Coastalskipper or Dayskiper Shorebased ?

[mike_k]

Is it worth doing the day skipper or should I just go straight to the coastalskipper course ?
I think I have enough basic knowledge and just want to bring it all together and fill in the gaps that will be there.
I saw an earlier post where someone said that if you can understand tidal vectors then day skipper is a waste of time. Is that a valid view ?

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[Skyva_2]

Mike,
The point made (I think) was that if you have the basic knowledge, and don't have to think too hard about tidal vectors, then go straight for Coastal Skipper. There is a fair amount of overlap between the content of the two courses, but CS/YM students are expected to be quicker and more accurate particularly on the nav elements.

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[Dave99]

I did the day skipper course at John Goodes's Southern Sailing and I was on a coure with two coastal skipper and then 1 other Day S. I found the course very useful although I covered exactly the same as the other two and they got a coastal skipper course completion certificate NB! You have to do yachtmaster/coastal theory and take the additional RYA practical exam to get the DoT commercial endorsement. I regret not doing the coastal practical course at Southern sailing although I've come away with the same amount of practical and theoretical knowledge and I'm going to do yachtmaster this year so its irrelevant. I must say southern sailing was particularly good as I have heard completely different stories from people who have done day skipper elsewhere and felt that they didnt learn much that was new. AT southern they tailor the course to those onboard.

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[Birdseye]

there are differences in the syllabuses (syllabi?) but these are less than the common ground. the bigger difference is the standard to which you have to work and the pass mark.

on your own, the ym course (there is no seperate coastal shorebased) is not difficult assuming reasonable numerical skills. however, it rarely makes sense and is not recommended to teach in one class those who have done ds first and those who havent. it either means boredom for one lot, or bits missed out for the others.

so if you go to a school where they are not simply after bums on seats, you might find they refuse to enrol you direct onto the ym course. we do because that way we can push the ym's hard

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[ChrisSnushall]

When I enrolled several years ago I found the Yachtmaster excellent, even though I hadn't done Day Skipper previously. I believe the Day Skipper is a lot more basic and of course there are three exams in the Yachtmaster which are a lot more testing and results have to be fairly good in order to pass. There is a fairly high minimum percentage you have to attain in the Col. Regs which is very sensible; accuracy for chartwork is called for and a pretty thorough understanding of meteorology.
All the subjects are very pertinent to sailors, but to get full benefit and do well in the exams you must put in quite a bit of work and have a keen interest in it.
A good teacher helps a lot.
Good luck.
Chris Snushall

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[Stuart_Wyatt]

I've done both courses and taught both courses. Assuming night school - If you're not in a hurry I'd recommend considering doing both. You might enjoy gettinjg hold of old some day skipper navigation questions and testing yourself. If they seem relatively easy go for Coastal. If not, start with Day Skipper. Enjoy.

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[mike_k]

Thanks to everyone for the feedback. I'm still umming and erring but will probably start with day skipper, and save coastal till next year.


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[Jeremy_W]

Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right

I think you're really stuck in the middle on this one. DS assumes NO prior knowledge so the instructor has to accommodate people who only seem to have joined because "HTML for beginners" and Pilates were over-subscribed. So you'll spend an age learning that the front of a yacht is called the bows and that the amount of water in a harbour rises and falls periodically.

But if you want the basics of navigation laid on with a trowel (and there's nothing wrong with that - as Brian Clough once said, great teams do the simple things well) that's the way to go and you'll have to accept that large parts of the first term will be statements of the bl**ding obvious.

If you jump straight to CS Theory without the earlier course you'll be stretched and, with new material introduced every week, if you have to miss any weeks you'll struggle.

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[gjgm]

I asked same q (maybe over on mbc), and spoke to colleague, and borrowed some of his course books. YM doesnt look too hard, but probably is going to require a bit more work than if I d also done the DS. I m going to go straight for the YM/CS as I dont fancy doing almost the same syllabus, but more detail, 12 mos later. At least with evening school, I ve got a week to look into anything I didnt quite understand after the session.

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[mike_k]

Again, thanks for the feedback, but I finally decided to start with day skipper. It will give me what I need and I can always do CS next year when I've had more practise and experience ready for the more in-depth stuff, even if it repeats most of the DS course.
With my tired old brain that's probably not a bad thing !


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