Sailing School Boats

[Martin_e]

How much did it cost?
I am looking for an ICC (before I have too) after 30+ years experiance ++++ and many boats etc,etc. I have been quoated from £175-£380 and I supply the boat, food, coffee etc, for the day!. What are the schools and the RYA playing at?

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[zephyrsailor]

if you are keen to learn on your own boat then you could do own boat tuition. also the rya stipulate that boats for sea school must be 28ft-43ft.

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[Twister_Ken]

If you learn to do it in a biggun...

...you'll be able to do it in tiddler.

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[webcraft]

Re: Sailing School Boats under 30 feet

I think you would have trouble getting anything under 30 feet DoT charter coded.

Now that's a bit of a bizarre statement - what brought you to that conclusion? It might be difficult getting Category 2 for some smaller lighter boats, but even they would get Cat 3 which is more than adequate for most charter ops.

I used to regularly charter a Cobra 25 that was DOT Category 2 rated, and a very fine wee vessel she was too - took her to the Outer Hebs amongst other places.

27ft is min LOA for entering the ARC, so could go in for that in our Vega if I was so inclined.

I am with the original poster in as much as I am fed up with the emphasis on bigger boats. Nothing wrong with good littluns, or the people who sail them.

- Nick



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[alant]

Moonfleet, based in Poole, only charge £135 / day for own boat tuition.

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[DickB]

Personally I did my Day Skipper on a 33ft (4 plus instructor) with additional experience also on a 33ft. However I sail a 42ft and the difference is astonishing. Everything is slower to respond and the momentum of the yacht is much higher...

The point is, it would have been time better spent learning in a yacht of the same size (or thereabouts) than having to learn very quickly on a different size boat. (I did learn very quickly with no mishaps but the air was blue on a couple of occaisions).

In a nutshell it is horses for courses (excuse the pun) and I tihnk you should try to train on a yacht of a similar size to your own...

Dick

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[Dominic]

ICC Exam Cost

An ICC exam should only take a couple of hours - longer if there is doubt about your comptence.
Since you provide the boat and crew etc you are only paying for the instructor.

My solicitor charges 200 per hour, a QC is about 500 per hour (includes his junior), IT consultant about 100 per hour, the plumber is 50 per hour and a good prostitute about 300 per hour.

Instructors are cheap.

What´s your trade price ?



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[jimi]

Re: ICC Exam Cost

Doot if ah'd need mair than 30 seconds so that's aboot £2.50 then bah mah calculashun shun!

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[cartman]

The RYA set the standards for student to instructor ratio and also the minimun and maximum size of boat. I think 4:1 is about the best, and is what I normally work to.

If you are taught well about the principles of sailing a boat, rather than the specific characteristics of the particular boat you are on, then your skills should be transferrable to any boat regardless of size... they all obey the basic laws of physics, aerodynamics/hydrodynamics etc. This is how I try to teach pupils on courses.

For short handed situations, this is an area encouraged now by the RYA. In particular for buoys and alongside mooring situations in awkward conditions.

Steve

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[Dominic]

Reply to the Original Question

Graham,

Part of the answer is "bums on seats". The simple economics of number of students to one boat and one instructor.

The next level is student expectations. Many students have little experience of yachts and SWMBO has her eye on something with lots of space. HWTHC (He Who Thinks He Commands) wants a wheel, not a tiller, and lots of gadgets and a "Big Boat".

All sailing schools are in polite but vicious competition with each other. One way of winning the customers is with big new boats.

I get enquiries from couples who wish to book a double cabin with en-suite heads. On a 25 footer this would mean they get the boat and I sleep on the pontoon.

My next point is that the couple (who are prepared to buy all 4 places on the boat for a private course) find that HWTHC is busy on the wheel, SWMBO is busy on the winches and the instructor is doing nothing but instructing and discussing techniques. By half way through the day both are knackered and not much learning is taking place.

It works better with 4 students, best is 2 Comp Crew and 2 Day Skipps on the same week since each event has something for everyone at different levels.

Another point is that the yachting mags tell us to buy a big Bavetau 370/4/3. The experienced sailor is solo in mid Pacific in a Vancouver 27, the mid-experienced in the Solent/Channel in a Sadler 34 with 3 friends and the novice has a Bavaria 42 on a pontoon in the Hamble.

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[Dominic]

Re: ICC Exam Cost

The hour, or part thereof.

No sense in rushing - you don´t save money.

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[Dominic]

More Specific Instruction

Graham,

"But all this is getting away from my point that there must be lots of potential students who would be better served by a course on a smaller boat perhaps similar to their own.With a better ratio of student to instructor"

I am convinced that the best thing to do is to hire an instructor to sail with you on your own boat - tailoring the tasks to the actual crew- not the theoretical 4/5 students.

I have been both the student and the instructor in these 1 to 1 sessions and have seen the success from both sides.

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