Fastrak, worth doing?

[slalom]

I am planning to do a fastrak course to get my Yachtmasters. Seriously, what are the employment prospects after I do this course. It is a lot of money but I want to work in the sailing business either doing deliveries or teaching cruising. I intend to move abroad and do this if possible. I would like to hear what people genuinely think the prospects of making a living from this are, or should I just keep my hard earned money.
Thanks.

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[Benbow]

Well, this is purely anecdotal but..

I knew a bloke who changed career in his early 30's and did the zero to hero course at a well known Solent-based organisation. He was one of their very best candidates with the right personality to be a great skipper. After qualifying he gained loads of miles and experience (but only pocket money) volunteering in sail training. He failed to find the job he wanted - I don't know how picky he was - and is now very happy and earning good money working as a deck hand on a trawler. Probably not what most people have in mind !

At one point he told me that he was the only one of his class who was still at sea, all the rest had gone back to their 9-5 jobs. I don't know how true that was.

I have personal experience of other 'fully qualified' zero to heros who have been a liability, quite shockingly ignorant and naive.

You can probably tell I am sceptical. I imagine it can work for the right person, but then again the right person would probably have gained miles and experience on his/her own initiative. When I have been looking through the cv's of potential skippers or 1st mates, those with 'only' zero-to-hero have gone straight into the bin. While such a course is not necessarily the kiss of death, it certainly is not sufficient either.

HTH


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[racingron]

I agree with Benbow. Having earned my living in yachting for a while now (deliveries, skippering and racing) and come across zero to heros from time to time and tend to bin their CV's straight away as well.

I would recommend doing some deliveries to get your miles and experience up - contact reliance or proffesional yacht deliveries worldwide. You'll probably have to pay your air fares but that's all.

Once you've got a couple of decent trips under your belt do a one week yachtmaster theory and a one week practical (exam at the end) this should cost you less than a grand, not the eight or so the course will cost you. Also you'll have much better respect from prospective employers at this stage.

Then decide what work you want to do. Skippering in this country is not too hard to get into provided you have a proffesional approach (Sunsail are easy to start off with).

Deliveries, do one or two as first mate and then (again if you're good) you should get offered skippering work.

If you want to sail the blue yonder, go to Palma in the summer or St Martin's/Antigua in the winter and get day work. This should lead to making contacts and a job on a charter boat.

Whatever you do, remember it's very hard work and poorly paid - but I believe the pros far out weigh the cons.

Good luck.

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[Robin]

Do a search of the forums as this has been a hot topic several times. Yachting World are doing a series on one of their ad people with no real sailing experience going through the Fastrak with them reporting, plus I believe she will then be independently assessed afterwards.

My opinion for what it's worth is you cannot substitute cramming for real experience, but that probably is not what you want to hear. As an owner, if I were a potential employer (and I'm not) I would rather chose an unqualified person with several years experience as crew (maybe race crew) and with some realtime experience as skipper than one who turned up brandishing a pretty piece of paper gained in a few weeks.

<hr width=100% size=1><font size=1>Sermons from my pulpit are with tongue firmly in cheek and come with no warranty!</font size=1>

 

[powerskipper]

Have you thought about going down the instructor route, this is not all teaching, you need the Yacht master as a entry requirement, then get your cruising instructor ticket, [see RYA web site] then when gained experience do your instructor ticket , there are far fewer instructors than yacht masters and may give you the edge when looking for a job in the Marine industry

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://powerskipper.mysite.freeserve.com/>http://powerskipper.mysite.freeserve.com/</A>
Julie

 

[slalom]

Looks like I should ditch my plans to do this course and get some serious miles under my belt. I must admit, I had some concerns doing this course in the solent over the winter. I pictured being constantly stuck on shore due to bad weather and getting very few miles on the water.
I will be in Greece for august coaching at the Olympics and then I am free to hit the water. The 8k I was going to use for the course would be better spent getting some genuine sailing experience so if anyone out there knows of anything going, could you send them my way. Thanks for all your honest replies.
My e mail is
celbridge@hotmail.com


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[jamesjermain]

I entirely agree with the scepticism voiced here about the fast track Yachtmaster courses.

However, if you are going to make any progress in the world of professional yachting, you are almost certainly going to need, sooner or later, a Yachtmaster Offshore or Ocean certificate with commercial endorsement.

You are clearly an experienced and capable sailor - 'coaching at the Olympics' - and, I guess, must have some contacts in the field already. I would strongly suggest you get some (a few thousand) offshore miles under your belt first in any shape or form. The top delivery companies, Reliance and PYDWW and always on the look-out for keen crew willing to learn. Spells as a deckhand on larger yachts will also provide valuable experience.After this it is probably time to get a qualification so you can move on to mate and skippering positions. But by this time you will have met and discussed the position with people who really know.

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[mirabriani]

Looks as if you have good advice and have listened. This year I met two delivery skippers with many miles logged. Neither were qualified and neither impressed, indeed, one was rubbish in the Sunsail quiz.
On the other hand a friend is an Ocean Y M of some years experience. He is apparently safe to sail with but dislikes passage planning and chartwork and always leaves this to others.
I take the view that it is one thing to learn and absorb the knowledge, but some things need constant practice in order to keep "up to speed" as it were.
All in my opinion of course
Good Luck Briani

<hr width=100% size=1><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by mirabriani on 25/06/2004 12:39 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[BustinAround]

Reliance yacht management are great for getting some ocean crossings under your belt, as long as you can be available at short notice. I spent some time with them and I only have good things to say
http://www.reliance-yachts.com/

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[Benbow]

I am sure that is true, but I would caution that in some ways ocean crossing miles are actually much less useful than intense, all weather, coastal sailing requiring constant boat handling, pilotage and navigational decisions. 'Lets tack next Thursday' is not quite the same as 'we must tack now or we hit that rock' !

A mix of both is ideal



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[Sunnyseeker]

Comments from skippers last season, atlantic circuit.
They would consider fast trackies to be suitable for theoretical but not practical responsibilities. That means deck hand for a year to prove yourself.
I also had experience of a fast track as crew, I felt I was better without him as he lacked the re assuring confidence only gained through being out there and making decisions. On his course in theory he was in charge at times of the BT boats, but there was always an instructor on board...so if they made a mistake the instructor would tell them. They never really took command.
Being in charge of a vessel at sea with other peoples lives in your hands in no small responsibility, take your time to get there...

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[Peppermint]

Re: Yes Fastrak is worth doing?

if your in a rush.

Don't believe the hype about certain job placements though. As soon as your Yachtmastered get a MCA log book. Find a job with a charter company such as Sunsail. keep your log up and apply for a superyacht course at somewhere like Warsash. There is a shortage of qualified deck officers and particularly engineering officers on big yachts.

It's not the most stable career but it can pay good money for working in nice places.

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