RYA certificate for short hop Channel crossings ?

Capt Popeye said:
Might I ask, does the RYA run courses for Short hop channel crossings ?
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How are you planning to hop?

There are a number of active sailing clubs near Dawlish all with members who regularly cross la Manche and willing to share their knowledge.
 
Capt Popeye said:
Might I ask, does the RYA run courses for Short hop channel crossings ?
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I would have thought the RYA Coastal Skipper course would fit the bill.

https://www.rya.org.uk/courses-training/courses/sail-cruising/Pages/coastal-skipper.aspx

It does require you to be at Day Skipper with experience standard, and to have the theoretical knowledge of the YM Shorebased course before you start, but as there is significantly more to sailing over to Cherbourg or the Channel Islands than sailing short passages in familiar waters, that would seem reasonable.
 
Capt Popeye said:
Might I ask, does the RYA run courses for Short hop channel crossings ?
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You don't need a certificate to cross the Channel. If you are looking for the experience of doing so, why not call your local sea school and book an instructor for a day or two of own boat tuition with the caveat that you want to cross the channel.
 
It’s the UK so certificates and courses are not required.
Common sense would suggest a certain amount of preparation.
So if you are looking for a course or a certificate the RYA is probably the way to go

RYA Day Skipper appears to fit the bill.
 
Of 'course' you dont need any training. But should you wish to be enlightened, the Yachtmaster Coastal Practical is bang on for that.

Day Skipper is under the heading of familiar waters, daylight hours, so kinda falls short of your needs. :encouragement:
 
I had crossed the channel with a friend in his boat and with the sailing club in a chartered 75ft ketch and had got Day Skipper practical and YM theory. At which point Mrs D and I had sailed the Solent for one season (fairly cautiously) then tried a longish (Chichester to Yarmouth was the intention round South of IoW) during this longer trip the engine overheated due to a failed cooling hose. But that's another story. We got that fixed and decided we could go.

We intended to leave at 0100 (timed to get to Cherbourg in time for a nice French restaurant dinner) but the stern light failed and after replacing that left around 0200.

Mrs D who I had warned about Chi beacon light (anaemic glow-worm) seemed to blame me for it being so faint and this kept us happily occupied until nearly off the Nab tower.

By now we had main up with 1 reef and slightly reduced genoa. But by about 1000 the wind had reduced and Mrs D reluctantly agreed I should get the main fully up. We were quite enjoying the trip until we were near mid channel when a 6" gun cruiser fired 2 rounds near us. There followed 10 minutes of blind panic. We searched the horizon to see the damn thing but there were no other ships in sight, I checked the charts to make sure we were not in an exercise area (we weren't), we turned radar on - an old cathode ray version - but nothing. Finally, nerves raw we settled down and made it into Cherbourg.

Attempted to moor on a pontoon, which promptly sank below the water with me thinking the missus won't like this, oh dear. Fortunately a French local shouted at us and we realised we were on the wrong pontoons. We moved to the correct ones and finally moored up. Mrs D joined me on the pontoon and I offered to shake hands but she preferred a sloppy great kiss. The crew of the adjacent boat laughed and asked if it was our first crossing and, when told it was, invited us on board for drinks. Their 12 year old daughter was happily impressed when we took some cashew nuts with us and we found out what the two bangs were: Concorde going supersonic.

Unfortunately when it was time to return it was so foggy we couldn't see more than a few yards and postponed by a day. Second day it didn't look too bad and I thought it would all clear when we were about 5 miles off. It was then that Mrs D remarked that although there was sunshine and blue sky the horizon seemed strange. We realised we were in quite thick fog with perhaps 50m visibility - horizontally. Switched on radar and there is an echo coming straight down the bearing line. Put the engine into neutral to slow down to see if he would go in front of us, he very soon altered course and it was clear he would go well astern of us so we carried on. He passed about 1/4 mile behind us and we could hear him but never saw a thing. However, we were reassured that we were visible on radar or possibly the top of the mast.

We kept going and the visibility cleared to 2 miles or so for crossing the shipping lanes and steadily improved so we could make out the IoW and the Nab tower. Mrs D on seeing the Nab said soon be home and it went to my heart to break it to her that we had at least another 3 hours to go.

We get back into Sparkes Marina to find the restaurant is shut and there's no way they will even do an omelette. Ate on boat from tins etc and compared the difference between eating out in France and England. Taking off the wine and beer purchased in France lifted the boat about 2".

So, go for it. We learnt a lot, just be reasonably confident in yourself. Enjoy and good luck.
 
Capt Popeye said:
Might I ask, does the RYA run courses for Short hop channel crossings ?
Click to expand...

Not as far as I know but John Goode's DVD "Crossing the Channel" will tell you all you need to know. It's available from Amazon. He also wrote an excellent booklet about it but I think it's out of print.
 
You could try crewing for someone as your first crossing. After all the courses I did, I learned the most just by crossing as crew. It was quite an eyeopener experiencing the big commercial boats and how close they seem and how quickly they appear, you don't really experience that in the Solent. Watching Bobc of this parish crash-stop mid channel to avoid one was a good learning experience :)
 
Re. Concorde, How many have had the Consorde sonic boom experience. happened to us on a nice sunny day coming back from Cherbourg, we spent ages looking for our attackers then notice a Concorde with a perfect 'smoke' ring behind it. Sadly, no camera to hand
 
Ehecatl said:
Re. Concorde, How many have had the Consorde sonic boom experience. happened to us on a nice sunny day coming back from Cherbourg, we spent ages looking for our attackers then notice a Concorde with a perfect 'smoke' ring behind it. Sadly, no camera to hand
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Many times.
 
Only once I can remember. Crossing over to Cammarret. Two distinct bangs just before lunch. Wondered what the heck it was until someone said Concord. Clear day but couldn’t see it. Although there was a con trail.
 
Not clear whether the OP is seeking training - ie wants to know how to make the crossing or questioning the need for a piece of paper.
If the former - coastal skipper would do fine
If the latter - no certificate needed but ensure you have the knowledge you need - ie Nav, colregs, how to sail etc.
 
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