Day Skipper online course

Yes, YM goes a bit deeper on some topics.

Fundamental difference on the Nav, is that the problems set by the RYA, are not exactly Neaps/Springs, but are in between & require enterpolation.

+ of course Secondary Port calcs, which are not difficult. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 
I did 7/8ths of the DS Theory on a one to one basis and due to a) my retina detaching and b) the instructor disappearing to deliver boats for the summer period just as I recovered I am in the same situation as you.
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If anyone does want to complete their DS (or YM Theory), give me a call & will work something out!

The only requirement for the DS practical, is that you should have done the theory or have 'equivalent knowledge'. It can be a waste of time (particularly for any other pupils onboard) if you have to learn both on a practical course.
 
Please forgive my lack of knowledge here...

Is this the course you need to do if you want to hire a motorboat, say, in France?
 
Strangely enough, if you are hiring I don't think you need anything beyond a short period of instruction from the charter company. If you are the owner you need an ICC - inland, + CEVNI.
 
You have all nearly talked me into it now!

My head says I need to do the course as it's vital skills and safety is at stake... and my heart says we need a new fridge as the beer is warm... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

(and my RIB is floppy but that's another story)
 
I did YM Shorebased with CM Online without doing Day Skipper first. If you have background knowledge on charts and boats, then that should be OK. If in doubt, why not buy or borrow a Day Skipper book, and do a bit of revision with that.

I don't know if day skipper covers meteorology, there's quite a lot of that in YM, but again most sailors will already have background knowledge on that.
 
We did one evening on the weather, so I have that. Plus someone bought me a book on reading the weather. I must get around to reading it!

S.
 
Re: Day Skipper on line course

If you have covered most of the DS course and are happy with your ability in it . you should be able to go and do YM, have you considered a 5/6 day intensive course, they are often small classes and most sea school do them, if not I can though a friend.
The on line course are normally very good but you miss out being able to ask questions and listen to others questions that can be very educational too, and most instructors while teaching use storeys to emphasise things.
The YM is much more precision navigation and more in depth in most subjects.
 
Re: Day Skipper on line course

I have thought of doing an intensive, but SWMBO is expecting and I don't qualify for paid paternaty... all hols at the moment are destined for when the sprog drops.

The tutor we had for DS was good (and active on lifeboat crew) and we did get a lot of extra info that we probably would not get otherwise.

On the downside, in a class you always have to go at the pace of the slowest member of the class.... and a couple in my class were more than a bit slow.

Eg.

Tutor: "Write a mayday thats gives the coastguard your position in relation to that lighthouse"
Slow: "...42 degrees off lighthouse"
Tutor: "err.. no thats your course TO the lighthouse, it doesn't show your position in relation to the lighthouse"
...45 minutes pass
Slow: "I still don't understand, if I put plotter here...."
[the rest of the class by this time are practicing turning a bowline into a hangmans noose....]

You should have seen some of the frightented faces when "chartplotter software" and "computer" were mentioned!

S.
 
Most people that come to do a Day Skipper Practical with us have not done the threory. Come to think of it I went straight to the DSP. During the DSP you get taught the theory anyway, including tidal curves, vectors col regs bouyage etc.

Even a night nav, and all put into practice.
 
Just reading over the thread, I have a bit of experience dinghy sailing, but very little on larger boats.

I'll be sailing my boat over from liverpool to belfast with my dad (he has vhf cert and a lot of experience sailing), so that should give me a few days learning the ropes as it where, I'd like to hope this should have me at a general crewing level after maybe 2-3 days.

First things first I'll be doing my vhf course, then thinking of doing a theory course for charts, nav and general regs. should I cover the day skipper via some of the books you can buy on amazon etc and then do yachtmaster online as a few have suggested?

or should I just cover the dayskipper theory via the books and go for a day skipper practical course? I just want to get myself up to a generally decent level of sailing where I feel like I know what I'm doing and can do a days sailing and feel safe.
 
Contrary to various advice on here I would suggest very few people should skip DS shorebased all together. It is a fourty hour course and that should tell you there is a fair bit of content.

When we get people going directly to YM they end up only covering the basics of the YM and not going into some areas as fully as we like. The reason being that we are having to spend considerable time on topics that should have been learnt at DS.


Likewise students who go straight to DS practical don't get anything like as much out of the course compared with those who have completed the shorebased. Think about it, would you rather be using hours of your practical cours sat at the saloon table being taught tidal curves or would you rather be skippering the boat and developing your practical skills?

The OP who has already completed 75% of the DsSb is of course the exception but most people will only be ripping themselves off by missing out the DS, it is the foundation in nav and seamanship. The massive mistake that a lot of people make is thinking that both shorebased courses are about the content of the exam papers. They are not, there is loads of content beyond the examined subjects.
 
I was considering doing the theory courses via distance learning before the practical. I wouldnt skip the day skipper practical, ill be sitting that regardless.

so maybe work through one of the day skipper theory textbooks and exercises and then working through the YM online course via one of the providers (as I would be working at my own speed then?).

I've seen a 5 day, day skipper/coastal skipper combined course as well but that sounds very hard going.
 
Doug_Stormforce said:
Contrary to various advice on here I would suggest very few people should skip DS shorebased all together. It is a fourty hour course and that should tell you there is a fair bit of content.

When we get people going directly to YM they end up only covering the basics of the YM and not going into some areas as fully as we like. The reason being that we are having to spend considerable time on topics that should have been learnt at DS.


Likewise students who go straight to DS practical don't get anything like as much out of the course compared with those who have completed the shorebased. Think about it, would you rather be using hours of your practical cours sat at the saloon table being taught tidal curves or would you rather be skippering the boat and developing your practical skills?

The OP who has already completed 75% of the DsSb is of course the exception but most people will only be ripping themselves off by missing out the DS, it is the foundation in nav and seamanship. The massive mistake that a lot of people make is thinking that both shorebased courses are about the content of the exam papers. They are not, there is loads of content beyond the examined subjects.
Click to expand...

agree with all that.. having recently completed my DS shore based I can say there was loads I picked up that wasn't covered in the exam nor the sylabus... all very useful too, the tutor passed on a whole load of experiences to back up a given scenario... in the end I told the guy that I wasn't fussed if I passed so long as he continued to make sure the theory was presented well and it stuck... it did and naturally I passed as a result without revising too hard.. as per a previous thread of mine, I don't think many fail the exam though.
 
alant said:
Yes, YM goes a bit deeper on some topics.

Fundamental difference on the Nav, is that the problems set by the RYA, are not exactly Neaps/Springs, but are in between & require enterpolation.

+ of course Secondary Port calcs, which are not difficult. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
Click to expand...

Don't forget that 'Collision Regs' assessment paper has a mandatory 80% passmark requirement! :eek:
 
Doug_Stormforce said:
Contrary to various advice on here I would suggest very few people should skip DS shorebased all together. It is a fourty hour course and that should tell you there is a fair bit of content.

When we get people going directly to YM they end up only covering the basics of the YM and not going into some areas as fully as we like. The reason being that we are having to spend considerable time on topics that should have been learnt at DS.


Likewise students who go straight to DS practical don't get anything like as much out of the course compared with those who have completed the shorebased. Think about it, would you rather be using hours of your practical cours sat at the saloon table being taught tidal curves or would you rather be skippering the boat and developing your practical skills?

The OP who has already completed 75% of the DsSb is of course the exception but most people will only be ripping themselves off by missing out the DS, it is the foundation in nav and seamanship. The massive mistake that a lot of people make is thinking that both shorebased courses are about the content of the exam papers. They are not, there is loads of content beyond the examined subjects.
Click to expand...

Agreed Doug.

I have just run a YM Theory course, with all students having done DS or DS equivalent (other countries). Some having done YM previously & doing a refresher. This was over a 5 day course.

Most, since their DS was not recent, found the course knowledge taxing. Almost all had difficulty with the Chartwork - Revision (2 hr paper).

One of the factors on these courses which doing DS first addresses, is getting to understand the format of the RYA questions, since in a classroom you must first try to understand the context of the scenarios you are being asked to solve + filtering out the relevant information from the 'window dressing' which is included to make it interesting.

If you already have some/plenty of sailing/boating knowledge, you will find it OK. However, if completely new to sailing, why try to run before you can walk?
 
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