Ocean Theory, Tuition Query.

jerrytug

jerrytug

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Hello,I would like tuition on the celestial parts of the RYA ocean theory syllabus,without the rest,mainly to save money. The met,victualling etc I know from experience or can learn from books,but the celestial is beyond my ability to home study! The courses are £400 or so for <40hrs of lectures,but I don't want all the content. I want to learn to navigate with a sextant and could use the money on something else such as a proper sextant. Would be interested to hear if any other readers have been in the same boat. For the record I have YM Coastal practical and about 4500 ocean miles (crew not skip-so far),but regretfully I'm going to diverge from the RYA certs as it's too expensive! Any suggestions thanks Jerry.
 
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The Jester challenge guys on here ran a course in a paint wholesaler near Stansted a while ago. Worth asking them.
 
There are a lot of books available and a considerable amount of information on line, although it does take some time to separate the chaff out.

If you want to get YM Ocean and don't do the course there's a written exam that you need to do. Past papers aren't available, but I'm sure that carefull questioning here will get you a good sample of probably questions...
 
Thanks for all your suggestions and PM sent to Tallulah. I don`t want to do any more exams,practical or theory,with the RYA for a couple of years at least. But I want to learn,this winter, to navigate using a sextant. I am unable to do this by self-study, either from a)books or b)from an online course,because a)There is no one to explain what is meant and discuss a point to ensure I have understood it and b) I am not on the internet and don`t own, or intend to own, a computer,ever,except one in a mobile phone.
So I am looking for one to one tuition, or preferably a small class, to learn celestial nav. Cheers Jerry.
 
Perhaps a couple of like minded people would join you in hiring a tutor.
Are you based near any suitable clubs? CA?
I did the Ocean Shorebased at Plymouth a few years ago, IIRC, it was much less than £400.
The vast majority of the course time was spent on Astro, the other bits whisked through in a morning, although they are a bigger %age of the exam.
 
Centaur Sailing (Rod Emmer) does a 'no-support' course which according to his current website is around £120. You get all the instructional material, including examples for you to work, and templates for site reduction etc. If you're reasonably comfortable with your arithmetic ability and self discipline for study without a tutor this might be an option for learning the astro calculations.
 
I am pleased that Jerrytug has found the information he wants..

However, in the spirit of the forum, and at the risk of being a little bit contravercial...

Is learning celstial navigation the same as learning surgury without anesthetic?
 
I'm still hacking away at stinking,maggoty exhumed corpses just now,hopefully should be on to the precision keyhole brain surgery by January!
 
jerrytug said:
Hello,I would like tuition on the celestial parts of the RYA ocean theory syllabus,without the rest,mainly to save money. The met,victualling etc I know from experience or can learn from books,but the celestial is beyond my ability to home study! The courses are £400 or so for <40hrs of lectures,but I don't want all the content. I want to learn to navigate with a sextant and could use the money on something else such as a proper sextant. Would be interested to hear if any other readers have been in the same boat. For the record I have YM Coastal practical and about 4500 ocean miles (crew not skip-so far),but regretfully I'm going to diverge from the RYA certs as it's too expensive! Any suggestions thanks Jerry.
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You need YM Theory to be able to do the Ocean.

However, if you just want to do the 'sums', shouldn't be a problem, if you find a sensible instructor! ;);):D
 
You don't need Theory to do Ocean.It merely absolves you of the written exam. I would love to do both,but just now,am keen to learn how to navigate using a sextant and have no particular exams,as such,in mind. What I need right now is a sextant,it says a lot for astro that old sextants,whether half melted 40 year old Ebbco's,or immaculate Freiburg Yachts,get snapped up instantly or fetch mega prices on fleabay. Yay just won a Davies,happy bunny!
 
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jerrytug said:
You don't need Theory to do Ocean.It merely absolves you of the written exam. I would love to do both,but just now,am keen to learn how to navigate using a sextant and have no particular exams,as such,in mind. What I need right now is a sextant,it says a lot for astro that old sextants,whether half melted 40 year old Ebbco's,or immaculate Freiburg Yachts,get snapped up instantly or fetch mega prices on fleabay. Yay just won a Davies,happy bunny!
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I said YM Theory to do the Ocean (Theory that is).
 
alant said:
I said YM Theory to do the Ocean (Theory that is).
Click to expand...

Yes sorry my mistake. Apparently the running fix by transferred position line is used in the sun-run-sun fix,so that bit of YM Theory will be needed. I only do it once a year as an exercise when jollying around the Channel,just to exercise the grey cells! Thanks for your input,Jerry
 
What a great idea - I would be interested to learn how to use a sextant too but am a bit 'coursed out' at the moment. If anyone would like to share the knowledge around the Portsmouth or Chichester area, I would be very interested!

Di
 
Despite the onslaught of GPS into every walk of life,astro seems to be very popular;the eternal fascination with the cosmos added to a post modernist urge to maintain old skills..note the popularity of blacksmith courses,charcoal smelting in the forests,the wonderful retro pilot cutter (+ luggers!) movement kickstarted by Classic Sailing,many others you could think of!
 
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