToroLoco]

Hi folks, new to the site, hopefully this is the correct forum? I am just wondering, has anyone done a Yachtmaster course, specifically Coastal or maybe Offshore? When I say I'm a newbie, I really mean it, until I googled it I didn't know the difference between a jib and a halyard....Anyway, a couple of days ago I had this brilliant idea (?) to make a career in sailing. One of those Zero to Hero courses. Currently I study as an adult student for a BA with a European university but that is all theory, won't get me a meaningful, enjoyable career. I thought, hey, sailing might. Right?

After much searching I came across a school in an undisclosed country, and the prices are good. £2500 for a 34 day Yachtmaster Coastal. And £4170 for a 3 month Yachtmaster Offshore. Both prices include food and accommodation minus 1 week when you are doing some survival training. I think it is a pretty good price to get a decent, and what I think is a sought after, qualification. What do you think?

Yes, I am early 40's, I guess most folks doing a Yachtmaster programme would be younger in their 20's usually, maybe 30's, do you think my age may be an issue? In good health aside from well controlled asthma. I do suffer from lower back pain but so do many others, but it's relatively well controlled. What kind of career could I hope to get after obtaining a Yachtmaster Coastal or Offshore certificate? Is it really as sought after as I seem to be reading? There is also a more basic RYA MCA Deck certificate which lasts 28 days and costs £1390, again it also includes food and accommodation. Another good deal I think. The Deck course includes: RYA Competent Crew, RYA Day Skipper Theory, RYA Day Skipper Practical, RYA Powerboat Level II, STCW 95' (Firefighting, First Aid, PSSR), RYA Radio (SRC).

Any feedback would be welcome. Thanks.

 

[footsoldier]

What kind of career could I hope to get after obtaining a Yachtmaster Coastal or Offshore certificate?

None. They are essentially qualifications for leisure sailors. You need to do a bit more research, using the term "commercial endorsement", to get a clearer picture. I would imagine there would be some basic information on websites such as those of RYA or UKSA.

If you really are as much of an absolute newby as you claim, before committing yourself to an expensive course it might be an idea to get a bit of a taste of what life can be like on a small boat. Not everyone likes being cold, exhausted and frightened!

 

[Sans Bateau]

This could become an interesting thread.

 

[Sandyman]

This could become an interesting thread.

You need some experience first. No matter how many courses & chits of paper you collect, nothing but nothing makes up for experience.

 

[Sailingsaves]

If you have the money, do the course, but take it as the beginning of your sailing experience. Don't expect the bits of paper to count for much.

Time before the mast is what counts.

Then do a few deliveries as crew, then mate; that might tell you if sailing is really for you - they can be hard work.

Sailing as a career is a good life but does not pay well, but if you are single with no children it could be the right thing.

 

[mikemanor]

As said above you will need to get your Yachtmaster qualifications "commercially endorsed". Plenty of info on the web about this. Top tip - before you spend a dosh of money on courses make sure that you meet the medical requirements for a commercial endorsement. Google "ML5" and "ENG1". You may well need the ENG1 standard so check early.

 

[sailorman]

This could become an interesting thread.

 

[PCUK]

If you try to take a Yachtmaster course with no previous experience, you will be totally out of your depth as you won't know the basics that are expected of anyone taking Yachtmaster. Start at the bottom and work up otherwise you will just waste your money and everyone else's time while on the course.

 

[lpdsn]

Footsoldier may well be the last person left alive who believes RYA Yachtmaster courses are aimed primarily at amateur sailors. Almost everyone else thinks their main market is commercial. It's the same exam, but you do have to get commercially endorsed before you can work commercially, so the comment about making sure you can easily complete the commercial endorsement is very important.

If you do a zero to hero course you will probably be able to pass the exams. It's a matter of quite vociferous debate as to whether that would make you an experienced, competent yachtsman. To be honest you will have huge gaps in your experience. But it'll be a start - many people go through that route.

The second question is whether you really want to do it. Pay in the yachting industry isn't good unless you're skippering large superyachts, which means continuing on through the MCA Master of Yachts qualifications, which will take a few years more. Bear in mind that a lot of people competing for the same jobs will be twenty years younger with a strong background in sailing since childhood. The dream might well not turn out to be anywhere near as rosy as you expect.

There does seem to be a fair bit of work running workboats to offshore wind farms. It's whether you think a cold wet January morning in the North Sea is preferrable to your current day job.

 

[JumbleDuck]

If you try to take a Yachtmaster course with no previous experience, you will be totally out of your depth as you won't know the basics that are expected of anyone taking Yachtmaster. Start at the bottom and work up otherwise you will just waste your money and everyone else's time while on the course.

I think he's talking about one of the fast track course which goes through all the other stages first, not jumping straight in at Yachtmaster^TM level.

However, I also think he may be a troll. I doubt there is much of a sailing career for an asthmatic forty-year-old newbie with a bad back when the world is full of gung-ho Aussies and Kiwis wiling to do anything, 24 hours a day, for beer.

 

[Kelpie]

Go get a job with sunsail, apparently qualified YMs can earn up to £120 a week!

 

[howard easton]

This could become an interesting thread.

No. To be interesting, it needs to be novel. The response to this thread from the old crusties on here is entirely predictable.

I do wonder if it is a troll. But somehow it seems too naive to be one.

 

[laika]

Pay in the yachting industry isn't good unless you're skippering large superyachts, which means continuing on through the MCA Master of Yachts qualifications, which will take a few years more. Bear in mind that a lot of people competing for the same jobs will be twenty years younger with a strong background in sailing since childhood.

+1. Expected pay for someone with no experience other than a recently completed YM with commercial endorsement is effectively nothing. You're competing with kids with rich parents who can support them and people retiring early from successful careers with reasonable pensions (including retrained forces people) all of whom probably have more experience and have other means of buying food while they put stuff on their CVs.

Being in your 40s is no problem [EDIT: for the *course*: probably helps to be young and good looking to get the super yacht deck jobs] as long as you don't need the soft life. The asthma might be a problem for the commercial endorsement. As mikemanor suggested, get the medical certificate sorted out first. I think asthma is at the very least a referral (others may know this better).

Prices you quote seem remarkably cheap compared with the better known places like UKSA.

If you're coming from nothing at all you *must* start using what you've learned as soon as possible or you'll end up back at zero in 6 month. Also recognise, as pointed out by others, that there will be huge gaps in your knowledge. Do a YM fast track in the UK in winter and you'll experience conditions people who've been sailing for decades have never been out in, but you might not have a clue how to raft up, med moor or anchor with a steep drop-off tied up to trees or rocks. Ironically the oft-recommended delivery experience (which I did after getting my YM) is really "more of the same" just further off-shore.

As this is PBO I should add that practical boat maintenance skills is something they won't teach you in a fast track YM course but their value to any sailor just can't be sufficiently stressed. If you can't buy your own little boat, take every opportunity to hang out with the boatwrights in any yard you end up in and offer to lend a hand in return for experience wherever you can.

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

Experience is a function of intensity, not duration. However, it takes time to gain confidence and wide and deep knowledge necessary for a potential job. If you have not done sailing before, three months of practice, is enough to scrape to surface only. Be careful because the confidence of ignorance can be very dangerous.

 

[JumbleDuck]

After much searching I came across a school in an undisclosed country, and the prices are good. £2500 for a 34 day Yachtmaster Coastal. And £4170 for a 3 month Yachtmaster Offshore. Both prices include food and accommodation minus 1 week when you are doing some survival training. I think it is a pretty good price to get a decent, and what I think is a sought after, qualification. What do you think?.

I'm guessing 2 Oceans Maritime Academy in Seth Effrica. Amirite?

http://www.2oceansmaritimeacademy.com/about-us

 

[Thedreamoneday]

However, I also think he may be a troll. I doubt there is much of a sailing career for an asthmatic forty-year-old newbie with a bad back when the world is full of gung-ho Aussies and Kiwis wiling to do anything, 24 hours a day, for beer.

Quality!

 

[roblpm]

Might be fun though.

In an idle moment recently i thought about this but it really seems that the job prospects are very poor. Maybe a few weeks instructing here and there. The local sailing school is advertising dinghy instructors on just over minimum wage on zero hours contracts. Even the manger of about 30 of them is advertised at £10 an hour on zero hours.

So then in my fantasy research i thought i'd lookbat something with a higher barrier to entry. But even if you spend 100k training to be an airline pilot it seems you then have to pay Ryanair to fly their planes.

I put myself through some hard professional exams 10 years ago in a mid 30s career change and do ok now. Seems like the less glamorous the career the better the prospects!

 

[ToroLoco]

Cheers for the replies, folks. No, not a troll, lol. Naive, perhaps. Yes, it is 2Oceans Maritime Academy in South Africa. Good prices compared to Europe, US, even Asia. Yes, I know about commercial endorsement, after a little reading up on it over the last couple of days. Ah, it was/is only an idea I was thinking of, wasn't so sure in any case. Have no illusions that it would be easy and even after getting the certificate getting a good career in the industry could be hard plus you would by the nature of your job be away from home (married) quite a lot - though that could be a positive, depends how you look at it, ha.

Well, I'll think about it some more but it is looking unlikely, not simply because of what folks are saying but also I've been coming to the conclusion that it may not be as simple as I think to advance within the industry. There are other options open to me, so will need to reassess all possibilities. Thanks again.

 

[Uricanejack]

The best advice I could give you is stick with it and finish the BA. What it will lead to who knows. Depends on what you are studying.
A completed course look better on a CV than something you walked away from.

My observation is sailing is best enjoyed for pleasure than for than for business. Though there are a few here who do make a living at it.
I found the pay was low, sporadic and part time at best.

The original question was should a newbie go straight to Yacht master. I was under the impression they couldn’t. With minimum mileage requirements.
Yet these so called zero to hero courses exist,
If the course provider is good zero to hero should be good enough

Before I did one particularly before I headed of to South Africa for a low cost school. I’d have to look much more closely at the schools without rose color glasses.
When you add in the cost of getting there and the cost of staying there is it really cheaper.

More importantly I can’t see a practical point in pursuing a zero to hero course unless I was hoping to find work afterwards.
So I would be much more interested in how many students the school could point to as having successfully found careers‘. A good training establishment will have a relationship with employers.
When I did an instructor course it came with a commitment to get work with the sailing school as an instructor.
The school who can offer future placement or work may be more expensive but much more cost effective in the long run.

There are options for work as an instructor, possibly delivering but not so many as high paying skipper of sailing yachts. I suppose there must be some. But they would be on big boats.

I think most of these schools use boats of about 40ft, at least the ones I’ve checked out. Which admittedly is not many.
So you get a YM Offshore or Ocean and get it endorsed as a STCW 95 with the minimum required experience. Supposedly you could be in charge of a yacht up to 300 t.

Realistically on one of those big high paying supper yachts. You will be starting out with a mop.

My advice would be do a Day Skipper just to see if you like it. If you do beg borrow or scrounge some sailing through clubs or friends while on breaks from your course. Volunteer with sail training associations, get some mileage or time in and do the YM.

If you still want to pursue as a life style go for it.

If you really want a change in life, contact a real marine training school and do an entry level training course as a deck hand which includes all the required duties for STCW. Your options will be much greater.

 

[Sans Bateau]

You know what, youd do better spending the sort of money you speak of buying a small, older yes, sailing boat, join a club and just go sailing. No qualifications needed but fun guaranteed.