RYA Competent Crew Course

ageddes said:
I'm wanting to do the course in the Summer. I live in essex. I would like to travel. I'm not sure where the best location to do the course is, but I would prefer somewhere warm for at least the crew course.
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Plymouth Sailing School (http://www.plymsail.co.uk/) is good, well I like them, and we get a fantastic summer one year in 14 down here.

ageddes said:
I hear it rains in Scotland, but that's just a rumour by the government to get people to leave the country for a week weeks on their holidays while they do experiments... some kind of conspiracy...
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A total untruth ... not that I am bias.
 
Talulah said:
One of the issues in taking the course abroad is clients and instructor treating it as a holiday first, course second.
Often I meet people doing their Day Skipper course who did virtually nothing on their Comp Crew course in the Sun.
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Good point, that's what I'm worried about. As much as I would like some good weather, I would much rather good quality teaching.
 
If you enjoy the course in our 'challenging' or 'character building' UK weather, you will LOVE it when the sun does shine. I did my DS end of October in the Solent and we had the full range - all adds to the experience. I am a bit old school though when it comes to training in all things - train hard, dive easy (my old motto)..

It was only when I got up to Rebreather Mod 2 that I allowed myself the luxury of training in Red Sea as I had what I needed by then and it was only a matter of much longer run times. But that is just me and we are all different...

But.... if you look at it from a UK Skippers point of view faced with two 'identical in all other aspects' potential crew members offering their services - one did his CC in the Med in June & one did it in Oban, Mull, Plymouth etc which one would you choose?

Di
 
ageddes said:
Good point, that's what I'm worried about. As much as I would like some good weather, I would much rather good quality teaching.
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My wife did day skipper at endeavour sailing in lanzarotte in the canaries. The weather there is mid 20s year round but there is consistent wind and some tidal range. Ask to go on a course with Rob Sorrell, who we can both highly recommend as an instructor. If you're looking at the UK, I'm doing my yachtmaster with Hamble school of yachting, which I'd also recommend. No connections except as a happy punter.
 
Whatever the reason for doing the CC course, I'd recommend doing it somewhere warm and sunny where you can learn the basics without feeling miserable because you're cold and wet. That can come later when you're hooked on sailing and want to do Day Skipper or one of the levels of Yachtmaster.......

SWMBO and I did a two week course CC week one and DS week two with this outfit corfuseaschool.com based in Gouvia marina. The instruction was well delivered, we only went to one place twice in the two weeks and both of us got a lot out of it. All the usual about no connections etc.
 
So some people are saying do it in the UK and others are saying it doesn't matter. As I said, I would prefer quality teaching over warm weather if I can't have both. I don't have much choice in the time of year I do it- I can only do it in June- August, or maybe April.
 
we did comp crew in solent and dayskipper in Gib. No discernible difference in quality of teaching or boats.
Tides make no difference for comp crew. They are only important at DS level (note that Gib is tidal, unlike rest of med).

My suggestion is if you are new to yachting then comp crew in your expected sailing area - it will give you a good idea what to expect from your future hobby.
 
dedwards said:
we did comp crew in solent and dayskipper in Gib. No discernible difference in quality of teaching or boats.
Tides make no difference for comp crew. They are only important at DS level (note that Gib is tidal, unlike rest of med).

My suggestion is if you are new to yachting then comp crew in your expected sailing area - it will give you a good idea what to expect from your future hobby.
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Ok, so I'll go to Gibraltar for the comp crew. Can you recommend a sailing school (or schools) to look at?
 
There are dozens of schools in the Solent and the West Country, and for a good reason - there is a broad range of sailing conditions, other traffic, navigation, and different places to visit which are not far apart. Hence, you will have a different experience every day when you anchor for lunch and then go into a harbour for the night. For example, going into Cowes, Lymington, Yarmouth and Portsmouth, provide a variety of learning ..... and different pubs.
 
I can't recommend a school.
I would recommend finding a local one. If you can. The opertunity to drive in and talk to a live person and see their boat or boats is worth it.
A good compatable instructor is the key ingredient
Onece you have done the course of you go and charter or flotila in the sun.
 
ageddes said:
... I would rather go somewhere that wasn't raining for most of the year!
Any recommendations for sailing schools? Are there any that are better than the rest?
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I spent a glorious month in November on La Gomera (Canary Islands) doing my Day Skipper and Coastal Skipper practical courses, and the Yachtmaster Theory exam. Fell in love with the islands, and took my boat there.

I can thoroughly recommend the school I used: Canary Sail http://www.canarysail.com/
 
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