Day Skipper vs Coastal Skipper

[Lizzie_B]

'Day Skipper is a pay and pass qual'

I think that depends on where you do it. It certainly wasn't the case when I did mine, and when SWMBO did her compentent crew one of the two Day Skipper candidates failed.
I think it is splitting hairs to say DS isn't examined and CS is.

If DS is done by a responsible sea school you are 'examined' by continuous assesment ( as are many degrees nowadays - to stick with the analogy).

I think the problem is that the regulation of the Sea Schools is sometimes lacking, especially sea schools that operate a charter business that has 'special rates' for people who pass their course with them.Very few people complain if they are told they have passed!!

I am sure from the amount of anecdotal evidence on these forums over the years that some YM seem to know very little. People who have done Fast Track seem to have come in for the most doubt.

BTW - I have even known two people 'fail' competent crew in ifferent sea schools, as the 'instructor/examiner' deemed that they were 'unsafe'.

One had sailed 'thousands of miles'. She could not take instruction. She was actually on board as a DS candidate!!! /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

I've actually had someone like that crew for me and they were a certified master power and sail up to 100 tons! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[flaming]

Totally agree. DS is NOT pay and pass. In my time as an instructor I passed about twice as many people as i failed. But I did on occasion fail the whole course. The normal reason was not knowing the theory when they turned up. The instructor has time to teach the theory or the boat handling. Not both. The theory part of the practical course should be an exercise of putting into practice what you already know, not learning from scratch.

 

[Slow_boat]

I most certainly have failed people at both DS and compcrew, usually because they didn't have the feel or respect for the sea, sympathy for the boat or crew or were just plain pig headed dangerous. And one for being drunk on watch.

Mind you, I've sailed with a couple of world famous round the world type skippers that fall into all those categories.

All that is in the dim distant past now, so with a GCSE being the equivilent of a CSE, and some decgrees being so easy they're not worth mentioning, I can see things may well have changed.

 

[Sailfree]

I repeat the advice I was given which looking back I now think it was right.

1. Do DS theory and practical. Its a good intrioductory course and has a high content of boat handling manoeuvering that CS and YM does not have. It gives you the ICC which is the only qualification that is really recognised internationally.

2. Do YM thoery. If you dont do many miles the CS practical is a sensible progression but if you can get in the 2500mls go straight to YM. If they don't think you are good enough for YM most times they will award a CS anyway (assuming you are at least to that standard).

3. First aid, VHF, Radar and sea survival course are also good if you intend to be a skipper and take responsibility for others lives.

Don't be too worried about them as providing you are reasonably competent you will pass the failure rate is very low! Think back to how good a driver you were when you passed your driving test compared to now - and thats the point these certificates are there to encourage you to reach certain minimum standards not to say you know it all. There is no substitute for taking responsibility for a boat including the passage planning and building up the sea miles.