Take it easy on me....!

[jonnyfartpants]

Hi

I should soon be buying a boat A motor sailor I think and need some advice on training. Obviously I want to be safe and would need to register the boat and get insurance for it. Has anyone any advice on the most popular courses or what exactly I will need to meet all the requirements for legality. I am not so interested in small boat handling as navigation, ship to shore radio use, and safety. Also can I do training course as distance learning as I tend to learn better on my own. I am rather disruptive in the classroom

I do have some distant boat experience having been brought up in the 1970s on a boat and my father having owned at least a dozen pleasure craft. I also worked as a day Craber for a year in Newhaven and as a deep sea Craber from Kinlockbervie in Scotland

So in short, training, common courses to take especially in navigation

Oh and the boat will be around 50-60 foot and will be chosen so I can sail anywhere in the world, with only a crew of two

Cheers

 

[jonnyfartpants]

How do I edit a post. The title should be training courses in the UK

 

[Norman_E]

Welcome to the forums.

Before the howling mob descend on you for having the temerity to want a 50 foot plus boat I will say that my first and only boat is a 45 footer. You will however soon discover that motor sailors tend to be mostly in the 24-45 foot size range and most of them suffer from their compromised design both as sailing yachts and motor boats. If you do want to travel the world a proper sailing yacht is what you need.

As for courses. The short range radio certificate course is a must, and can be taken as a home learning couse with the exam taken on line or by telephone. Starting with no experience I took that, plus RYA Competent Crew and Day Skipper practical courses, plus the Yachtmaster Theory couse. The latter is a one week classroom course covering chartwork and the Collision Regulations.

 

[coveman]

I notice you are based in Yeovil - I did a Day Skipper course with Anstey James in Yeovil (01935 709031) which is classroom based which I found very good. You would have to do the DS practical elsewhere.
Anstey James Limited - Coach Tours - Yeovil, Wincanton, Portland, Somerset, Dorset

Online courses - Navathome - RYA Online Theory Courses. Start Your Yachtmaster Training Today! Ive not done this but I know others who have and been pleased with them.

The Day Skipper courses include quite a bit of navigation but Yachtmaster even more if you are going to "sail the "world"! If you look on the RYA site it gives you quite a bit of info on the various courses you can take.
Courses | Learning | Courses & Training | RYA - Royal Yachting Association

 

[jonnyfartpants]

Thanks I will make a note. I only said motor-sailor because I didn't want the mob to descend on me. Yes I want a sailing yacht. I would intend to use it and abuse it around the UK and then the Med for 2 or 3 years and then off I go

Many Thanks for the course advice

 

[Daydream believer]

s, plus the Yachtmaster Theory couse. The latter is a one week classroom course covering chartwork and the Collision Regulations.

I do not believe that you can do the yachtmaster as a crammed 1 week course anymore. At least that was what i was told when i applied. It seems that the RYA felt time was necessary between sections for students to better assimilate what they had learned as they went. personally i reckon a 1 week in a hotel with a group where they can all sit & discuss around a drink in the evening would be a great way to do it. Assuming they did, of course, & not just go to the pictures or something.

 

[Aurai]

Or

Find an RYA Instructor and pay for five days of own boat tuition. With some preparation reading, Day Skipper Theory, you would be well on your way and get the boat handling guidance included. Instructors can be found through Sailing Schools.

Good luck

 

[FlyingGoose]

I have done the navahome route up to offshore yatchmaster and vhf and found this great for me home learning , I also struggle in a classroom so found this route perfect

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

The 50 to 60 ft yachts can be used as motor sailers but primarily are for sailing. To start with, do the Day Skipper practical and then progress to Yachtmaster theory/practical; but make sure you get the ICC and the VHF licence. I also suggest that you get practice on a much smaller yacht to begin with before you purchase the 60 footer!!Good luck.

 

[ryanroberts]

Getting insured straight on a 50/60 footer with limited experience might be the hardest part

 

[jonnyfartpants]

Im gonna need a bigger notepad! The size would be completely dependent at which time I start looking for a boat. If a good 45 footer comes up then thats the size I will get. I have to say that I have always preferred classic boats to GRP ones and I know that they are a pain but the double diagonal teak we had on our boat in the very late 70's was wonderful. And actually more repairable than most people think. If I remember rightly each plank was only about 12 inches long. And could be removed individually

 

[jonnyfartpants]

Getting insured straight on a 50/60 footer with limited experience might be the hardest part

Yes, these are areas that I havent touched upon but I figure the more courses and my past in 15 metre seas around the islands of Sula Sgeir, rona and Iceland should put me in good sted.

 

[jonnyfartpants]

The 50 to 60 ft yachts can be used as motor sailers but primarily are for sailing. To start with, do the Day Skipper practical and then progress to Yachtmaster theory/practical; but make sure you get the ICC and the VHF licence. I also suggest that you get practice on a much smaller yacht to begin with before you purchase the 60 footer!!Good luck.

Sorry ICC??

So
Day Skipper theory
Coastal Skipper /Yacht-master offshore - Theory and practical
VHF
Yachtmaster Ocean

Where do I get the VHF license?

Thanks folks, I am sure that I will need advice on boats and will post any that I like the look off and you lot can fall about laughing

 

[Norman_E]

How do I edit a post. The title should be training courses in the UK

Editing the contents of most posts is easy, just click on "Edit" at the foot of your post, but editing the title is a problem. On the old forum platform it could be done by choosing an advanced mode, but I have not tried it on this platform and don't know if it can be done. On this platform I notice that the "Edit" option does not even appear on the opening post of a thread that I started in the Lounge, so perhaps its not even possible.

 

[oldmanofthehills]

As your 50ft motor sailer is likely to be about £250,000 you must have considerable cash reserves. Learn navigation. Take Day skipper practical course; pause take Coastal Skipper practical course. Go out on others yachts and pay for the privelege. Learn Pilotage as a "Skipper" as coming into harbour or closing the land is where most incidents occur and its not quite the same as Navigation. You are trying to fill in the gaps in a short time what many of us have spent over 30 years learning, and the small incidents in our first one or two boats on short voyages could well be expensive in a 50 footer or dangerous if mid ocean somewhere. So get that training in. If you like learning much of the training is enjoyable, and its all sailing and much will come back to you.

 

[Biggles Wader]

If you have sailed before and worked on fishing boats you should pick up the practical stuff very quickly. Your local school as above could teach you the navigation and whatever else you need in a five day course. Then its practice and more practice. Just do it!

 

[jonnyfartpants]

As your 50ft motor sailer is likely to be about £250,000 you must have considerable cash reserves. Learn navigation. Take Day skipper practical course; pause take Coastal Skipper practical course. Go out on others yachts and pay for the privelege. Learn Pilotage as coming into harbour or closing the land is where most incidents occur and its not quite the same as Navigation. You are trying to gain in a short time what many of us have spent over 30 years learning, and the small incidents in our first one or two boats on short voyages could well be expensive in a 50 footer or dangerous if mid ocean somewhere. So get that training in. If you like learning much of the training is enjoyable, and its all sailing

£250,000 umm , maybe if you were buying brand new but i dont think I will be spending that much. perhaps around 70k mark would be more in my range. Dont get me wrong I could raise more but will need money to live off for 3 - 5 years. I have quite a lot of pilotage experience and have sailed hundreds of times but when I was a kid. As I said I used to live on a boat. We must have had a dozen different pleasure craft in those days. And then I was a commercial fisherman for 5 years working offshore, inshore and deep sea. So I do have some knowledge, although old knowledge. I can set and use plotters and VHF equipment, echo sounders, fish finders. I even once learnt how to use a sexton but when i was about 11 years old

 

[coveman]

£250,000 umm , maybe if you were buying brand new but i dont think I will be spending that much. perhaps around 70k mark would be more in my range. Dont get me wrong I could raise more but will need money to live off for 3 - 5 years. I have quite a lot of pilotage experience and have sailed hundreds of times but when I was a kid. As I said I used to live on a boat. We must have had a dozen different pleasure craft in those days. And then I was a commercial fisherman for 5 years working offshore, inshore and deep sea. So I do have some knowledge, although old knowledge. I can set and use plotters and VHF equipment, echo sounders, fish finders. I even once learnt how to use a sexton but when i was about 11 years old

With your experience, a Day Skipper, Coastal Skipper or Yachtmaster course would be a great refresher. Will anyone be going with you on your adventure? - with your membership name perhaps not!!?

 

[V1701]

Thanks I will make a note. I only said motor-sailor because I didn't want the mob to descend on me. Yes I want a sailing yacht. I would intend to use it and abuse it around the UK and then the Med for 2 or 3 years and then off I go

Many Thanks for the course advice

Bumming around the Med for 2 or 3 years is looking increasingly likely to be far easier said than done after the end of this year. Unless you have an Irish (or any other EU country) passport, you will very likely be subject to Schengen zone travel visa which allows you to be in the zone for 90 days in 180...

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

Welcome to the forums.

Before the howling mob descend on you for having the temerity to want a 50 foot plus boat I will say that my first and only boat is a 45 footer. You will however soon discover that motor sailors tend to be mostly in the 24-45 foot size range and most of them suffer from their compromised design both as sailing yachts and motor boats. If you do want to travel the world a proper sailing yacht is what you need.

As for courses. The short range radio certificate course is a must, and can be taken as a home learning couse with the exam taken on line or by telephone. Starting with no experience I took that, plus RYA Competent Crew and Day Skipper practical courses, plus the Yachtmaster Theory couse. The latter is a one week classroom course covering chartwork and the Collision Regulations.

The theory course should be taken first, so as to get full benefit from the practical courses, and may I commend you for coming on here and asking about training from the start, rather than trying to learn by trial and error or from someone who only has partial knowledge.