Yachtmaster certificate

[alanporter]

Can anyone tell me if the yachtmaster certificate currently granted by the RYA, is the same as that granted by the British Board of Trade many years ago ? Did the RYA take over from the BoT ?

Alan Porter

 

[steve_cronin]

Yes they did. In the old days you had to do semaphore, morse and appear before a board in London. Changed around 1974.

Short on time so if any more detail req'd please Pm me.

Steve Cronin

 

[Cornishman]

Your query appears to be in two halves:
1. No, the certificate is not the same. Steve is right about how the old one could be obtained. You need never have set foot on board a yacht of any kind.
2. Yes, the RYA took over the examining and at first you could still take it as an oral. This was abandoned about 1980, and a few years later the Coastal Skipper exam became a practical test only as well.

 

[steve_cronin]

"You need never have set foot on board a yacht of any kind.."

Well in theory but the examining board which was comprised of retired commercial skippers, a rep from the RYA and usually the Commodore of some senior "Royal" yacht club would have been able to spot any fakes immediately by the answers to the questions posed which often contained a stinker or two and always were prefixed by "What orders would you give..." or "How would you react when..."

Most sea schools ran a course which consisted of a couple of terms chartwork - EP & DR but Decca was also discussed, another on ropes & knots, tides & calculations of heights, HW & LW at intermediary ports or river entrances - our bloke being German always used the Texel! You did your VHF exam away somewhere (I went to Hull) You were also expected to attend the "Whit Cruise" or some other organised cruise on a couple of occassions to get your sea time up
There certainly wasn't the emphasis on "Man management" that there is today but it was by no means an easy way of getting your ticket and included a lot of formal written exams and observed chartwork. Multi-choice hadn't been invented then.

Steve Cronin

 

[Cornishman]

Re:Er, VHF?

I suspect that what you did at Hull was the "Restricted" licence. Nice looking certificate - a bit like a brown passport from the outside with a gold embossed crest etc. Still got mine. Holders did not need to take the VHF Only exam later. VHF Only didn't come in until about 1979, but I guess I am being pedantic.
Yes, I did mean 'in theory' about never setting foot aboard a yacht, no record of sea time being required to take the exam - but I believe that one or two people did slip through the net.
Even when the RYA first took over a candidate could take the oral exam if he could produce a certificate of experience signed by a 'yacht club flag officer'. I was an examiner at the time, and the oral exam could be more searching of theoretical knowledge than the current practical exam. It also took a lot more preparation by the examiner! The requirements for documentary evidence of sea time is a relatively recent innovation.
Holders of pre-war YM certs could get a commission in the RNVR when the war broke out, I believe, which led to a few problems as I am sure you can imagine.

 

[steve_cronin]

Re:Er, VHF?

Yes that's right.

It disappeared a few years back and I had a bizarre conversation with a gentleman at St Christopher House Southwark as he tried to do a makeshift re-examination over the phone! All I could remember was Hull and the name of the examiner "Mr J Godfrey". 2182 was also covered which was as well because all we carried for many years was a 2182 single frequency emergency transmitter. You needed a full certificate if you wanted to use the full MF band too.. My "Pass" was sent on to the RYA who issued a new style cert. A few months later a friend who confessed to swiping the original as a prank, returned it. HE was never invited to come sailing again!

Steve Cronin

 

[Footpad]

I took mine in Nov 1980 it comprised a shore based evening course with written exam, a practical afloat for Five days with me being skipper for one of those and a 2 hour, one to one, oral with a BoT examiner at Warsash. No VHF but a full signals test inc morse and an in depth session about my G15 (not much room for bullshit!). The cert is RYA but is signed as "Approved by the RYA/DoT Yachtmaster Qualifications Panel.

 

[alanporter]

Thank you for the responses, gentlemen.

Alan Porter