How long to learn??

[powerskipper]

Right,
Can a lowly motor boater ask a simple question,/forums/images/icons/cool.gif

How easy is it to learn to sail,[take the Mickey if you wish but honestly wish to know]

And how long would you recon to get up to Yachtmaster standard,

JULIE /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

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IMOSHO of course,/forums/images/icons/smile.gif

 

[halcyon]

Decide at what age you plan to give up, subject your current age, and the answer you have is not far off.

Brian

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[Aardee]

I guess sail & power require equal amounts of skill, knowledge & experience (albeit very different at times...). So work out how long it took you to get to YM standard under power, take off half the time (to cover the "transportable" knowledge you already have) and that'll be my guess.

Sailing is one of those things you can pick up 80% in a weekend and spend the rest of your life on the remaining 20%.

Good luck & enjoy the challenge!!

G.


<hr width=100% size=1>"I am a bear of very little brain and long words bother me..."

 

[Jools_of_Top_Cat]

Are you coming into the light Julie?

<hr width=100% size=1>J

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[l'escargot]

This for the practical

Depend how long you take to get the miles in really.

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[LadyInBed]

You know most of it, you just need to learn:
A bit more about the wind and how to use it - Dingy sailing will teach you that.
How to handle sails
Patience - you don’t go anywhere in a hurry
How to manoeuvre with one engine and no bow thruster
Oh! And how to use an anchor!!
/forums/images/icons/smile.gif/forums/images/icons/frown.gif/forums/images/icons/wink.gif/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif/forums/images/icons/mad.gif/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif/forums/images/icons/cool.gif/forums/images/icons/blush.gif/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif


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[oldsaltoz]

G'day Julie,

You will pick up the basics in about 3 weekends of sailing, it will take a little longer to stop tangling sheets and prevent over rides on the winches.

work on about 3 years to get to yachtmaster if you keep your head down; and remember, getting to this level does not in any way imply that you have finished studying, in fact it has only just begun. After sailing for the best part of 50 yrs I'm still learning new tricks, techniques, rules and tactics.

So you have a lot to look forward to, and bear in mind the rag and string brigade are a great bunch of really good people, (well mostly anyway).

Avagoodweekend......



<hr width=100% size=1> Old Salt Oz /forums/images/icons/cool.gif Growing old is unavoidable. However, growing up is still optional.

 

[flaming]

There are now companies that offer a so called "zero to hero" course. This is aimed at people who want to work in the industry and tends to take about 17 weeks from complete beginner to yachtmaster. This method has it's criticisms though......
Having sailed with one such student about a week before he took (and passed) his yachtmasters it was noticeable that he was still thinking too much about things that are completely natural to people who have the same level of aquired knowledge, but who have built it up over many years of sailing in a variety of boats and a variety of conditions.

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[jimi]

Think all you need to learn is the sail and boat handling. Repeat earlier advice .. learn to sail a dinghy ..GP14 (something with at least two sails) or similar. To pass a practical YM exam with boathandling skills

In my YM exam under sail and boat handling I was asked to perform:
1) MOB under sail at night (first time pick up)
2) Sailing onto a buoy (first time pick up of a specific buoy nominated by examiner)
3)Sailing off an anchor (in Newton Creek)

So I'd reckon that a reasonable amount of experience is required.

<hr width=100% size=1>I Have The Body Of A God... Buddha

 

[boatless]

Err.. for those that don't read mobo chat, Powerskipper is a qualified instructor.

Julie, I'd just shove you out in a Laser for a day, then a small keelboat for another day. I think you'd work it out! It only took me a few hours to learn twin screw parking, coming the other way.

Combine it with a Sunsail type holiday? Bets to fall in where it's warm, I find.

Thereafter, as has been said, it's a continuous process. Mistake/learn etc...

John

<hr width=100% size=1>my opinion is complete rubbish, probably.<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by boatless on 30/03/2004 12:45 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[bedouin]

Very interesting question.

As I'm sure you know the sailing YM is not really a test of sailing ability - so the vast majority of your current experience and skills transfers directly.

If your objective were purely to pass the exam, I believe you could probably acquire the necessary sailing skills with 2 or 3 weeks of intensive training (one of which could be in a dinghy)

In terms of the qualifying miles, I don't know if you would need to repeat those in a sailing vessel - my guess is not.

As to whether you could really become YM standard in that time (as opposed to just passing the exam) I would say not. You probably need to amass more sailing miles in a variety of conditions to be really competent/safe to handle a sailing boat in any conditions.

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[jimi]

Aye.. but what you've also got to factor in is that PowerSkipper is a wummin and whilst in this PC day and age everyone pretends they're equal .. we know they're not. They're nae use at driving or boathandling and their wind awareness (except under the covers) is non existent. Gie them a frying pan,cloutie or Hello and they're in their element but!

<hr width=100% size=1>I Have The Body Of A God... Buddha

 

[jhr]

Tired of life, Jimi? nm

/forums/images/icons/smile.gif

<hr width=100% size=1>Je suis Marxiste - tendance Groucho

 

[Aeolus_IV]

Being a power boat instructor does not make the sailing aspects any simpler or require less time to learn, that which those who have been sailing for years take for granted. On the other hand the "rules" aspect should already be second nature. There is no substitute for time on the water under sail in this situation - dinghies are a great way to learn and get wet if you get it wrong!

Regards, Jeff

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[boatless]

You'd better make sure that rudder of yours is fixed good and proper. Think you might be trying to avoid an irked motorboat shortly!

<hr width=100% size=1>my opinion is complete rubbish, probably.

 

[Mirelle]

A couple of days?

"Mirelle" is a 37ft gaff cutter, weighing 10 tons with a 10ft bowsprit and a fairly complex rig. I bought her in 1984 from Francis and Grace Manfield, who had bought her in 1950 from Philip Allen via Francis "Jack" Jones, the Woodbridge designer and broker.

The previous year they had been towed into Dover when their motor cruiser's engine failed in mid-Channel. this cured them of powerboating and they asked "Jack" Jones to find them a small sailing boat to learn to sail in.

They had in mind a 12ft clinker dinghy.

He produced "Mirelle", which had just come on his books for sale, saying, "You look like sensible people, you will have no trouble!"

And indeed they had no trouble; they did learn to sail in a few days and owned her for the next 34 years, during which they sailed her all over the place. The sum total of their mishaps was a lost anchor in Harwich and a broken staysail boom in Burnham.

Moral: sailing is much easier than we sticks and rag types make it out to be.

<hr width=100% size=1>Que scais-je?

 

[Aeolus_IV]

Re: A couple of days?

By the same argument, motor boating can be picked up easily. Yet in the fairway I have watched one motor boat boat snake along it nearly collecting several boats in the process, while my neighbour at the time could turn his motor boat around in the fairway when the boat was only a few feet shorter than the fairway was wide.

No, you're right, sailing is, in principle, easy. But doing it right, safely and making it look effortless only comes with time and practice. We all admit that there's no end to the learning.

Jeff.

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[Solitaire]

I would take a very long deep breath if I were you! You are liley to come in for a very severe dousing when Powerskipper comes home from teaching!! /forums/images/icons/wink.gif

<hr width=100% size=1>Boating is <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.powerboattraininguk.co.uk>Serious Fun</A>

 

[Trazie]

Jimi,
You are on dangerous ground now.
Of course us wimmin arent equal to men.......we are better!!
Traz

p.s. like the pic of you at your puter, just confused as to what Alistair was doing in your study while you were starkers. Scary pic

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[Fill]

Bit of a bummer that YM of the year was a woman eh, Jimi?

<hr width=100% size=1>Fill