RYA mileage definitions

[Reptile Smile]

Hi all,

Day skipper/Yachtmaster Offshore/etc, have mileage requirements - (100/2500, I believe).

Is this measured in nautical miles or statute miles? I presume nautical miles - the alternative would seem perverse - yet seeing as some of the definition includes rhumb lines, which could be across land, I thought it would be worth checking.

Ta.

 

[Maxi84]

As I understand it, it is nautical miles. All the stuff about rhumb line gets rather confusing, eg Exemouth to Swansea would be about 60nm along a crow's path but about 240nm to motor it in straight lines and who knows what distance on the GPS for beating back and forth against the wind that always shifts at the worst moment.
As has been said on here many times before, the examiner is not going to pass or fail you on the number of miles you have sailed but only on whether you meet the required competence. Some people will be incompetent after 10,000nm, some will be brilliant after 100nm, but most of us will fall in between so they are reasonable guidelines.

 

[Aurai]

RYA Logbook Miles

Surely

As in do not call me Shirley, but it must be logbook miles. The "ship" log should record the trip miles and the skipper sign off matching miles in the student logbook. Miles would then be taken from the log wheel record, if you have one working, or from the Skipper's log entry, even if an informed estimate.

Then it does not matter which miles are recorded.

Cheers

Aurai

 

[VicS]

I have an old log book here ... a very old log book !


It does say "miles logged"

I would not have even considered the units to be anything other than nautical miles

I would also take that to mean the distance recorded by a ships log, ie distance actually sailed.
After all a trip could start and end at the same place but still count towards the qualifying distance.

 

[nigelmercier]

I've been saving all my chart plotter logs, as our "log" hasn't been connected for years.

 

[[70521]]

I've been looking at doing my Offshore and have to agree the definitions are a bit "wishy washy" and am using them as guidelines.

I'm sure the assessor will quickly find out if you don't have the right experience or skills after all I could easily clock up the distance and qualifying passages yo-yoing across to France, but I don't consider that a difficult passage.

 

[ex-Gladys]

I was on a boat once with a YM candidate being examined, he'd "logged" 7,500 miles, but in my view had 30 miles experience 250 times over. Agree with the comments the examiner is more interested in what is done on the day... Other half was on a COmp Crew where another YM candidate was beign examined, he failed within 30 mins... Tried to put the sails up dead down wind in a F6... Standing gybe shortly after...

 

[KellysEye]

It is nautical miles. We estimate the passage length before setting off by measuring the chart in straight lines avoiding shoals, mud banks etc. Then we log the GPS position every two hours. Then we arrrive we measure the distance covered from the postions which is almost always more and a lot more when tacking.

We keep the estimated and actual NMs in the log because knowing how much the mileage will increase allows more acurate provisioning and whether watches etc are needed.

On short passages less than 50 NMs it's not worth bothering with that.

 

[maxi77]

I would respectfully suggest that some one trying to 'swing' their milage by using statute rather than nautical is not some one who should ever pass.

 

[Reptile Smile]

Are you trying to infer that I'm trying to swing something, or are you outright accusing me?

I haven't the first idea how you can think in any sense you are being 'respectful', but I don't think my question was illegitimate. I can't imagine why the RYA would define the distance of a passage as being the rhumb line between the start and end points, and therefore I thought it was worth asking.

Thanks for your input, though...

 

[wotayottie]

Hi all,

Day skipper/Yachtmaster Offshore/etc, have mileage requirements - (100/2500, I believe). Is this measured in nautical miles or statute miles?

Lovely There's a third type - imaginary. When you feel you are ready to take any of the exams, just make up your own mileage. It cannot be checked and waht really matters is not how many miles you have done but how competent you are. The two are not the same thing at all.

 

[maxi77]

I am not suggesting any one is doing anything but if they did then that is my opinion, nothing more nothing less. The normal measure of distance at sea has always been nautical miles, even the metric lot use them.

 

[ex-Gladys]

..it's miles covered, not the Rumb line... AS was said elsewhere it's what goes in the ships log book, which will be either log or gps distance covered.

 

[Salty John]

For what it's worth, the RYA log book says:
Distance logged: This is the distance sailed (by the log), in tidal waters, in the open sea, outside natural or artificial harbours in which it would be possible to secure or anchor for a prolonged period.

Elsewhere it refers to 'miles' but nowhere does it define this term.

Actually, you can write what you like in the log book and sign as skipper - no-one will check or, probably, care. Let your conscience be your guide.

 

[laika]

All the stuff about rhumb line gets rather confusing, eg Exemouth to Swansea would be about 60nm along a crow's path but about 240nm to motor it in straight lines and who knows what distance on the GPS for beating back and forth against the wind that always shifts at the worst moment.

Indeed the yachtmaster offshore pre-requisites mention the rhum line for qualifying passages, but they get more specific in this definition of a "passage":

Qualifying passages for Yachtmaster Ocean and Offshore should be non
stop by the shortest navigable route with no change of skipper.

I believe in your example it would be the straight line motoring route.

As I understand it, the "shortest navigable route" requirement is only for "qualifying passages" (ie the 5 for YM offshore and 1 for ocean). The "2500 miles" is whatever is run on the log (in nautical miles: while I have no source for that: why wouldn't it be? who does chart work in statute miles?) : Certainly the sailing school I attended treated it this way and I've never seen anything to contradict it.

Thus (and I stand to be corrected if you're sailing from Hamble to Weymouth against a south westerly you may run more than 60 nm with tacking. Everything on the log counts towards your 2500 miles, but it can't be one of your 5 "qualifying passage" because the straight line route (avoiding un-navigable areas) is less than 60nm.

 

[SvenglishTommy]

I've always thought those pre-requisites looked a bit odd. 2 60+ mile passages as skipper, and 5 days in total as skipper, 2 overnights etc. I dont see how that makes a 'Yachtmaster'.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

I've always thought those pre-requisites looked a bit odd. 2 60+ mile passages as skipper, and 5 days in total as skipper, 2 overnights etc. I dont see how that makes a 'Yachtmaster'.

It doesn't. The examination does.

 

[tawhiri]

km

I have always set My GPS to kilometer, and have loged about double, I would have if I have not changed the option on my GPS.