UK chartering company recommendations?

[boomerangben]

On another related topic that could be controversial, can anyone recommend a decent provider for doing the DS theory online? I know it would be more beneficial to do it in a classroom but i prefer to learn at my own pace. from my understanding the RYA now incorporates digital route planning into their courses? which could be missing from some providers training material.

Happy to be educated if im wrong on this though

I did my yachtmaster theory with Navathome. Good course and did my test on line too. Suited me ok. They have a time limit, but you can extend if need be at small cost.

 

[DreadShips]

I'm another who used Navathome, in my case for DS. It was generally pretty solid and I'd happily recommend it. You lose the opportunity to chat through things like you would in a classroom and occasionally the automatic marking leaves you wondering if you really grasped something (or where you went wrong), but you gain in price and convenience. The email support was less than I'd have liked but in practice more than I needed.

I'd also recommend getting hold of the little Reeds Skipper's Handbook and leaving it somewhere you can flick through occasionally. Some of it is well above DS level, but it's all interesting and the bits you do need are a lot easier to do for yourself if you've read the theory a few times previously.

 

[ylop]

On another related topic that could be controversial, can anyone recommend a decent provider for doing the DS theory online? I know it would be more beneficial to do it in a classroom but i prefer to learn at my own pace.

I don’t think it’s necessarily more beneficial to do in the classroom - there are pro’s and con’s to both. In the classroom you benefit from other people’s stupid question and perhaps an instructor explaining things a different way. At home you aren’t held up by the pace of the stupid question and an instructor trying to re-explain something you understand already! Some people struggle to learn online - others like to be able to click back as often as they want or to fit in 30 minutes whilst something is cooking.

from my understanding the RYA now incorporates digital route planning into their courses? which could be missing from some providers training material.

I’d be surprised if any provider was not covering it.

I'm another who used Navathome, in my case for DS. It was generally pretty solid and I'd happily recommend it. You lose the opportunity to chat through things like you would in a classroom and occasionally the automatic marking leaves you wondering if you really grasped something (or where you went wrong), but you gain in price and convenience. The email support was less than I'd have liked but in practice more than I needed.

I think Navathome are probably the “default” online provider - unless I am mistaken a number of the schools resell their product for distance learning. However I had a look fairly recently at ardent training for my daughter and I was quite impressed with their stuff. Their support seems to be quite a bit more than “email”, I’m not sure if they’ve perfected automatic marking any better.

 

[spindly_killer_fish]

Thanks chaps ill give them a look

 

[benjenbav]

Thanks chaps ill give them a look

Any charterer that you speak to may well be more flexible than their website suggests. Especially if you’re not trying to screw them down to a low price point.

In the context of flexibility it’s worth thinking about the weather as well as the location. Your family may love bashing into a F6 in their foulies and nursing a range of newly acquired contusions or sitting in port watching the weather go by. But, if there’s a possibility that they won’t, it might be helpful to have a little bit of flexibility in the dates for your first long weekend, especially if you want there to be a second one.

Anyway, all the best.

 

[spindly_killer_fish]

Oh My. God the plot thickens.

Im now being told by my superior she would like to tie in a 2-3 night sailing trip somewhere in the med/canaries.....struggling to find anything under 5-7 nights though. are weekend sails doable in warmer climes? I have only looked at sundsail and sail ionian etc. the big names that pop up on google.

 

[oldbloke]

Even the big companies are small companies, ring up and speak to a person. Biggest problem may be that the flights are all based on 7 day packages. You may need to add on a land based stay. The Saronic Gulf south of Athens might be easier for flights and trips round the bay although the first and last days of a charter there are not very interesting

 

[ylop]

Oh My. God the plot thickens.

Im now being told by my superior she would like to tie in a 2-3 night sailing trip somewhere in the med/canaries.....struggling to find anything under 5-7 nights though. are weekend sails doable in warmer climes? I have only looked at sundsail and sail ionian etc. the big names that pop up on google.

friends of my son’s did a Nielsen “Stay and Sail” holiday which was 1/2 yacht 1/2 beach based… eye wateringly expensive.