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TWINSCREW

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I have just received a reminder from the RYA that my ICC (international certificate of competence) ticket has expired, as I am no longer a member this will cost me £43-00, I fell out with the RYA a couple of years ago due to their, in my view, profligate spending, particularly the annual accounts statement which is presented in full colour on premium cardstock showing pictures of boats, when I pointed out to them that as this was an in house circular distributed to members only and as we all know what a boat looks like, was this a justified expense, of course I got a negative response to my question and therefore discontinued my membership having first joined in 1987 and reached the dizzy height of Gold Member. Now, it just so happens that the current membership fee to join the RYA is guess what, £43-00, call me a cynic but does it really cost £43-00 to reissue a ticket or is this a backdoor method to get me to rejoin?
Discuss.
 
Do not re-join. They are scoundrels.

I am a Yachtmaster Offshore. Took my exams in Cape Town.

When I requested an ICC ticket they wanted a copy of my YM. Which I duly sent. Not recognised was there reply. It was issued by the RYA examiner in Cape Town.

I resigned and will never join them again
 
I had my ICC reminder from the RYA last week and as I am a Gold Member (sounds like a movie title:D) I don't pay for renewal directly. However, I was thinking that I pay every year but don't take advantage of the other member discounts. So unless I avail myself of some of the other benefits of membership, I'll be cancelling my subscription just before renewal in 2015.
 
I was a member for a year. I got £50 off a Gill jacket and an ICC. I even opened one of the magazines they sent. Membership has now lapsed. It's a very big and impersonal organisation so I doubt whether they would miss anyone in particular.

As for the colour flyers - these days colour doesn't cost much more (if at all) than black & white. When I was getting CD covers for my band made, I had to add some colour text to make it cheaper, pure black & white cost more, for some reason!

I used to read a magazine called Surfer's Path, and some readers complained at the use of glossy pages which are harmful to the environment. To their credit, the magazine changed to environment friendly printing. But surf magazines are (or were!) very close to their readers, I don't think YM or PBO are. I can imagine readers spitting their dummies out at the thought of paying 20p more for an environmentally friendly magazine.
 
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rivonia said:
Do not re-join. They are scoundrels.

I am a Yachtmaster Offshore. Took my exams in Cape Town.

When I requested an ICC ticket they wanted a copy of my YM. Which I duly sent. Not recognised was there reply. It was issued by the RYA examiner in Cape Town.

I resigned and will never join them again
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Suspect there is more to this than you are letting on. The RYA do not determine who is eligible, but the UN through Resolution 40. Initially this was limited to British nationals and residents who already held acceptable certificates or took the dedicated test, but has recently been widened to include UK residents who are nationals of certain other countries who have acceptable qualifications. See website for more details.

So the "refusal" could be because of your nationality or residence at the time or the ineligibility of your qualification. They cannot refuse if you are eligible.
 
TWINSCREW said:
I have just received a reminder from the RYA that my ICC (international certificate of competence) ticket has expired, as I am no longer a member this will cost me £43-00, I fell out with the RYA a couple of years ago due to their, in my view, profligate spending, particularly the annual accounts statement which is presented in full colour on premium cardstock showing pictures of boats, when I pointed out to them that as this was an in house circular distributed to members only and as we all know what a boat looks like, was this a justified expense, of course I got a negative response to my question and therefore discontinued my membership having first joined in 1987 and reached the dizzy height of Gold Member. Now, it just so happens that the current membership fee to join the RYA is guess what, £43-00, call me a cynic but does it really cost £43-00 to reissue a ticket or is this a backdoor method to get me to rejoin?
Discuss.
Click to expand...

It is only you that benefits from having the ICC, so not unreasonable that you have to pay. It is for you to decide whether its value to you exceeds the cost - whether you pay for it directly or by becoming a member is again your choice.
 
TWINSCREW said:
call me a cynic but does it really cost £43-00 to reissue a ticket or is this a backdoor method to get me to rejoin?
Discuss.
Click to expand...

Of course it is!. Your choice whether to stick to your principles; or take advantage of the 'benefits' for 1 year in 5. It is of course also 'inertia marketing'....you will probably join by DD because it is cheaper, and most likely will forget (or simply not bother) to cancel. ;)
 
You choose to participate in the sport of sailing. Whether you choose to support a body that will assist you, defend you, regulate the training for you, negotaite discounts etc.. is up to you.

Jon

(RYA member since 1984 and a bit miffed I'm not now a platinum member lol)
 
rivonia said:
Do not re-join. They are scoundrels.

I am a Yachtmaster Offshore. Took my exams in Cape Town.

When I requested an ICC ticket they wanted a copy of my YM. Which I duly sent. Not recognised was there reply. It was issued by the RYA examiner in Cape Town.

I resigned and will never join them again
Click to expand...

There's more to that than you are letting on. If it was a genuine RYA exam with an RYA examiner then the certificate would have been issued by RYA UK. I have done exams 'overseas' but the paperwork and the certificate still gets processed by the RYA HQ.

You say that the 'examiner' issued the certificate. As an examiner I don't ever issue certificates. All I do is write a report and make a recommendation to the awarding body.
 
jon711 said:
You choose to participate in the sport of sailing. Whether you choose to support a body that will assist you, defend you, regulate the training for you, negotaite discounts etc.. is up to you.
Click to expand...

I have thought about joining the CA, but they are a bit expensive for what a member living in Scotland might reasonably get.
 
I was a member of the RYA for more than 30 years. As a non-competitive, non-sporty, cruising yachtsman, sailing mostly in some of the more far-flung parts of the West of Scotland, I decided that, for me anyway, it was entirely irrelevant.
 
TWINSCREW said:
I have just received a reminder from the RYA that my ICC (international certificate of competence) ticket has expired, as I am no longer a member this will cost me £43-00, I fell out with the RYA a couple of years ago due to their, in my view, profligate spending, particularly the annual accounts statement which is presented in full colour on premium cardstock showing pictures of boats, when I pointed out to them that as this was an in house circular distributed to members only and as we all know what a boat looks like, was this a justified expense, of course I got a negative response to my question and therefore discontinued my membership having first joined in 1987 and reached the dizzy height of Gold Member. Now, it just so happens that the current membership fee to join the RYA is guess what, £43-00, call me a cynic but does it really cost £43-00 to reissue a ticket or is this a backdoor method to get me to rejoin?

Discuss.
Click to expand...


Come on now - they have been doing this for at least 2 decades. The answer is not to bother with the ICC which isnt necessary in the EU coastal waters anyway.
 
iirc there was some hanky panky with some SA examiners and course presenters that weren't actually RYA attributed.

I may be wrong but I vaguely remember something like that.

I do find the whole ICC renewal a scam. your yachtmaster ticket is a lifelong qualification but a bit of paper that certifies that you know the sharp end from the blunt end and which side of the hull the water should be needs renewing.

When this is taken in concert with the thread elsewhere on someone from one country in Croatia with another citizenship not being able to get an ICC it's all a bit farcical really.

I suspect that a forged ICC would not be noticed by the average Greek Port Policeman even if he asked for it ( which they have not done to me in the past 5 years! )
 
ICC (with CEVNI) seems primarily necessary just to keep the various Inland Waterways authorities happy - and they are the people who have every opportunity to check you. (Those canals are after all far more dangerous than the open sea - they have big barges on them :p).
 
VicMallows said:
ICC (with CEVNI) seems primarily necessary just to keep the various Inland Waterways authorities happy
Click to expand...

It is insisted upon by most UK charter companies operating in Croatia and possibly elsewhere in the Med. That's probably the number one reason for Brits needing one. My parents have been chartering annually in Croatia for many years; when this first appeared they invited me to join them as nominal skipper :). In time for the following year, they went and spent a morning sailing around a short triangular course off Lymington and got their own tickets.

Pete
 
On the subject of needing an ICC, I hold a Merchant Navy officer's certificate of competency. (No RYA documentaion). I am contemplating the idea of taking my motor sailor to Portugal and have just made the discreet enquiry with the RYA as to whether I would need an ICC to go west about and down to Portugal and possibly even into the Med in the years to come! The answer was....."I would need to ask the Portuguese Authorities??" Anyone else with a similar STCW watchkeeping certificate and tramping around the sunnier climes waving their CoC around?
Tormod
 
Tormod said:
On the subject of needing an ICC, I hold a Merchant Navy officer's certificate of competency. (No RYA documentaion). I am contemplating the idea of taking my motor sailor to Portugal and have just made the discreet enquiry with the RYA as to whether I would need an ICC to go west about and down to Portugal and possibly even into the Med in the years to come! The answer was....."I would need to ask the Portuguese Authorities??" Anyone else with a similar STCW watchkeeping certificate and tramping around the sunnier climes waving their CoC around?
Tormod
Click to expand...

The whole idea of an ICC, as its name suggests is to provide an internationally recognised certificate that overcomes the complexity of nationally issued certificates. Many countries have their own "tests" for their nationals which are compulsory but many don't. The content and rigour of national certificates is very variable and the whole idea of the ICC was to establish a minimum level of demonstrated competence, which may have been demonstrated by taking a certificated course or a specific test based on the competences. The main driver was CEVNI which controls much of the inland European waterways which are used by a mixture of commercial and leisure traffic.

The massive increase in activity in coastal cruising, and particularly chartering led to calls internationally for the certificate to be extended to cover coastal and ocean areas, but not all countries have adopted the UN Resolution that put it in place, although most accept it if they require evidence from visitors. For cruising in European waters in your own sailing boat there is rarely a requirement to show the certificate, but it is useful to have along with other required documents. Given that it is easy for a UK citizen to get one it makes sense to do it. If you intend chartering you will find it difficult with many operators without one.

BTW you would have to check with the RYA about your precise qualification. The accepted MCA qualifications are listed on the application form, but are not valid for sail. However, the sepsrate test should not present any problems for somebody of your experience.
 
nimbusgb said:
When this is taken in concert with the thread elsewhere on someone from one country in Croatia with another citizenship not being able to get an ICC it's all a bit farcical really.)
Click to expand...

Too be fair, the original poster in that thread could get an ICC in The Czech Republic (not Croatia, unless there are two similar threads) if he sat the exam there, but nfortunately he doesn't speak good enough Czech. Meanwhile Portugal, his home country, neither issues ICCs nor is on the list of countries to whose nationals the RYA can issue them.
 
And why on earth do we have to pay and re-new ICC every 5 yrs. anyway? Surely apart from a waste of money and paperwork once you have it,you have it.
 
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