Self-Study Yachtmaster Offshore Theory?

[Dockhead]

I am moving my UK-flagged boat (a Moody 54) from the Baltic to the Med this summer, and understand I need a formal qualification as skipper in the waters of many Med states, despite the fact that the flag state does not require any such.

I don't mind that so much -- I've kind of wanted to do this for a long time anyway. But I don't want to spend more time or money than necessary. I have been sailing all my life and have at least 50,000 miles of experience as skipper including the high Arctic up to Greenland, a transat, Cape Hatteras, countless North Sea crossings, and I have taught a number of people to sail. I once taught a Colregs course. I think my knowledge is fairly complete, but working through a formalized syllabus in preparation for the exam will surely be beneficial as everyone no matter how experienced has holes in his/her knowledge.

I am a lifelong learner in different fields -- a couple of languages under my belt for example, self-taught -- and don't need any help with discipline. So an online course for £350 seems like a waste of money, if I could only get my hands on appropriate texts with the appropriate emphasis on the subjects I will be tested on. Do any such texts exist? For example, does the RYA "Yachtmaster Handbook" (G70) cover the necessary material? Is a certificate such as what you get from an online course, worth anything?

I will be grateful for any tips!

 

[[70521]]

I am moving my UK-flagged boat (a Moody 54) from the Baltic to the Med this summer, and understand I need a formal qualification as skipper in the waters of many Med states, despite the fact that the flag state does not require any such.

I don't mind that so much -- I've kind of wanted to do this for a long time anyway. But I don't want to spend more time or money than necessary. I have been sailing all my life and have at least 50,000 miles of experience as skipper including the high Arctic up to Greenland, a transat, Cape Hatteras, countless North Sea crossings, and I have taught a number of people to sail. I once taught a Colregs course. I think my knowledge is fairly complete, but working through a formalized syllabus in preparation for the exam will surely be beneficial as everyone no matter how experienced has holes in his/her knowledge.

I am a lifelong learner in different fields -- a couple of languages under my belt for example, self-taught -- and don't need any help with discipline. So an online course for £350 seems like a waste of money, if I could only get my hands on appropriate texts with the appropriate emphasis on the subjects I will be tested on. Do any such texts exist? For example, does the RYA "Yachtmaster Handbook" (G70) cover the necessary material? Is a certificate such as what you get from an online course, worth anything?

I will be grateful for any tips!

I understand that you don't need the YM Theory course to do the practical exam.

I'd hope that the RYA would write a text book that covered the syllabus. It might be worth emailing their Training Department and asking if anything has been added since the book was published.

 

[wonkywinch]

AFAIK, an ICC is sufficient "qualification" and I believe you can approach a school for an assessment for the issue of.

The YM Offshore Shorebased ("theory") is only a precursor to the practical exam and you are only expected to have "knowledge of" not actually passed or have any piece of paper prior to taking the YM Offshore exam which will reward you with a blue book.

To pass the exam, it's probably a good idea to do a prep week to learn the words to the sing the song the RYA (and their examiners) want to hear you sing rather than the daft idea that you know how to sail, you've been sailing for years, just hand over the chatty.

 

[Dockhead]

AFAIK, an ICC is sufficient "qualification" and I believe you can approach a school for an assessment for the issue of.

The YM Offshore Shorebased ("theory") is only a precursor to the practical exam and you are only expected to have "knowledge of" not actually passed or have any piece of paper prior to taking the YM Offshore exam which will reward you with a blue book.

To pass the exam, it's probably a good idea to do a prep week to learn the words to the sing the song the RYA (and their examiners) want to hear you sing rather than the daft idea that you know how to sail, you've been sailing for years, just hand over the chatty.

I've had an ICC, which unfortunately expired more than a decade ago. To just fulfill the legal requirements in the Med, obviously this would be the easiest and fastest way.

But I thought I would do the Yachtmaster Offshore just for the sake of brushing up all this knowledge -- why not, if all I have to do is study, which is anyway one of my favorite activities?

I would really not like to spend a week doing one of those "prep weeks" with beginners, and never mind the cost. I'm really after self study of some kind.

 

[obmij]

If you have a couple of crew to hand you can arrange for the examiner to come to your boat. No need for a prep course or any kind of course for that matter.

Regarding theory - with your experience the chances are you are way above the standard required anyway so something like the YM handbook should be fine. It's not like you are coming back to sailing after some time out.

 

[Kwik Decision]

I've had an ICC, which unfortunately expired more than a decade ago.

If this was issued by the RYA, there is a good chance they'll issue you with a new one, if you pay the fee. Worth an email to them.

 

[Sticky Fingers]

If this was issued by the RYA, there is a good chance they'll issue you with a new one, if you pay the fee. Worth an email to them.

Yes. The RYA say “Expired certificates, issued on or after 1 April 1999 can be renewed. Certificates issued prior to 1st April 1999 were not issued in accordance with Resolution No. 40 and cannot be renewed.”

So that sounds promising.

 

[awol]

I took the practical test on my own boat some 15 years after the shore-based classes mainly to see if I was competent or just doing the same things badly every year. Things like secondary ports and running fixes were half memory and half first principles but the examiner didn't want clearance depths to +/-0.1m. Blind navigation was fun and less stressful than the reality of creeping along a contour in thick fog. I was glad I didn't take a "refresher course" or swot for it, though had I not passed I would have been very miffed. It is, after all, a Certificate of Competency, not a short term memory test.

 

[Aurai]

Hello, I self-taught with the RYA Navigation Handbook as my bible and always used paper charts, even though I had started with a chartplotter, for a couple of years. That combination looked after me and when I did the YM Theory, had covered nearly all of it. Meteorology needs a bit more work than the books give you. Good luck

 

[Skylark]

@Dockhead I’d suggest that you buy yourself the scheme syllabus and logbook, widely available.

RYA Yachtmaster Scheme Syllabus and Logbook

With this, you’ll be able to self-assess any gaps in your skills and knowledge. Doubtless there will be many books covering required subject matter, likely interweb and YouTube, too.

Contrary to common misconception, there isn’t an “RYA way” to fulfilling any part of the syllabus.

 

[st599]

Be aware that RYA courses are all changing to Digital First in the near future - so you may need to look at the digital methods if you're being examined.

 

[Mark-1]

It's definitely a flaw in RYA courses/exams that they don't publish the detail of the syllabus and what they expect. AFAICT you're buying blind.

I got around that for Dinghies for my kids by buying the RYA Dinghy instructor book which allowed me to deduce what a Dinghy Instructor would be looking at. So, I wonder if there's an equivalent of the G14 Dinghy Instructor book for YM Examiners. In which case you can read word for word exactly what they're looking for. (Having said that in reality I'm not sure they followed the syllabus much anyway.)

I suspect it's all very subjective.

 

[jlavery]

Easiest option for someone with your experience is just to re-do your ICC.

 

[Mark-1]

Easiest option for someone with your experience is just to re-do your ICC.

That does seem by far the best thing. I'm pretty sure it has much better recognition abroad.

Unless you work in the industry a YM is needless except for impressing newbies and for that purpose sailing in the High Arctic sailing is going to beat a YM every time. (In fact, High Arctic sailing will impress pretty much anyone, certainly impresses me.)

I suppose the YM is a one off whereas the ICC needs to be renewed. So in the event of a medical issue that stops someone safely sailing then the YM remains valid while the ICC expires (unless you lie about your health at renewal time).

 

[jlavery]

Even if you have YM, you have to have an ICC on top of that, which still needs to be renewed (I think). If you have YM, ICC is a pure paperwork exercise. Without YM, it's a practical assessment. I have a feeling you'd pass easily...! Although there are a couple of 'knowledge' things to bone up on. I've done assessments for friends who are superbly experienced, and there were a couple of gaps in the "things you have to show you know" theory section.

So thinking about it, ICC is the way to go.

 

[Dockhead]

Easiest option for someone with your experience is just to re-do your ICC.

Thanks! Yes, that's obviously the path of least resistance, and the way I'll go if I can't figure out a rational (i.e., reasonable expenditure of time and money) path to Yachtmaster.

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Thanks! Yes, that's obviously the path of least resistance, and the way I'll go if I can't figure out a rational (i.e., reasonable expenditure of time and money) path to Yachtmaster.

I've had an ICC, which unfortunately expired more than a decade ago. To just fulfill the legal requirements in the Med, obviously this would be the easiest and fastest way.

But I thought I would do the Yachtmaster Offshore just for the sake of brushing up all this knowledge -- why not, if all I have to do is study, which is anyway one of my favorite activities?

I would really not like to spend a week doing one of those "prep weeks" with beginners, and never mind the cost. I'm really after self study of some kind.

By all means do the refresher, but the simplest route for you is to renew the ICC, unless it was very old. That’s just a paperwork formality with the RYA. The RYA say “Expired certificates, issued on or after 1 April 1999 can be renewed. Certificates issued prior to 1st April 1999 were not issued in accordance with Resolution No. 40 and cannot be renewed.”

 

[Dockhead]

. . . I've done assessments for friends who are superbly experienced, and there were a couple of gaps in the "things you have to show you know" theory section.. .

Exactly why I thought doing the full Yachtmaster could be useful!

Even very experienced people inevitably have holes in their knowledge, and it's more dangerous with more experience, because you can get a lot of practice doing the wrong things!

Two antidotes to this are either more learning, or teaching. I taught some COLREGS courses and found I was learning as much as my students; extremely useful experience.

 

[Dockhead]

By all means do the refresher, but the simplest route for you is to renew the ICC, unless it was very old. That’s just a paperwork formality with the RYA. The RYA say “Expired certificates, issued on or after 1 April 1999 can be renewed. Certificates issued prior to 1st April 1999 were not issued in accordance with Resolution No. 40 and cannot be renewed.”

My ICC was not from the RYA, and has been expired for more than 10 years, so that's not an option. But just getting an ICC from the RYA de novo is just a quick practical exam, as far as I understand, so certainly the path of least resistance here.

 

[Mark-1]

My ICC was not from the RYA, and has been expired for more than 10 years, so that's not an option. But just getting an ICC from the RYA de novo is just a quick practical exam, as far as I understand, so certainly the path of least resistance here.

Wouldn't it be great if a YM examiner could also issue ICCs. Then you could do a YM exam cold and, if you failed, be issued with an ICC. Which would be a very efficient way to ensure you waste least time.

Sadly, having spent nine (yes nine) precious days getting "qualified" to "teach" young kids to sail, I sense that the RYA are all about wasting as much customer time as possible because that's essentially the commodity they can charge for.