It's sea miles that's required subject to some minimal hours, including night, and completion/attendance of a 40hr shore based course. I think it's 2500 tidal sea miles. When you say required, I assume you mean requirements to apply for the 'on the water' Yachtmaster exam. It's only of you a) have the millage experience, and b) the shore based course attendance cert that you can c) do the REAL exam, and if you manage a,b, and c, you get your Yachtmaster Certificate of competency.
Experience is the key rather than just focusing on an arbitary no of miles. One persons 2500 miles in flat calm familiar local waters is not much use, compared to another persons regular experience in F6 with the occaisional 'blow' thrown in, and decent long passages in unfamiliar waters. Anyway it's just a hobby certificate which has no statutory or regulatory relevance to leisure boaters, but a great program for teaching and improving safety. You can drive your boat in UK waters without any bits of paper. Real experience and learning is imho much more important than clocking up bits of paper. Some of the fastrack systems seem to have missed this point.
There are many ways of getting experience, with friends, more experienced crew on board, courses, whatever, as long as you have water milage in a good variety of senarious, some slightly testing.
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It's sea miles that's required subject to some minimal hours, including night, and completion/attendance of a 40hr shore based course.
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The course is not actually compulsory but if you don't take the shorebased course then you must have, and be able to prove, the knowledge of the course.
done course having exam on friday this week and hopefully then commercail endorsment got a mca grade 2 wan`t the 60 mile limit for charter fishing boat thougt i had miles more than enough thank you for your replys