Best place to do YM?

ross84

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I'm thinking the Canaries? (I escaped before Brexit and should get my Spanish residency soon, so can stay in Spain as long as I like). I'm thinking April/May/June.

Never been there - any suggestions? I understand it's tidal enough to qualifiy? Any good schools recommended? Want a 'serious' sailing experience, not a booze cruise.

Any suggestions welcome.

Cheers,
Ross
 

markspark7

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I'm thinking the Canaries? (I escaped before Brexit and should get my Spanish residency soon, so can stay in Spain as long as I like). I'm thinking April/May/June.

Never been there - any suggestions? I understand it's tidal enough to qualifiy? Any good schools recommended? Want a 'serious' sailing experience, not a booze cruise.

Any suggestions welcome.

Cheers,
Ross


Just come back from Tenerife doing my day skipper with Canary sail in Tenerife /La Gomera.
highly recommend them , they have various instructors for different levels and different sizes of boats. Eddie is one of the senior YM / OM instructors and has a zero tolerance to any messing about.
Really enjoyable and perfect weather.
There's two metres of tide mainly from Casablanca so more than enough to qualify.
 

ross84

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I thought the WC of Scotland too, and it might be less booze cruisey, but honestly had enough of the UK for a while and want to retain my residency in Spain.
 

Uricanejack

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I would think the most convenient location you like to live and or sail in is the best for you.
Provided it has a good reputation
 

awol

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Maybe it's the fog of lock-down but as I understood it the YM qualification is a Certificate of Competence indicating a level of knowledge, experience and ability not a course completion chit like the Day Skipper. Some establishments will take "Zero to Hero" payees through an intensive training programme of several months to give them that knowledge and experience but the proof is an examination by an independent examiner. Is that what the OP wants? Or is he after a pre-exam cramming session so he/she can pretend that is how they normally behave - something a competent examiner will poke holes in.
 

capnsensible

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I'm thinking the Canaries? (I escaped before Brexit and should get my Spanish residency soon, so can stay in Spain as long as I like). I'm thinking April/May/June.

Never been there - any suggestions? I understand it's tidal enough to qualifiy? Any good schools recommended? Want a 'serious' sailing experience, not a booze cruise.

Any suggestions welcome.

Cheers,
Ross
Hiya. I've run YM preparation courses in the Solent, West Indies, The Canaries and Gibraltar. The one for me that wins is Gib. The Solent close second for scenarios but of course shabbier weather. It's far better, in my opinion, to be able to demonstrate you knowledge of Collision Regulations in busy areas.

Gib qualifies as a tidal exam.....not that it seems to matter much these days. The range isn't much but the rates can be brisk. I think there are four schools operating there at the moment, subject of course to covid restrictions.

Good luck with whatever you choose. Top tip, practice everything on the exam syllabus over and over. ?
 

TernVI

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I'd suggest going somewhere you don't know too well, so you have to do things by the book.
Not looking at the chart because you've been racing in the area since before the instructor was born doesn't go down too well!
A prep week is a great chance to see a new area.
 

Barnacle Bill

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It depends on why you want to learn and where you want to sail. If you want to sail in the med, etc, then there is no harm in learning in warm latitudes and nice weather. But you will have a bit of a shock if you then decide to sail around the UK in a poor summer: tides are very much stronger and weather more tricky.

Conversely if you learn somewhere more challenging, you will be much more relaxed sailing where it's easier.

In either case, the course is just the start - real experience (and confidence) comes after that.
 

wully1

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I thought long and hard about doing a YM course and exam but in the end didn’t .
Not because I know it all - I certainly don’t by a long way, but because I didn’t need the bit of paper and because I felt I’d be spending a lot of time and money learning stuff I’d never use.

I own my own boat, don’t ever intend to charter or take paying guests so can’t see a need. I haven’t drowned or sunk (yet) in how ever many years and have a very poor opinion on the RYA courses I’ve done. ( not to mention BASI ffs...)

So far some basic knowledge, experience and a healthy level of cowardice has worked well.
 

awol

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I thought long and hard about doing a YM course and exam but in the end didn’t .
Not because I know it all - I certainly don’t by a long way, but because I didn’t need the bit of paper and because I felt I’d be spending a lot of time and money learning stuff I’d never use.

I own my own boat, don’t ever intend to charter or take paying guests so can’t see a need. I haven’t drowned or sunk (yet) in how ever many years and have a very poor opinion on the RYA courses I’ve done. ( not to mention BASI ffs...)

So far some basic knowledge, experience and a healthy level of cowardice has worked well.
Well, I did the YM exam some 15 years or so after doing the shore-based course. Not because I needed the bit of paper but just to see if the time spent sailing around doing the same thing year after year had made me a "competent" sailor or was I kidding myself. So I spent my £180, and spent an interesting day doing things I'd never done before like blind navigation, running fixes, stopping the crew from doing things until they were told, anchoring in places I would never have thought of (or since) and demonstrating a basic grasp of arithmetic (rule of 12ths), almanac reading and geometry. I passed but doubt it was with flying colours but I deliberately didn't cram for it. I wanted an assessment of my nautical abilities not my short-term memory. Thus, I have a wee blue booklet with my photie. I also took the RYA medical course and threw in Sea Survival while I was at it. Sea survival was useful - taught me that I float face down in my Fladen flotation suit, that deflating an LJ makes swimming a lot easier, that a fully inflated LJ doesn't need a crotch strap and that getting into a life raft from the water is bloody hard.
Experience of Dazed Kippers (not all, just those who proudly proclaim they have it) has given me a jaundiced view of that "qualification". The idea that a week's course can teach sailing and is a prerequisite to the YM leaves me cold.
 

Alicatt

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Here you need your ticket if you own a boat, my eldest son bought a small zodiac to take on holiday with him and his family but to sail it in home waters he has to have his "vaarbewijs" I picked up his books last weekend to have a look and to see if it would be possible for me to take the course to get my ticket as my wife and I want to get our own boat but it has been almost 20 years since I las had a boat. Mind you living close to the Pentland Firth and navigating through it regularly made us all quite adept at reading the tide tables, even 3knots of tide swirling through Sinclair Bay could make for a very interesting and fast drift dive along the cliff shelves on Noss Head :D

I'm wondering if it would be better for me to take an RYA course and go for an ICC and then try to convert that to the Belgian Vaarbewijs?
 

capnsensible

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Just sayin.

Day Skipper is a course. It gives the necessary skills to skipper a small vessel in daylight hours in familiar waters. It's a confidence builder to enable those who do it voluntarily to get out there and go for it on their own. It's not a pre requisite for YM. You don't need to have even heard of it.

But what you do need are the 2500 miles yadda yadda as so often mentioned on here.

Alicatt. I would say your solution of doing the simple ICC test with your experience is a top solution. You can download the test form from the RYA site . Armed with that you will see what to revise. Good luck!
 

Star-Lord

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Do not think Day Skipper is just dished out!! I am Day Skipper power and sail and failed my theory and had to return to the school and retake the exam before being given the 'licence'. As a number dyslexic thicko there is no way I get to pass YM theory under normal circumstances. I could see myself taking the theory every day for a week and then perhaps scraping through - but would them forget everything the next day. I learn by doing stuff. I once had a delivery skipper on board before I had full confidence in my own abilities... he was ex this and that and YM this and that and when the big wind came he crumbled LMAO. I calmly put in the reefs and turned the autopilot back on! Does the YM exam teach you how to sail for a week with an injured crew who can not leave their berth? How to sleep for 15-20 mins for days on end? And YM certainly does not prepare you for med mooring and anchoring in crazy winds and snubbers and anchors and dodging less lucky/skilled boats intent on dragging down on you. If I was gifted with numbers I would go for the YM Ocean.
 

Uricanejack

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After failing , O level English and Math for the 2nd time.
i was asked by a brand new English teacher. If it was true I had higher s in history geography physics and chemistry.
she told me it was impossible to pass those subjects and be unable to pass an English O level.
she requested I be tested for dyslexia.
Turns out she was right I am quite dyslexic.
Didn’t Make much difference. I was leaving at the end of the term anyway.
An inability to read and write being problematic if you want an O level In English. Turns out O level English doesn’t seam to be particularly important to life. I got one in the end anyway took a few more attempts.
Math problem was down to being rather disruptive and incorrigible followed by expulsion from the class.
I learned math after I left school.
Ive failed almost every written exam I have ever taken. Often several times. Eventually scraping through after several attempts.

It took a few attempts but persistence wore em down. I eventually got an M. Despite Dyslexia.

My personal opinion.
Anything can be achieved if you want to.
The DS or YM being a practical exam where you demonstrate ability rather than produce written essay‘s.
Would probably not be as much of a trail and tribulation for a dyslexic as most exams.

If I’m not interested, I won’t pay attention for 2 nano seconds. And positive results will never be achieved.

loads of people enjoy sailing without ever taking a course or only taking a basic course.
A DS or ICC is all you need to get started.

I find it impressive. if someone has the interest and desire to achieve more and go for a YM.
 
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