is there a register for Yachtmasters?

I got my offshore cert and then a few years later did it again as a refresher but that was all years ago and the certificate they issued looked as though it had been produced using a John Bull Printing Set. (little rubber letters held on strips of wood). I'd be amazed if they still have a record of my continuing existence and my amazing ability to identify and avoid hitting the Isle of Wight.
 
I read a thread no to long ago which indicates the RYA records of older Day Skipper certificates are not good. Leading to problems for some who were trying to replace a lost certificate. Which is not good for a system which claims to be a gold standard.
By comparison PADI were able to track down and reissue. My open water diver from 1984. When I couldn't find it 30 years later and the dive shop had not existed for decades. Things changed in more recent years. I was reported they now have central records.

I would hope so. YM Certificate # issued to.
Certainly for any commercial endorsements.

In the modern commercial world. If It can't be verified its not worth the paper or plastic its printed on.
 
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peter2407 said:
.... too check that those who say they have the cert, actually do?
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Get him to show you his certificate of competence. Each one will have a photo and will be numbered. You could then check with RYA that that is valid if you have any doubts.
 
Uricanejack said:
I read a thread no to long ago which indicates the RYA records of older Day Skipper certificates are not good. Leading to problems for some who were trying to replace a lost certificate. Which is not good for a system which claims to be a gold standard.
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C'mon, someone who did a day skipper course thirty odd years ago will have either gained enough experience since to be a competent skipper with a good chance of passing a YM exam or will have forgotten 99.9% of it. Either way the old Day Skipper cert will be pretty much irrelevant.
 
My YM Offshore looks like a passport ( but more substantial in fact ) and has my details, but I'm sure doesn't have my photo on it ( can't be bothered fishing it out right now ); I did the course and exam at the end of 1992.
 
I took (and passed) the YM Offshore shorebased course and exams about 25 years ago at a local community college at evening classes. My only certification received consisted of a little bit of signed sticky paper to glue into my RYA logbook. Some years later, thinking that I might well lose this one day, I 'phoned the RYA and asked if they kept a central register of these exam passes. The answer was "No, surely the establishment where you took the exams will keep records".
Zero chance of that. The establishment merely rents out the room to the Yachtmaster Instructor/examiner. If you know where to find him/her donkeys later you'll be lucky, and even luckier if he/she has kept records all that time.
The RYA need a kick in the pants about this. They set the exams, and give the examiners their credentials. They should keep records.
 
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MonniotC said:
I took (and passed) the YM Offshore shorebased course and exams about 25 years ago at a local community college at evening classes. My only certification received consisted of a little bit of signed sticky paper to glue into my RYA logbook. Some years later, thinking that I might well lose this one day, I 'phoned the RYA and asked if they kept a central register of these exam passes. The answer was "No, surely the establishment where you took the exams will keep records".
Zero chance of that. The establishment merely rents out the room to the Yachtmaster Instructor/examiner. If you know where to find him/her donkeys later you'll be lucky, and even luckier if he/she has kept records all that time.
The RYA need a kick in the pants about this. They set the exams, and give the examiners their credentials. They should keep records.
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Or perhaps you might recognise that the YM theory course and exam, valuable as it is, means not a lot in the grand scheme of things. It is no measure at all of your ability to take charge of a boat. If you ever do a YM practical exam you are liable to be questioned on any part of the syllabus (including all the theory) once again. Only then can you call yourself a YM.

Nowadays the RYA keep very good records of practical exam passes at YM (Coastal) and YM (Offshore) level and any commercially endorsed DS certificates. Furthermore, because of the value of the YM qual’ in the commercial yachting world, YM certificates nowadays have holograms and printed photos (think passport style).

I don’t think anyone on the original scheme envisaged how the qualifications would take off and be used commercially in the way it now is.
 
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lpdsn said:
Get him to show you his certificate of competence. Each one will have a photo and will be numbered. You could then check with RYA that that is valid if you have any doubts.
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My Yachtmaster Offshore certificate is in a stiff blue card cover, no photo, no number, and has two further sets of fold-out pages later glued in with ocean and instructor endorsements. There have been a lot of changes over the years, some good some bad. I remember going to the Board of Trade exam room in Cardiff to be tested on morse and colour vision, and a nav exam there with one question that started "You are steaming at 12 knots....". Even then morse and traverse tables were antiquated but were parts of the exam.

I'm not THAT old am I ?
 
agreed,

I don't think there is a ' shorebased YachtmasterOffshore ' - surely that's just what when I did it was ' Navigation level 2 '

The Yotmaster comprises a practical exam showing one's abilities including a passage plan, man overboard drill etc, tests on lights and shapes ( we did those on the night school nav bit as well I suppose ) and I think it was a min 2,500 miles logged as skipper.
 
Seajet said:
agreed,

I don't think there is a ' shorebased YachtmasterOffshore ' - surely that's just what when I did it was ' Navigation level 2 '
r.
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Andy
when you moved up to "big school" did they give you a choice of subjects ie
sewing, cooking, woodwork, english language, yactmaster, maths etc.
i bet i can guess what one you opted out of ������
 
jwilson,

my YM Offshore is in a similar stiff blue wallet taking up the two pages inside.

We did morse, and of course the dreaded blind pilotage test - which was actually a doddle as a place with handy depth contours ( Western Solent between Lymngton and Beauliu ) was chosen ...

Daydream Believer,

not quite sure what your point is, we would all have quite liked the option of sewing if that meant access to the girls' school nearby.

Not only did I scrape through the others you mention I even managed more, inc ' O ' level Metalwork - ' Engineering Workshop Theory and Practice ' I think they called it; very handy and the one thing I have in common with Paul Merton. :)
 
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My YM certificate is a blue passport type thing with a photo. I did get mine relatively recently, compared to some of the old seadogs in this thread. Think it was about 2005.
 
I think I still have one of them thar sustificates signed by one 'Bill' Anderson, from back in the good old days when he was still an RN powder monkey.


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The 'Examination' included, as I seem to recall, questions on 'sending down the topmasts' and 'bosuns calls for all hands to make and mend'.....
 
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