Coastal Instructors Course

[Talulah]

Having just spent the last week doing my Coastal Instructors course I would like to say that I was pleasently surprised. It was not one of those 'attend it and ye shall pass' courses but one where standards are maintained. One person did fail and two had to do some additional work before passing. The school boat was a Bavaria 37. Before I say anything though a quick apology to any Bavaria 37 owners but these boats are truly horrible.

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[webcraft]

What's a Coastal Instructor's COurse?

- Nick


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[graham]

Nice one, I presume you were successfull. How about going into a bit more detail of what you did.

Probably a good few of us that aspire to do it one day.Is a coastal instructor the same as a Yachtmaster instructor?

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[Talulah]

The Coastal Instructor's Course is for teaching Comp Crew and Day Skipper. Yachtmaster Instructer status is needed to teach Coastal Skipper. The part I found most useful was how you go about teaching new comers to sail. It has been so long since I learnt to sail that it's difficult to know where to start with newbies. The syllabus has also changed over the years so it was good to catch up. i.e. GPS is now considered the primary navigation tool with traditional methods such as dead reckoning, transits etc as backup, no longer the other way round. Most of the course involves role playing. The first 2 days are in the classroom followed by 2 days on the water. Remember though - instructors are typically paid £65/£70 a day so they are not doing it for the money!

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[jimi]

erm .. I thought that with Coastal skipper practical + DOT endorsement thingie (fire + liferaft) you could teach comp crew & dayskipper?

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[Jean]

Suggest correct term is "Cruising Instructor" if you are refering to the RYA yachtmaster endorsement (or it was when I took it)?

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[webcraft]

Ah!

Yes, commercially endorsed Yachtmasters can become Cruising Instructors and teach day skipper and comp crew - although I think they can only do it in the employment of a recognised sailing school - I don't think they can set up opn their own.

- Nick

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[Robin]

May I ask, with of course a quick apology to the poster, if this post was intended as a 'look how superior I am' or a 'look how superior my boat is' post. The dig at Bavarias would suggest it is certainly at least one of the two. /forums/images/icons/smile.gif



<hr width=100% size=1><font size=1>Sermons from my pulpit are with tongue firmly in cheek and come with no warranty!</font size=1>

 

[Talulah]

My apologies - I should have said 'Cruising Instructor' not 'Coastal Instructor'. As far as the dig on the Bavaria 37 goes it is I'm afraid horrible. Linear galley on the port side. A table with fiddles that are shaped like the runway on an aircraft carrier ready to launch any plate across the saloon, and mastic everywhere.

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[Robin]

And probably less than half the price of a Najad!

I don't like that kind of layout either but that is my personal choice. However plenty of folks will perhaps prefer that layout and the larger galley for marina use that it gives. My point is that this is a personal choice, what is horrible to you and I may be ideal to someone else especially if they mostly daysail between marinas. We have an old fashioned layout and eat very well at sea but never at the saloon table which has no fiddles on the leaves, only in the central section. A saloon table with effective fiddles on the table leaves would IMO be very uncomfortable to use. We do however use the cockpit table at sea which is well fiddled when in it's folded form and with a non-slip mat is ideal for just 2, plus we can still see if we are about to be run down.

If it floats and has sails it is nice, some are just nicer than others, to be horrible in my book it has to be a PWC.





<hr width=100% size=1><font size=1>Sermons from my pulpit are with tongue firmly in cheek and come with no warranty!</font size=1>

 

[Dominic]

No, the minimum to teach is Yachtmaster plus commercial endorsement plus a school signing you off (after assesment) as a Cruising Instructor.

Then, after a period of teaching, you can try for the Instructor assesment which allows you to teach the higher levels.

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[zefender]

The traditional galley is good for the Fray Bentos school of cuisine only IMHO. Something a bit more grown up, whether at sea or at marina, needs space and the linear galley provides that. If that's the only thing (apart from the mastic) that causes you to refer to a boat as horrible, then I guess 85% or so of all european boats are crap. I suppose they probably get their passage finished quick enough to get to the restaurants before they close too!

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[Talulah]

What annoys me is that sometimes when an item is designed and manufactured the designers sacrifice practicality for asthetics even though there may be no cost implication. The example I gave of the fiddles on the saloon table is case in point. As a fiddle it is not fit for purpose but I have made the assumption that it is meant to be a fiddle rather than just an edging. (Note: there is no gap in this 'fiddle' to wipe the crumbs off so it must be purely an edging to hide the composite wood/laminate.) If you accept that it is not intended to be a fiddle than we are back to you get what you pay for and my interpretation of it as a fiddle was wrong. Other examples of cost savings include the galley drawers. They are held in on runners but not encased. Items can fall out the back of the drawer and fall down along the hull. This I expect on a boat built to a price. What I would say is that these items are not noticed by prospective purchasers yet I bet just about every owner of a Bavaria has complained to themselves or friends about the saloon table fiddles. I wonder how many people have injured their ankles whilst walking on deck and accidentaly getting there foot caught on the saloon windows.
I accept whether a boat is horrible or not is a matter of judgement - and these are horrible IMHO for a number of other reasons. On the Bavaria 37 we were on a lot of the cupboard doors would not open. The push button knobs no longer working properly, probably due to misalignment as a result of flexing of the hull. When I buy a boat built to a price I expect compromises. I also expect things to work and be practical.
No - I can't resist myself anymore - this Bavaria was Horrible, Horrible, Horrible, Horrible, Horrible, Horrible, Horrible, Horrible, Horrible, Horrible, Horrible, Horrible, Horrible, Horrible, Horrible, Horrible, Horrible, Horrible, Horrible, Horrible, Horrible.

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[zefender]

Re: Whatever turns you on ...

I'd be very surprised if the locker catches don't work due to flexing of the hull causing misalignment - far more likely that they were a bit crap in the first place. Clearly fiddle/edging design worries you greatly (!) too. I tell you what, buy a Bav 37 for (est?) £70K and then replace all the lockers with handmade sliders and silver catches and have a carpenter build fiddles to your precise specification, spend another £25K kitting the thing up how you might like, and it would still cost only 100K or so. Would it still be a horrible boat? As for mastic all over the place, it's true(ish) but it doesn't really bother me - I want a boat not a study in fancy joinery. In fact I wish modern boatbuilders used more plastics rather than the pretend oldie-worldie somewhat dismal look. Cars used to have wood all over the dash and doors. Are all old cars good and all new ones "horrible"? - I don't think so! These days materials and design have moved on - I'd be happy if boats evolved a bit more this way too since most are designed with the 'blokes afloat' mentality and why many women don't like 'em.

I'm not saying I wouldn't opt for another manufacturer given changes in budget, style of boating, location etc. Every boat is a compromise, whether its money, space, speed, weight and so on. For me, the reduced space, lack of maneouvreability, speed, liveability, poor VFM etc wouldn't get me near a similarly size job built in the land of Abba. Not that I dare call them horrible, 'cos that would just be rude, rude rude






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[Robin]

Subsidence

I have two kitchen doors that don't shut properly, I think the foundations must have moved. Oh shoot and the bread knife has fallen down the back of the drawer again.

Shall I call a surveyor and the builders or what. No I think I'll just get a life and go sailing! If I wanted to live in a furniture showroom I would though like most square buildings they only sail downwind.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder especially if it fits his wallet. Having a fat wallet doesn't guarantee beauty though. If there were only one solution there would be only one boat.

Disclaimers.

I do not, nor have I ever, and may indeed never own a Bavaria, they are not for me.

I do not, nor have I ever, and may indeed never own a Najad, they are not for me.





<hr width=100% size=1><font size=1>Sermons from my pulpit are with tongue firmly in cheek and come with no warranty!</font size=1>

 

[dom]

Re: Whatever turns you on ...

Is it not horses for courses? If boats are quick one has fun sailing them although the motion can be a bit sharp for complex cooking procedures and so on. Slower boats on the other hand adopt the plod along approach leading to much more time on passage and thefore one has time for other things like raising the souffle admiring the woodwork etc. Otherwise how else would one pass the time?

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[jonjo]

Talulah

It seems to me that you would not enjoy sailing on about 85% of the yachts sold in Europe in the last year.

> The push button knobs no longer working properly

This type of metal catch is used on yachts from other comparable manufacturers, Dehler for example.

> Items can fall out the back of the drawer and fall down along the hull

Sounds like the hull is accessible for maintenance, I like that.

> getting there foot caught on the saloon windows

I think you are referring to a standard inward opening Lewmar porthole. These are used across the industry.

> As a fiddle it is not fit for purpose

There is no magic height at which a fiddle becomes a real fiddle, there is a linear compromise between utility at sea and hindrance in harbour. I note you did not find fault with the substantial galley fiddles that Bavaria usually fit (I don't personally know the Bav 37).

> knobs no longer working properly, probably due to misalignment as a
> result of flexing of the hull

Suggest you don't move into the surveying business.

Finally it is encouraging that your criticisms do *not* extend to a prediction that this presumably heavily used sea school vessel is about to fall apart and become unseaworthy, thus placing a commercial operation in financial peril as they suffer high depreciation.

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[zefender]

Re: Whatever turns you on ...

Surely, even on a First 47.7, you have time and space and motion to prepare an ordinary old souffle, non? I have found plucking, gutting and trussing a duck something of a struggle though ;-)

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[dom]

Re: Whatever turns you on ...

In fact I have no idea how to cook a souffle. Perhaps I should take a course in haute cuisine? Then wait a season or two. Then, blow torching a creme brulee (sp?) mid channel in 40kts! The fancy way to do salad dressing - you know all those squirly shapes of balsamic vinager in oil. You won't be laughing then. The boat will even go faster as I shall install the Aga on rails and move it to the upwind side of the boat after each tack!

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[zefender]

Re: Haute cuisine on the \'haute mer\'

Your perfect spelling and descriptions of everyday culinary preparations suggest excessive experiences at establishments run my Sir Telly Conran. However, your mentioning the AGA brings us all down to earth a la Fanny Craddock. Very confusing... The AGA would however put pay to any dangers of hull flexing and as you say provide useful ballasting. Would need some care operating the brakes as the contraption is moved from to tack mind.

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