StugeronSteve
Well-Known Member
Re: YM or not YM
I absolutely agree that a qualification, having gained wide, if not universal, acceptance, cannot, and should not, be continually tampered with. Furthermore, if I am following your point fully, I am also in agreement that we may well be debating repairs to something that ain't broke. The relatively small number of rookie YMs embarking on major voyages is probably so low that it would not stand up to statistical analysis, so it would be very difficult to assess (I should think that the MCA / RYA and other bodies world wide do try though).
We all tend to jump to conclusions, ie. when a rookie has an accident and is tragically unable to explain the circumstances, insufficient experience is the thought that immediately springs to mind, conversely, when this sort of thing has happened to an "old hand" we tend to think that he was "overwhelmed by freak conditions".
I do stand by my comment regarding the responsibility of employers to make a reasonable assessment of an "employee's" capacities prior to packing him/her off on some jaunt and a Ym fastrack may well provide a satisfactory assessment. All That I can liken it to is my own situation, I have people working for me who arrive with the appropriate qualifications, but that does not mean that I can confidently send them to work in certain industrial conditions without further training / supervision. I am not, for one minute, suggesting that the young man involved in the incident which started this thread had not been properly vetted, in fact, the point that I am trying to convey, is that his employers must have been satisfied that he was, in all reasonability, capable of undertaking this passage safely.
As in all matters it is a question of where do you draw the line and say that this person is now ready to undertake this task. As you say, qualified structural engineers do build bridges that fall down, and accidents do happen, and there ain't nuffin we're going to do that will prevent it. All we can do is make sure that training ensures that people are reasonably prepared for the task at hand.
<hr width=100% size=1>Think I'll draw some little rabbits on my head, from a distance they might be mistaken for hairs.
I absolutely agree that a qualification, having gained wide, if not universal, acceptance, cannot, and should not, be continually tampered with. Furthermore, if I am following your point fully, I am also in agreement that we may well be debating repairs to something that ain't broke. The relatively small number of rookie YMs embarking on major voyages is probably so low that it would not stand up to statistical analysis, so it would be very difficult to assess (I should think that the MCA / RYA and other bodies world wide do try though).
We all tend to jump to conclusions, ie. when a rookie has an accident and is tragically unable to explain the circumstances, insufficient experience is the thought that immediately springs to mind, conversely, when this sort of thing has happened to an "old hand" we tend to think that he was "overwhelmed by freak conditions".
I do stand by my comment regarding the responsibility of employers to make a reasonable assessment of an "employee's" capacities prior to packing him/her off on some jaunt and a Ym fastrack may well provide a satisfactory assessment. All That I can liken it to is my own situation, I have people working for me who arrive with the appropriate qualifications, but that does not mean that I can confidently send them to work in certain industrial conditions without further training / supervision. I am not, for one minute, suggesting that the young man involved in the incident which started this thread had not been properly vetted, in fact, the point that I am trying to convey, is that his employers must have been satisfied that he was, in all reasonability, capable of undertaking this passage safely.
As in all matters it is a question of where do you draw the line and say that this person is now ready to undertake this task. As you say, qualified structural engineers do build bridges that fall down, and accidents do happen, and there ain't nuffin we're going to do that will prevent it. All we can do is make sure that training ensures that people are reasonably prepared for the task at hand.
<hr width=100% size=1>Think I'll draw some little rabbits on my head, from a distance they might be mistaken for hairs.