michaels
New member
Anyone have any experience or thoughts of this course or anyone who has done it?
uksa ocean graduate
- Thread starter michaels
- Start date
Laurin
Member
I did the shorebased ocean course at UKSA and it was excellent. However I did the practical qualifying passage with Flying Fish and it was terrible... very badly organised but also I'm not sure if it's really with the spirit of the thing to do your ocean qualifying passage in this environment. Definitely find out how many will be doing their qualifying passage at once.. flying fish tried to have 7 at once. And check the passage is suitable as the flying fish one was meant to go to Lord howe island but ended up just going up the coast... going out 50 miles to tick the box as it were. I ended up not using the flying fish passage and doing a transatlantic as I would have felt hopelessly under experienced with just the Flying Fish passage. shorebased excellent, but practical I think you are better scouting around and finding a berth with somebody coming back across the pond in spring.
Hope this helps
Hope this helps
michaels
New member
Thanks for the input Kas
bilbobaggins
N/A
The UKSA have a good and growing reputation. However, most sailing schools find it *very* expensive to keep a boat 'in Code' for the small numbers of studes who may want to do an Ocean qualifying passage. Those tend to be down to 'Out of The Channel - Outside Ushant - Down To Spain or Portugal'. Half-a-dozen doing the same sunshot, and comparing results - with pro skipper coaching - before writing up the Reduction. And a 'Nelson's Eye' to the sneaky peek at your own handheld GPS....
That's no good to anyone, but it does bring in the £££.
Nobody got good at this without some practice. You probably will want to learn and practice BVR ( Beyond Visual Range ) Navigation so you know you can rely on it when the other stuff lets you down. And it's personally satisfying. So get some blue-water passages in, work up your skills, then you can take justified pride in your shiny new RYA Certificate of Competence.
And the Ocean Examiner will be *much* kinder to you, 'cos he will see that you're not trying to beat the system, but doing it the way it was intended.
That's no good to anyone, but it does bring in the £££.
Nobody got good at this without some practice. You probably will want to learn and practice BVR ( Beyond Visual Range ) Navigation so you know you can rely on it when the other stuff lets you down. And it's personally satisfying. So get some blue-water passages in, work up your skills, then you can take justified pride in your shiny new RYA Certificate of Competence.
And the Ocean Examiner will be *much* kinder to you, 'cos he will see that you're not trying to beat the system, but doing it the way it was intended.
Seafort
New member
Hi Mike.
As it happens I'm thinking very hard about just this course. So much so that I've booked up for thier MYI next year. I want a good look before I commit.
Before this thread degenerates into the "zero to hero" debate.
'This is not a yachtmaster ocean course'.
Check out the Syllabus...
UKSA Ocean Graduate
It looks appealing to me anyway.
Dave.
As it happens I'm thinking very hard about just this course. So much so that I've booked up for thier MYI next year. I want a good look before I commit.
Before this thread degenerates into the "zero to hero" debate.
'This is not a yachtmaster ocean course'.
Check out the Syllabus...
UKSA Ocean Graduate
It looks appealing to me anyway.
Dave.
alant
Active member
UKSA courses can be excellent, however, check the 'fine print' on this one first.
"OCEAN GRADUATE PROGRAMME
Qualifications
Successful candidates will emerge with the following list of qualifications in addition to the core areas of training:
UKSA Ocean Graduate Course Completion Certificate."
This is NOT a RYA Ocean Certificate!
You will still need to persuade an ocean examiner that you have satisfied all the usual requirements :- "the candidate must have taken a full part in the planning and preparation of the passage "
Not sure how "taken a full part" is viewed, considering you will have an Instructor/many other candidates on board.
"OCEAN GRADUATE PROGRAMME
Qualifications
Successful candidates will emerge with the following list of qualifications in addition to the core areas of training:
UKSA Ocean Graduate Course Completion Certificate."
This is NOT a RYA Ocean Certificate!
You will still need to persuade an ocean examiner that you have satisfied all the usual requirements :- "the candidate must have taken a full part in the planning and preparation of the passage "
Not sure how "taken a full part" is viewed, considering you will have an Instructor/many other candidates on board.
Laurin
Member
Ok, just read the syllabus. So they've added Zero to Hero Yachtmaster to what they used to have as an ocean add on. When I was down there it was about £4500 for theory + practical ocean passage in Caribbean. I payed about 350 for the shorebased and also payed 450 for the AEC? MCA marine engine course. At the time I thought I'd jump on a boat for the ARC and save myself a few thousand. Having struggled to get a crew place for the ARC (the ride I had planned got cancelled late in the day) I payed £2000 to Flying Fish to do their equivalent. As I said before this didn't give me enough experience for me to do the exam so I then did a west to east atlantic crossing where I only payed for my flight. A very big waste of £2000. I'll avoid commenting on Zero to hero YM as it's been discussed lots, but I don't know of any of those guys off the flying fish course who passed their exam as a result of the passage.
