Inland dinghy sailor straight to Day Skipper ?

[john_morris_uk]

My guess would be that more candidates tell lies about prior experience, than sea school instructors disregarding lack of displayed experience during the week.

Indeed. A common problem in some parts of the system is the candidate who lies about his or her experience and qualifying passages in order to attempt the YM Offshore Exam. It's usually pretty obvious what's going on and it's not necessarily the Sea School's fault for booking them onto the exam; they've often asked the right questions but the candidates has either played dumb or simply lied.

However that's another question.

 

[lpdsn]

A few years ago I was on a YM Practical preparation week, with a large W Country RYA sailing school.
The other YM student/exam candidate had zero wind awareness, coudn't really sail much or even tie any basic knots, but had been grossly misled that he was ready to do a YM Practical.

That surprises me. My experience of doing two exams, Coastal Skipper (before they changed the name) and YM, was that in both cases the instructors gave the candidates good advice about attempting the respective exams. They didn't want to see people who weren't ready for it wasting any more money.

It doesn't do their reputation any good if they put forward duffers, but I guess they can't actually stop anyone.