Mark-1
Well-Known Member
It didn’t! I’ve no idea how this discussion started when all I asked was if anyone knew how to book the bloody exam
I suspect you knew *exactly* what you were doing!
VHF course help
- Thread starter lustyd
- Start date
I suspect you knew *exactly* what you were doing!
Never Grumble
Well-Known Member
Can't remember where you are located but my wife and I did ours at Emsworth School of Navigation checking their website they are advertising the course for £105 plus £76 RYA fee. I already had an old pre-DSC cert but wanted to update and wanted the wife to be able to call for help if I went over the side.
Mark-1
Well-Known Member
Wow, VHF courses are much more exciting than when I did mine.
No need for a license in an emergency. (That assumes your missus regards your imminent demise as an emergency, of course.)
st599
Well-Known Member
Registered Training Centre. Somewhere that offers RYA courses. I'm not sure you can book it yourself. Even for courses that are online and run from the RYA's servers (e.g. CEVNI or Safe and Fun), you have to purchase access from an RTC.
Supertramp
Well-Known Member
I did the course online and bought the book about 6 years ago. About £70 I think. I then booked the exam which was with Howell Sail (near me and miles from the sea), about £90 I think.It didn’t! I’ve no idea how this discussion started when all I asked was if anyone knew how to book the bloody exam
ylop
Well-Known Member
Its a recognised training centre: essentially a club, outdoor centre or sailing school, perhaps a few colleges still? which is RYA accredited. The answer was much further up the thread before the usual debate on why the course/exam was even needed. There was a link to Chieftan Training who look cheaper than most places. The normal model is either you turn up somewhere and do the course + exam all in person, and you are quite right the costs are often misleadingly advertised without the exam fee or you do the course online (about £70) then go to facility to do the exam, where you pay for using the equipment (usually about £40) plus the RYA for the exam (£76).
For two people with no previous training, you are typically looking at around £350-400. Unless you are picky about dates (so effectively are getting 1:1 training) it doesn't seem to make a huge difference whether its online or inperson for the total cost.
SimonX
Well-Known Member
We've been working on that basis for a number of years. She knows how to use it but has never formally qualified. Its one of the things on our list for when we do get a new boat , along with getting her some formal training. She drove the old boat many times but has never done a course.
I did the VHF licence at the same time as PB2 and I seem to remember is was in the order of £100 or so. Seemed a bit superfluous having served 6 years in RCS but ticked the boxes.
lustyd
Well-Known Member
This is the crux of the issue. I can’t find a way to actually book an exam without the course, so the online courses are utterly pointless as far as I can see since you’d then have to book a course and exam to actually take the exam.
dgadee
Well-Known Member
Bargain! Or spend it on a decent fixed VHF and read the manual.
ylop
Well-Known Member
And many sailing clubs operate on that sort of basis too. I've not seen anything from the RYA or elsewhere that suggests "come and play" stuff is discouraged. I do know that "staffing" those sessions can be even harder than a formal course: you aren't sure who will turn up, "staff" seem to feel less of an obligation to actual commit / not drop out at short notice and participants are less likely to come if the weather is bad etc.
That's not an RYA rule though - that's how that club has chosen to structure themselves. Indeed the same question to a different person, or asked slightly differently, might have got a totally different approach. I don't know which club it was - I've got a friend who joined PEYC with zero experience and has spent two seasons messing around on other people's boats crewing for them and picking up the basics. She's now being encouraged to do some formal training but that is with a view to being able to borrow club boats. I know she "shopped around" a few clubs after doing one come and try session at PE, and concluded that PE was the best set up for adult beginners on yachts. One club replied to an email asking if she could come and talk to them with "You are welcome to join the club, but we do expect all members to assist in running the club which if you are new to sailing will probably mean mopping the showers until you have the experience for other tasks."
If you have a finite number of instructors who have cost a lot of money to train, it might be the most efficient way to organise yourselves. In a totally different sport I am involved in we have coaching blocks which are 6 sessions long - if you miss the first one you need to wait till the next one as its too hard to have people joining midway who missed bits. However if you just turn up at a normal training session and talk to any of the experienced people, coach or not, they'll give you pointers on specifics.
ylop
Well-Known Member
Mark provided the answer in post 2! Even if Chieftan aren't local it surely gives you what you need to understand the process?
There are essentially 3 things you need:
- An accredited way to learn the theory. This is often done on line now but can be done face to face too. That will cost a fee to whoever provides that - the physical training centre or the online provider.
- An exam room set up with the radios for the test which don't transmit to the public. That will cost a fee to the training centre. If you do the theory part in person it is usually rolled into the course cost.
- A fee to the RYA for sending the examiner, and issuing a certificate. That is a fixed £76.
Its always had this awkward paying a fee for the exam bit separate. Thousands of people a year manage to do this.
capnsensible
Well-Known Member
On successful completion of the online course you have a simple test. This will show that you have completed the course and aren't going to waste an examiners time.
Armed with that, you can contact an RTC to arrange a suitable time and venue with the examiner. This e am includes real life operation of 2 vhf sets joined by cable so you can demonstrate you do actually know what you are doing.
Hey presto! Pass and you get your operators certificate.
The fee payable to THE RYA includes the examiners fee. The RTC will, not being a charity, will charge for their time arranging the course, examiner, venue and radio equipment.
Hope you get it sorted.
ylop
Well-Known Member
He already has a VHF. As he's going cruising overseas, I suspect "a refresher for me" translates to "I'd better get my paperwork in order"! I do agree that the cost is quite significant, especially for two people. I do think there is merit in the course, there's stuff there which an average punter won't get from the manual (understanding duplex channels, who suggests the working channel, etc). There's also value in the first "MAYDAY" call you make not being a real one. The fact that the cost is high often means "the wife" never does it and yet might actually be the least confident with the equipment, so need it most.
capnsensible
Well-Known Member
For the usual suspects who always seem to think the whole thing is some kind of rip off, why not ask at the RYA if you can be trained and examined as an Assessor?
If its that easy, you will have found a great way to make easy money.....
If its that easy, you will have found a great way to make easy money.....
lustyd
Well-Known Member
And shall I just start dialling random numbers or is there a list somewhere? None of this is documented by the RYA that I can find.
lustyd
Well-Known Member
I don’t think it’s a rip off generally, but £500 for two of us is utterly insane.
capnsensible
Well-Known Member
It's a lot. But like any business they must calculate that price on their financial model?
Perhaps the online route is cheaper.
Supertramp
Well-Known Member
First Class Sailing, Southampton would appear to offer exam only.
capnsensible
Well-Known Member
I suggest an email to RYA training could get you the information?
Mark-1
Well-Known Member
If you phone up the RYA and tell them you want to have kids sailing they just "recommend" the full quals structure. There's no half way house. It's a very brave person who goes against that advice. I suspect there's no legal requirement for Patrol boat crews to have PB2/Safety boat course but that seems to be the RYA 'recommendation' and again, people get spooked into following that advice. It all seems to be aimed at getting people to buy RYA products at the expense of getting people out on the water. The body that manages Sailing also providing paid sailing products, and guess what, their advice is to always buy those products. What's needed is an RYA-lite that has nothing to sell and gives the unvarnished truth.
Weirdly for racing or club cruises nobody asks the RYA and the kids just come along with no questions asked, just as everyone did when I was a lad. And guess what, there's never any shortage of volunteers (very few required) and events are never cancelled or people turned away for lack of instructors.
