firstmatewendy
New member
I am doing the Coastal Skipper/Yachtmaster theory course at a local college, having previously done Day Skipper (both bits) and am rapidly reaching screaming point! The new RYA training charts 3 and 4 have 3 time zones. The fictitious almanac pages give times as UT and -0100, the latter in fact being UT+1. The questions often refer to SPDST, which is Southern Peninsula Daylight Saving Time or time zone -0200 or UT+2. Any question involving a boat in the SPDST area but involving the use of a tidal diamond (based on a port in the UT time zone), requires a 2 hour adjustment ....... I won't go on, but think I have given some inkling of the confusion which all this engenders!
Many people are really struggling with this and much of the time in lessons each week at the college is spent
going over and over this time zone issue, to the detriment of the "core" issues, namely a proper understanding of tidal heights, adjustments for secondary ports etc.
My points are i) that the RYA has made the new charts overly complicated and ii) that colleges are allowing people to do higher level courses for which they do not have an adequate grounding (over 1/2 the people on my course had never used a tidal curve before!).
Is anyone else having similar problems?? /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif
Many people are really struggling with this and much of the time in lessons each week at the college is spent
going over and over this time zone issue, to the detriment of the "core" issues, namely a proper understanding of tidal heights, adjustments for secondary ports etc.
My points are i) that the RYA has made the new charts overly complicated and ii) that colleges are allowing people to do higher level courses for which they do not have an adequate grounding (over 1/2 the people on my course had never used a tidal curve before!).
Is anyone else having similar problems?? /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif