Short handed YM Exam

[Talulah]

Surely this depends on why the OP is bothering to do the YM in the first place.

If intending to skipper charter boats or similar, best to do fully crewed to be more realistic. If needing the qualification to do professional sailing then get the best crew possible to maximise certainty of success.

If just doing to reassure that have the skills, best to do it with regular short handed crew - otherwise not proving anything.

And frankly having read through all of this post quite happy with my view not to bother and just go sailing instead of going through all the hassle of exams. ICC worthwhile if plan to charter in Croatia or similar, and easily done on own boat shorthanded. Anything more is optional unless intend to go professional.

The reason I took my YM Offshore exam was because the BA Social Club rules limited how far you could take the club boats from the Hamble depending upon qualification level.
There were some very upset long term skippers who were very capable but affected quite badly when this rule came in.

Basically the rules adopted the RYA guidelines at the time.