RobbieW
Well-Known Member
IIRC the Yachtmaster practical certificates are the ones that can be commercially endorsed. Day Skipper et al cannot
What does "Yachtmaster" mean at the moment?
- Thread starter Mark-1
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justanothersailboat
Well-Known Member
I don't think it is the case that "coastal skipper" has been renamed "yachtmaster coastal" since (non Yachtmaster) "coastal skipper" still exists, so griping about devaluation on that particular basis sounds a bit silly.
"Yachtmaster coastal" does feel a bit odd to me and personally I would not claim to "have a Yachtmaster" unless I'd acquired Offshore, but I couldn't blame someone else if they did YM Coastal and then told me they were a YM. (I may well do YM coastal at some point, but I would feel a right twerp if I went round telling everyone "I'm a yachtmaster, you know" the following day). The YM coastal minimum requirements seem rather sparse to me, though. Now, it may be that you would have to be both very good and very lucky to pass the exam standards with the minimum experience required to enter, but I don't know that.
"Yachtmaster coastal" does feel a bit odd to me and personally I would not claim to "have a Yachtmaster" unless I'd acquired Offshore, but I couldn't blame someone else if they did YM Coastal and then told me they were a YM. (I may well do YM coastal at some point, but I would feel a right twerp if I went round telling everyone "I'm a yachtmaster, you know" the following day). The YM coastal minimum requirements seem rather sparse to me, though. Now, it may be that you would have to be both very good and very lucky to pass the exam standards with the minimum experience required to enter, but I don't know that.
ImpImp
Well-Known Member
Important distinction though, the term 'Solicitor' (junior or otherwise) like Architect and a few others (though notably not Engineer or Accountant) is protected by law with sanctions for illegitimate use qv Jonathan Reynolds ‘corrects record’ for referring to himself as ex-solicitor. Anyone can call themselves a 'Yachtmaster' though saying 'I've passed a Yachtmaster exam' is subtly different, but would not, I think, fall foul of any law unless one is so doing to obtain pecuniary advantage eg a job.
Frankly I'd avoid anyone who used the term about themselves in conversation in any case.
Chiara’s slave
Well-Known Member
I don’t think I have ever said ‘I’m a yachtmaster’ to anyone. Let alone everyone.
RunAgroundHard
Well-Known Member
You can get a Day Skipper commercially endorsed, but other stuff has to be in place first.
Gaining Commercial Endorsements
justanothersailboat
Well-Known Member
Then we have a similar feeling, perhaps.
ylop
Well-Known Member
Day Skipper can be commercially endorsed, but with a very limited range of operation.
Bobc
Well-Known Member
In my day, you had to do the Coastal Theory & Practice courses, and then a 2-day practical "Yachtmaster Offshore" exam by a MoT examiner (like taking your driving test I guess).
Only on passing that exam, did you get your Yachtmaster Offshore ticket. To get the Ocean ticket, you have to do an additional course which looked at ocean passage planning etc., and celestial nav. To upgrade to a commercial YM ticket, you had to do a sea survival course and get a medical done.
Only on passing that exam, did you get your Yachtmaster Offshore ticket. To get the Ocean ticket, you have to do an additional course which looked at ocean passage planning etc., and celestial nav. To upgrade to a commercial YM ticket, you had to do a sea survival course and get a medical done.
capnsensible
Well-Known Member
I have. When I joined HMS/M Sceptre, I had an interview with the skipper.
He said that I was going to be one of his Ship Control OOW's and did that trouble me? I replied 'no problem sir, I'm a Yachtmaster.
Turned out so was he. Led to a number of sailing trips organised for crew in maintenence periods and me loving the SCOOW job.
newtothis
Well-Known Member
In commercial shipping, the executive officer of the vessel is the master, whatever their gender. I suspect even women masters are known by the crew as 'the old man'.
Chiara’s slave
Well-Known Member
That’s excused by professional necessity. If someone asks me if I can handle their boat, I’m more likely to reply ‘do you want to watch?’ I doubt that would go down well on one of his Majesty’s boats.I have. When I joined HMS/M Sceptre, I had an interview with the skipper.
He said that I was going to be one of his Ship Control OOW's and did that trouble me? I replied 'no problem sir, I'm a Yachtmaster.
Turned out so was he. Led to a number of sailing trips organised for crew in maintenence periods and me loving the SCOOW job.
capnsensible
Well-Known Member
Nah. It's not necessary in order to be a SCOOW. It's was a conversation point.
The sailing jobs I've had over the years are rather different.....
john_morris_uk
Well-Known Member
Not sure how it applies but in the 90’s I was on HMS Chatham somewhere in the med and we were RASing. The CO knew I was a keen sailor and a YMI and YM examiner from my joining interview. When I wondered out onto the bridge wing he turned round and said ‘you know what you’re doing. You can drive’ and walked off. I wasn’t expecting to take the con of 5000 tonnes steaming along at 10 knots a few metres from a tanker while we sucked fuel from it but it’s great fun and I fortunately for my career and his no dramas or collision. The breakaway was fun as I’d got a few thousand shaft hp to play with. Just mind you don’t exceed the torque limits on the shafts… or the MCR will take you out of bridge control and you owe them champagne…
benjenbav
Well-Known Member
Hmm. You have me bang to rights, I fear.
In mitigation I would just say that the distinctions in lawyers’ titles that I mention are pretty well understood in practice; certainly within larger legal practices, so that I would expect a certain level of responsibility to be taken by an associate and a qualitatively different level by a senior associate. The former I would expect to be running reasonably complex cases on their own; the latter to be controlling projects involving several (at least one other) lawyers.
As to the need to look at the fine print, I fear I’m inevitably looking at it from the perspective of a 40 year veteran, albeit one who is now happily retired from the practice of law and who tends to deal with lawyers only as a client these days.
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alan_d
Well-Known Member
Do you have any evidence for that?
Chiara’s slave
Well-Known Member
Put up a poll here. That’s the nearest you’ll get. If I heard someone had a yachtmaster qualification, I would certainly assume it was the ‘offshore ‘ they had, unless told otherwise.
Bobc
Well-Known Member
Used to be:-
Competent crew
Day skipper
Coastal skipper
The above were just RYA courses.
Yachtmaster Offshore
Yachtmaster Ocean
Yachtmaster Instructor
So usually if someone referred to "Yachtmaster", they meant YMO.
Mark-1
Well-Known Member
I think I would have too, but a few things have happened recently that make me question that, and that's why I asked here.
So...
During a phone round of local sailing schools to get a good price for the ICC-4b I got quite a hard sell to do "Yachtmaster". It seemed a bit odd at the time because I told him for the last 9 years I've owned a 21 footer so most of my mileage has dropped off the end, but after googling it struck me that he might not have been talking about "Offshore" which would explain it.
Then I was checking the "ICC Sailing" requirements and among the various valid quals is "RYA Yachtmaster" without saying which one. Now clearly all four YM's would count so it doesn't matter but it shows that even in quite formal documents the meanings are conflated.
That lead to me thinking about a dinghy sailing acquaintance who "Passed YM" in the spring and although I'm sure he could do it standing on his head his mileage would be under 4 figures and I'm certain he doesn't have any qualifying passages. At the time I just assumed he'd jazzed up his logbook (if you knew the guy you'd say that was the right thing do do), but it occurred to me yesterday another explanation would be when he says YM he doesn't mean YM Offshore.
So I asked on here. Sounds like I'm not the only one who isn't sure.
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flaming
Well-Known Member
Not quite, you could also be examined for Coastal skipper after the course. I passed that aged 19. That has since be renamed "Yachtmaster Coastal". I then did YM Offshore at 23 I think.
Honestly I was at the time against that renaming. And still am, for exactly the reasons that this thread illustrates.
Having done both exams, there was really quite a big difference between what was expected at Coastal and Offshore, and I don't really think that this is now reflected in the names.
Black Sheep
Well-Known Member
If someone said to me "I passed my YM", I'd assume they meant that they passed something that had the word Yachtmaster in its name. It could just be a theory course for all I know. If I cared, I'd ask.
If someone said to me "You should do YM" I'd thank them for the advice and ask them why.