best way to learn sailing?

[Guest]

Hello,

I'd like to transfer myself from a hobby sailor to a professional skipper/yachtmaster.
Lacking a strong financial support (and being a non EU member - no CDLs) I cannot
really afford expensive courses, like the ones at UKSA. However I still would like to
gather the knowledge (and the certificates) that qualifies me to work on a sailboat.

The other problem is that there are quite many sailing schools around and I cannot decide
which one to choose. Just recently read in Yachting World, that there are lots of people out
there with a RYA certificate but without real knowledge behind it. This makes me quite
distrustful in these schools since my first priority is not the certification, but learning as
much as I can before I actually set out to sea on my own.

Can anybody suggest me a learning/practicing strategy (school) that is not so pricey, but
still provides a good education? Should I learn the theory by correspondence and then build
miles some other way? Should I squeeze out the money from some yet unknown source and take
the risk of being in debt, but go to UKSA?

Thanks for any advice.
Marcell

 

[seagull]

Hi
I dont have the answer but could you tell me what UKSA is.
Have a look at dayskipper.com, i am new to sailing .

 

[Guest]

UKSA = United Kingdom Sailing Academy (www.uksa.org)

I took a look at dayskipper.com, thanks for the hint. However as far as I can see
they provide only theoretical courses, and I'd need the miles as well.

 

[jamesjermain]

I am not sure I have a solution for you, which seems to be basically a money one. All courses will cost a fair bit unless you can get a sponsor, such as the owner of a large boat. Most of the larger sailing schools do appropriate courses; BOSS (British Offshore Siling School) is a good one but there are others.

Don't be misled by the YW report. The RYA courses are good and you will learn all the theory you will need. Knowledge is another thing and is a product of experience. You have to be able to prove that you have some sea miles under your belt for each of the grades of RYA exam from Coastal Skipper to Yachtmaster Ocean - more miles for each grade up the scale. However, the number of miles is not particularly high and there are certainly people who have done a crash course and qualified with a minimum of seatime, whose basic knowledge will be sketchy simply because they have not spent enough time at sea to know what it is really all about.
This situation is not entirely the fault of the RYA. If it insisted on thousands of miles sailing before awarding the Coastal Skipper certificate, then few would bother with the course, which would be a bad thing.

JJ

 

[mica]

You don't say where you are based, but if you are UK south coast, try having a look at www.firstclasssailing.com, I think you will find them cheaper than UKSA

MICA

 

[Guest]

Forget crappy yacht certificates, for real credibility join your countries merchant marine and learn the proper way then convert to a yacht

 

[jamesjermain]

But at least yachtie

Join the merchant marine and learn how to load a ship, watch a radar set, navigate across empty oceans and calculate fuel costs.

Do an RYA course to earn abour coastal navigation, handling a yacht under power and sail, managing small crews, how to forecast the weather, how to calculate tides in obscure secondary anchorages - in other words the things you need to know.

In the merchant service you will probably never hoist sail or have to work out the depth over the bar at night while cold, wet and seasick.

The guru Bill Cooper also lauds the training he got in the Navy. But I would remind you of the adage that the three most useless things on a yacht are: an umbrella, a wheelbarrow and a naval officer.

JJ

 

[TonyMS]

Re: But at least yachtie

I find an umbrella very useful!