Competent crew or straight to day skipper?

[Tryweryn]

Hi out of curiosity did most people do competent crew, day skipper, coastal skipper then ocean. Or after having the boat a year and spending a lot of time out can a person skip the competent crew?

 

[AngusMcDoon]

Hi out of curiosity did most people do competent crew, day skipper, coastal skipper then ocean. Or after having the boat a year and spending a lot of time out can a person skip the competent crew?

If you have your own boat, sail it regularly, and can read and understand a typical Yachtmaster type book, then I would say skip the first 1, and probably 2 levels. It's not rocket science.

 

[stevebrassett]

I went straight to Day Skipper, and haven't done anything since.

Competent Crew and Day Skipper are the same shore-based course (or were when I did it), and I could already sail, so I didn't bother with CC.

 

[jerrytug]

Hi out of curiosity did most people do competent crew, day skipper, coastal skipper then ocean. Or after having the boat a year and spending a lot of time out can a person skip the competent crew?

Skip it, CC is meant for people who literally haven't been on a boat. DS is very good value for the progress you make IMO, especially if you can do it on a gaff cutter such as Eve of St Mawes, although that runs the risk of making bermudan rig seem dead dull by comparison..

 

[PhillM]

Skip it, CC is meant for people who literally haven't been on a boat. DS is very good value for the progress you make IMO, especially if you can do it on a gaff cutter such as Eve of St Mawes, although that runs the risk of making bermudan rig seem dead dull by comparison..

As a teenager I raced all sorts of dinghys. Didn't sail for 20 years, started with comp crew. Passed it in less than 2 hours so migrated to DS on the same weekend. If you know what a boat looks like, can get on and off and tie a knot or two, then move on to something more useful.

 

[Tryweryn]

nice

 

[Sailingsaves]

Go for Coastal Skip (or Yachtmaster Coastalas now called I think) if you have been safely sailing your cruiser for a season.

I learned to sail a mirror dinghy from a book and by bashing mud and a lot of crash gybes.

Worked my way up the dinghy fleets in a friendly sailing club.

Wanted more: did Yachtmaster theory evenings over 6 months - I needed the length of time to absorb it.

Bought a cruiser, knocked about a bit for 2 years and did Coastal skipper practical plus the exam at the end of it just to test ensure I knew enough to take others out safely ( you only get a certificate of course completion otherwise).

In the sailing school I went to and on the boat I was on for 6 days there was a total beginner (who learned very quickly) a dayskipper and me doing Coastal, so by doing Coastal you'll see all of it and could ask to drop down a gear if you wanted. As Coastal Skip, you'd have to prove your nav skills were as good as your skippering skills - pick the right school and they'll advise you after one day rather than trying to rip you off and do stuff that is too easy for you.

Whatever you choose,hope you have a good one.

 

[JumbleDuck]

From what I have seen and heard, Competent Crew is an excellent course for complete newcomers or the very nervous ... typically the partners of bumptious types who do it all and shout at their crew when it goes wrong/ As others have said, if you are reasonably happy in a boat you can safely go on to Day Skipper. If you have ever done any cruising, navigation and pilotage then skipping the Day Skipper theory course is fine, too.

 

[EugeneR]

The company I booked on put sailing CC and DS on the same practical course - if you met the requirements for DS, that's what you got.

I got my sailing DS straight away; that said, I started with a DS and experience in power but had no idea about sailing - no theory, nothing - beforehand. I struggled on day 1 but took a DS theory book with me to bed that night, and everything worked out.

SWMBO, who also has DS but hasn't touched a helm for 10+ years, also managed to get her DS straight away as well, with another company. In her case, she made sure she knew the theory well, before she started.

 

[GrahamM376]

I went straight to Day Skipper, and haven't done anything since.

Competent Crew and Day Skipper are the same shore-based course (or were when I did it), and I could already sail, so I didn't bother with CC.

If you've been sailing for a year, the comp crew is highly unlikely to teach you anything so go straight for day skipper practical and, if you have basic navigation/chartwork skills, do the Coastal Skipper (or is it YM Coastal now?) shore based theory. After maybe a couple of years you may have the days/miles/passage requirements to go for the CS exam, which is easier if the practical course is done immediately before.

 

[SAMYL]

Day or Coastal Skipper is about as far as you will need to go, even for chartering abroad in most cases. Yachtmaster is a waste of time unless you want to impress your friends about how clever you are at not being very competent. Don't ask me how I know.

 

[Triassic]

I did my DS because I came back to sailing after a 30 year break, and none of my previous experience had been in British waters. You don't forget how to ride a bike so the sailing part was dead easy and that allowed me to put 100% effort into the rules and navigation. The other person doing the course with me was a very marginal sailor and I never felt safe around them... although they went on to pass the course. I went back for a refresher a couple of months ago and had another similar experience. As a result I really have to question the value of the DS certificate, which is a bit disappointing. I'm not dismissing the content of the course, I'm just saying you cannot learn to sail in a week so the level of sailing ability required as a pre-requisite should be higher.

I did query with the instructors if there was much to be gained from continuing on to the Coastal or Yachtmaster levels and their view is that unless you need to go on for a commercial endorsement there is little other than personal satisfaction to be gained.

What I did find when I did my refresher was that in the intervening 18 months I had forgotten a lot of the finer points around navigation that I hadn't used due to having a chart plotter on my boat. It's a classic case of use it or lose it so if you are going to go to the trouble of completing an advanced course just make sure you challenge yourself to use the skills gained regularly afterwards!

 

[Heckler]

Hi out of curiosity did most people do competent crew, day skipper, coastal skipper then ocean. Or after having the boat a year and spending a lot of time out can a person skip the competent crew?

Practical Day Skipper is all you need to get an ICC. Thats all you will need!
S

 

[William_H]

I get involved with teaching something similar at our yacht club here in Oz. We call it KB-1 and KB-2. The courses are really the same thing just progression onwards but to a large degree just more experience and more sailing. The first part does involve being taught a lot of things that most pople alreay know but have to be said. Like safety and personal protection gloves hat sun screen etc. Right from the first lesson I get people to helm the boat even though they theoretically are doing competent crew course. A good crew needs to be able to take turn at the helm especially in an emergency.
There are more not so obvious things that you can learn. Firstly to experience different kinds of boats. We try to put people on a different boat with a different skipper (teacher) each lesson to broaden the experience. I sail my boat for instance off a swing mooring so they get a try at rowing and pick up a mooring. The others operate out of a jetty situation where you have to motor out then rig . So much different type of departure and arrival.
So if you were doing our YA accredited course we say you need to show experience or to have done the first part before doijng the second. But both will give more experience.
If they will take you with your experience do the " Dazed Kipper" If not you will pick up a lot from the competent crew. enjoy olewill

 

[alant]

If you've been sailing for a year, the comp crew is highly unlikely to teach you anything so go straight for day skipper practical and, if you have basic navigation/chartwork skills, do the Coastal Skipper (or is it YM Coastal now?) shore based theory. After maybe a couple of years you may have the days/miles/passage requirements to go for the CS exam, which is easier if the practical course is done immediately before.

Competent Crew, can even teach non beginners, better/more efficient ways of doing things, so don't ignore it just because of pride.

PS, you cannot even get onto an Ocean Course without having a YM.

 

[colind3782]

I went on a trip in Thailand with Sunsail years ago that turned out to be a CC course. Very simple. Sometime later when we bought the boat in Spain, I needed an ICC for Spanish waters so a friend and I popped down to Gib and did the DS course. Now have an ICC and all is well.

 

[[70521]]

Hi out of curiosity did most people do competent crew, day skipper, coastal skipper then ocean. Or after having the boat a year and spending a lot of time out can a person skip the competent crew?

It is very much up to personal choice. I had not been on a sailing boat for about 20 years, having done my DS 30 years ago and, all of a sudden, wanted to buy a boat. So got some sea time in under instruction and did my CC in November followed by my DS the following November. It did two things a) proved I remembered how to sail and b) got me out in weather that can be challenging (CC especially as it was -10c at night and on the day of the F10 we stayed on the pontoon (we were out in a F8)).

My next step will be Yachtmaster Offshore as the exam is identical to the Yachtmaster Coastal, just need to get the passages and mileage in, hopefully one day will be able to do a qualifying passage for Yachtmaster Ocean.

Day or Coastal Skipper is about as far as you will need to go, even for chartering abroad in most cases. Yachtmaster is a waste of time unless you want to impress your friends about how clever you are at not being very competent. Don't ask me how I know.

Oh go on do tell. :encouragement:

 

[JumbleDuck]

PS, you cannot even get onto an Ocean Course without having a YM.

I don't think that's right. The only Yachtmaster^TM Ocean course is the theory one, which has no prerequisites.

 

[PetiteFleur]

I did coastal skipper, having sailed for several years - in fact the course had some beginners on it and I ended up helping them - it was some years ago though.

 

[dylanwinter]