Has anyone here done RYA Dayskipper for motor cruiser?

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Cathy*

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We have many years of Rhib boat handling and basic navigation, plus 18 months ownership of cruiser. Now thinking of doing some more training to be able to go further afield safely. We're getting different advice. One school says do RYA Helmsman and Dayskipper (5 days total). Another says do Dayskipper theory and practical. (roughly 10 days) Does anyone here have experience of either studying or teaching these courses?

Ta

Cathy
 
Day Skipper Practical & Theory combined if you can commit the time or Day Kipper Practical followed by Theory online.

Did my DS practical a few years ago and was worth every penny as it gave my wife and me much more confidence in all aspects of boat handling. Was in Dartmouth last year and Ferry Glided into a boat sized gap, could not have done that without good training lol.

Regards

Andy
 
If you have had a rib and a motor cruiser then the helmsman course will be redundant for you. You know where the bow is, I guess you also know your port and starboard! I also suspect you can moor your motor cruiser fairly competently now.

It is really essential however that you do the Day Skipper shore based course first. The Day Skipper practical course does not allow time to teach the basics of navigation etc. it is a practical course and there is a minimum requirement to do 100 nautical miles during the course. Now, that means an average of 25 a day and while there is time to do passage planning etc, the basics of the theory must be understood first, these are the fine tuned in a practical sense.

You can do the theory course on line and then plan for the practical. You say you have your own boat, so do it on that.

The theory course, if done in a classroom is over 5 days or 40 hours. Some schools will run it over weekends, others do it over a number of weeks. You can also do the course in your own time on line and this suits some more than others. I have had some people who just can't get to grips with the course on line and others who have flown through it in a matter of days, but you do it in your own time. Support is offered and I fact I have a client based in Moscow and we have Skype chats when he gets stuck!

Doing the Day Skipper practical without the theory grounding is false economy, and you won't get as much from the course as you should. In fact I would not take anybody on the practical course who has not done the theory. Actually not strictly true, I will do a Day Skipper practical over 6 days if the client does not have the theory skills, but the first two days are classroom based just to get the fundamentals in place - the candidate does not however get the theory certificate. A lot of sailing schools - and I mean yachts under this category as I am a power only centre - do offer a 9 day combined course where the students do get the theory certificate as well. I will do the same, but the demand is not there on the power side.

If you are happy doing work on line with support, then go this route the cost would be about the same as doing the first option you were given. I suggest to people that the online theory is done "out of season" then when the weather is better do the practical. Hope this helps.
 
Hi Cathy.
I did the DS theory and practical last year and that was after around 4 years of moboing. I was amazed just how much I learnt and how much confidence it gave me. The theory was invaluable and much more so than I thought it would be so I would certainly advise doing that beore the practical.
Good luck and enjoy it...it's great fun.
Lisa
:)
 
We just ran one for a family aboard their boat, in some fairly interesting weather, they were very pleased and the feedback was:
"Just to say thank you to you and Julie for three brilliant days, me and boys have realy enjoyed everything and have gained so much confidence."
it's all about having the confidence to use the boat not just on 'nice' days but when its a bit more challenging as well.

Shout if you need any guidance

Jon
 
We did day skipper practical on our own 435 as soon as we bought it, as we had no previous experience at all. We found it invaluable to get us started. As we were planning on motoring down to the Med, we then did ds theory over a month of winter weekends. In our particular situation, that order worked perfectly.
 
Cathy* said:
We have many years of Rhib boat handling and basic navigation, plus 18 months ownership of cruiser. Now thinking of doing some more training to be able to go further afield safely. We're getting different advice. One school says do RYA Helmsman and Dayskipper (5 days total). Another says do Dayskipper theory and practical. (roughly 10 days) Does anyone here have experience of either studying or teaching these courses?

Ta

Cathy
Click to expand...
With the experience you have you may find that you can comfortably handle a faster pace of learning so skip Day Skipper shore-based and go straight to Coastal Skipper/Yachtmaster. It's really not difficult but you may need to put in a bit more private study to get through the syllabus. I agree that Day Skipper is the right practical course.
 
lisilou said:
Hi Cathy.
I did the DS theory and practical last year and that was after around 4 years of moboing. I was amazed just how much I learnt and how much confidence it gave me. The theory was invaluable and much more so than I thought it would be so I would certainly advise doing that beore the practical.
Good luck and enjoy it...it's great fun.
Lisa
:)
Click to expand...

Thanks Lisa for the good advice

Cathy
 
Hi Cathy, hope you found some of the above helpful. As pointed out by the replays above taking your Day skipper is a good investment.
We did ours on our own boT and it was really useful as we got to know how she handles so would recommend this route if you can.
Solitaire made the point re theory, the practical course is quite intensive, luckily we have previous experience PB 1&2 as well as having a 28 ft mobo prior to our current boat.
With 1 instructor to 2 students you will get great value, we covered many of the theory aspects during our 5 days, this does not (IMO) negate the need to do the theory course but at the end we felt confident and competent.

Whichever way you choose to go it really is worthwhile and just as important fun.

Btw are you berthed in Brixham?

Regards

Andy
 
Hi Cathy

My partner and I are currently doing the DS Theory online (with Mendez Marine). It's a fascinating (and quite challenging!) course. We're learning a lot. We're going to the Canaries in April to do the practical course. As others have said, getting the theory done first seems sensible.

Good luck!
 
Jurgen said:
Hi Cathy, hope you found some of the above helpful. As pointed out by the replays above taking your Day skipper is a good investment.
We did ours on our own boT and it was really useful as we got to know how she handles so would recommend this route if you can.
Solitaire made the point re theory, the practical course is quite intensive, luckily we have previous experience PB 1&2 as well as having a 28 ft mobo prior to our current boat.
With 1 instructor to 2 students you will get great value, we covered many of the theory aspects during our 5 days, this does not (IMO) negate the need to do the theory course but at the end we felt confident and competent.

Whichever way you choose to go it really is worthwhile and just as important fun.

Btw are you berthed in Brixham?

Regards

Andy
Click to expand...

Thanks Andy. Our boat is in Plymouth but as an MDL berth holder we can use freedom berthing to go to Brixham. It's on our agenda for early this year. Providing I learn to park the boat obviously :) From what you've said I think we have a very similar background to you regarding previous experience although ours has been gained through diving not RYA. I've had some very useful responses.

Cathy
 
bozlite said:
Hi Cathy

My partner and I are currently doing the DS Theory online (with Mendez Marine). It's a fascinating (and quite challenging!) course. We're learning a lot. We're going to the Canaries in April to do the practical course. As others have said, getting the theory done first seems sensible.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

Hi Matthew

I tried to do the Essential navigation online but always seemed to find other things to do instead of the course. I don't think I could manage the whole DS theory that way. Did you have any experience before starting the course? I like the sound of going to the Canaries though.

Cathy
 
We were in Plymouth last season, unfortunately we had the 2 weeks after the heat wave lol, your so lucky to have the Yealm just around the corner, had a wonderful night.

Freedom berthing has really opened up our cruising range, were off to the Solent but will be back early July and will probably pop down to Plymouth for a few weeks

Andy
 
Cathy* said:
Hi Matthew

I tried to do the Essential navigation online but always seemed to find other things to do instead of the course. I don't think I could manage the whole DS theory that way. Did you have any experience before starting the course? I like the sound of going to the Canaries though.

Cathy
Click to expand...

Hi Cathy

Yes - it is quite hard to motivate yourself to do the course. Trying to get your head round tidal curves and secondary port calculations isn't the most relaxing way to spend your evenings! It is good that you can work at your own pace, though, and fit it in arround everything else. We've got a couple of years motor boating experience (and I did a bit of dinghy sailing in the dim and distant past). We're looking forward to the trip to the Canaries. We wanted somewhere where we'd definitely get a bit of sun - we're going for ten days in total, celebrating my 50th as well as doing the DS!
 
Jurgen said:
We were in Plymouth last season, unfortunately we had the 2 weeks after the heat wave lol, your so lucky to have the Yealm just around the corner, had a wonderful night.

Freedom berthing has really opened up our cruising range, were off to the Solent but will be back early July and will probably pop down to Plymouth for a few weeks

Andy
Click to expand...

We do love it around Plymouth but would like to take advantage of the freedom berthing and just need the skills and confidence to do it.

Cathy
 
Jurgen said:
Day Skipper Practical & Theory combined if you can commit the time or Day Kipper Practical followed by Theory online.

Did my DS practical a few years ago and was worth every penny as it gave my wife and me much more confidence in all aspects of boat handling. Was in Dartmouth last year and Ferry Glided into a boat sized gap, could not have done that without good training lol.

Regards

Andy
Click to expand...

Andy, what you failed to mention was that the space was previously occupied by a navy destroyer..........:)

Have you managed to get to the Solent yet? Yesterday seemed ok but today is dreadful.
 
Andy, what you failed to mention was that the space was previously occupied by a navy destroyer..........

Pmsl very good John, wish I had asked Alison to video it so I had some evidence lol.

Was going to go on Saturday but after checking with Portland Coast Guard they advised against it so still in Brixham.

Next weekend is also looking pretty iffy so not sure when we'll get a weather window
 
Hi there, I would if you can join a local group doing DS theory, having a group with a knowledgeable tutor is an easier way to learn, you gain additional benefit from others experiences too.

There will probably be a course running at a local collage near to you, often night time for around 2 hrs per week.
IMO it was an enjoyable way to do the theory as well as very informative with the benefit that you will make some new friends too.

After we did the dayskiper theory at night school both myself and a couple of the group did the practical as a residential course over 5 days (with sealine sea school), having done the theory first we found the practical more rewarding, (it helped when we knew what the instructor was actually talking about), we then carried on to do yachtmaster theory the year after, I still keep in touch with some of the group to this day.

So take a look at your local collage for courses, it's better to have someone knowledgeable on hand when you have the slightest question rather than struggle through.

The course was based on the very good book 'RYA Dayskiper' + the practice book and charts, it is definitely a must read.
 
I did the DS theory online and it was quite challenging but I did enjoy it. Thing is I will have probably forgotten it all by the time I get round to doing the practical!
 
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