Day Skipper Theory

[timappleton]

Hello

I would like to enrol on a day skipper theory course to do online at my own pace. I can see there are lots of providers, but I am unsure which provider to use. Does anyone have any advice?

Many thanks
Tim

 

[KompetentKrew]

Having had the dubious pleasure of doing both, I thoroughly recommend Skippers Online (formerly known as Kipper Sailing) over Navathome.

Clearly both are qualified instructors, but Navathome comes across like a retired computer programmer decided to create a website, but he doesn't have any experience of user interface design and everything is a bit cludgy and clumsy. You can't navigate through the answer fields using your tab key, and they took exception when I complained about it. When I did it a couple of years ago they were still using flash animations, and the site had to be whitelisted in Safari.

Skippers Online is, in contrast, much better presented - he uses an off-the-shelf online education platform and has concentrated on the quality of the tutorials. The lessons are displayed larger and much clearer, with consistent style and better narration. An advantage of the 3rd-party platform is that you can download an app and download the lessons to your phone or tablet for offline viewing.

They both have a free trial of the first lesson, so try them for yourself and see the difference in quality.

You will also find a discount if you google "skippers online discount code".

 

[macca499]

Have just done mine via urban truant for £260 and can throughly recommend, great online interface, quick marking and advice once I had sat the two exams. On my recent competent crew course some of the guys recommended Ardent training

 

[JohnDavie]

I did Day Skipper through Navathome and Coastal Skipper through Urban Truant. I agree with the above comment on Navathome; it is functional but very basic. Urban Truant is excellent.

 

[Tippy2024]

Have a look at Ardent Training - they have generated a whole new course - up to date - easy to use etc.. I dont work for them! I am going to use them.

 

[dansaskip]

Just a thought by have you really settled on doing it on line? As long as there is somewhere near you offering why not do it in evening classes? . Hard to beat the personal attention you might get from a good teacher and besides you might meet some interesting other "students" whilst you are at it

 

[Sandy]

Just a thought by have you really settled on doing it on line? As long as there is somewhere near you offering why not do it in evening classes? . Hard to beat the personal attention you might get from a good teacher and besides you might meet some interesting other "students" whilst you are at it

Most if not all local authorities stopped doing evening classes during the last millennium.

Don't know if any sea school who would run one, but I am in the wild west not the Solent.

 

[Graham_Wright]

Out of interest, now HMHO have decided not to produce any more paper charts, has the course changed to purely electronic versions?

 

[Fantasie 19]

Having done both I would also consider going straight to Coastal Skipper.. others may disagree..

 

[capnsensible]

Having done both I would also consider going straight to Coastal Skipper.. others may disagree..

Best learn to walk before you learn to run.....

 

[Fantasie 19]

Best learn to walk before you learn to run.....

Yeah that's fair enough..

I'd admit that I'm still learning to stumble, but having done both over two winters, I would say that for the theory courses the Coastal is not much harder than the Day Skipper... on the practical side would agree completely..

 

[Stemar]

From what I can remember doing my DS, the only real difference between CS & DS is required experience. But that was rather a long time ago.

 

[steveeasy]

Ardent training. I did manage to pass in 2 weeks so it must have been good.!!! Not as easy as some might think. It takes effort and time.
Steveeasy

 

[Mark-1]

Having done both I would also consider going straight to Coastal Skipper.. others may disagree..

I went straight to YM Theory and didn't bother with the DS, I don't recall needed to learn anything extra to 'catch up'. Definitely the right thing to do IMHO.

 

[Stemar]

Ah, yes, sorry, it was the practical that required so many days sailing, including night hours.

 

[timappleton]

Thanks for your responses. I have looked at your suggestions and Ardent training comes out very well on Trustpilot and looks good.

 

[ylop]

Just a thought by have you really settled on doing it on line? As long as there is somewhere near you offering why not do it in evening classes?

its not just the location, you need to be available regularly at the time of their class etc...

. Hard to beat the personal attention you might get from a good teacher

Equally the good teacher may spend a lot of time focussed on the students who have never given any thought to why we have tides and haven't thought about a triangle or a calculator since they left school 30 years ago. Online you can work at your pace, not the pace of the slowest student. And if you are the slowest student you don't need to feel pressured to get through it in a set time.

and besides you might meet some interesting other "students" whilst you are at it

Yeah that may not be a selling point! The last in person RYA theory course I did (a very long time ago) - the VHF course - the other students were quite, em, odd. They may have thought the same about me.

Don't know if any sea school who would run one, but I am in the wild west not the Solent.

there's at least a couple run them in the Clyde, although not sure if they are evenings rather than multiday. I'm sure some clubs do too.