Yachtmaster Coastal Exam

[GORDONREID]

I am not sure which course to do, hope you can help

I have done about 1300Nm+ over the past two years including-

800 miles as a watchleader onboard Ocean youth trust global challenge yachts and their oyster 70, in charge of a watch of 12-24 year olds who have not sailed before

500 miles of long passages over 50Nm onboard 30ft yachts

As well the above I sail almost every week onboard my westerly tempest as a skipper/crew with my father who is of the same ability as me so we share the responsibility.
I am happy enough with handling the yacht under sail and power, I am also happy with tides.

I am not sure whether to do the day skipper course, the coastal skipper course or the prep and the Yachtmaster coastal exam.
If I was to do the exam is it possible to do it onboard my own yacht which is based in NE scotland
I have all my STCW95 certificates, comp. crew and my day skipper theory.

 

[mcframe]

Off the top of my head - brush up on CS/YM theory (or YMC/YMO theory as they might be called now), and see if you can get a Coastal Skipper course with the option of the YMC exam at the end.

Sounds like you're beyond Day Skipper practical standard, but might benefit (as I did) from doing CS(oops! YMC) course and exam on a strange boat in a strange area† - maybe wait a year or so and then plan on a YM exam on your own boat?

The CS course and exam prep weeks were quite educational - mainly because the instructor would often ask the CC & DS folks something and then (without revealing the answer) ask "What do you think?".

† I did CC on the Solent, DS on the Clyde, CS (course) out of Dartmouth, CS(exam) out of Walton, and might finally get around to YM exam (own boat) in the Solent sometime this decade.

 

[Sans Bateau]

You certainly have enough miles for the YM Coastal, but you would do well to either study hard to get all the theory sorted, or better still, do a theory course and get that certificate first, that may give you a bit more credibility with the practical examiner.

YM Coastal details from the RYA web site here:

http://www.rya.org.uk/coursestraining/exams/Pages/Coastalskipper.aspx

Looking at the RYA web site, I think that the YM Coastal certificate is what used to be known as Coastal Skipper.

 

[alant]

I am not sure which course to do, hope you can help

I have done about 1300Nm+ over the past two years including-

800 miles as a watchleader onboard Ocean youth trust global challenge yachts and their oyster 70, in charge of a watch of 12-24 year olds who have not sailed before

500 miles of long passages over 50Nm onboard 30ft yachts

As well the above I sail almost every week onboard my westerly tempest as a skipper/crew with my father who is of the same ability as me so we share the responsibility.
I am happy enough with handling the yacht under sail and power, I am also happy with tides.

I am not sure whether to do the day skipper course, the coastal skipper course or the prep and the Yachtmaster coastal exam.
If I was to do the exam is it possible to do it onboard my own yacht which is based in NE scotland
I have all my STCW95 certificates, comp. crew and my day skipper theory.

Personally, never been able to see any point in a Coastal Skipper Cert (awarded by the instructor, not examiner).

You should do a YMCS/YMO prep week, either as a candidate or simply as crew, to assess your capability & then decide. Seems like you should be OK for YM Coastal examined route.

 

[Talulah]

Personally, never been able to see any point in a Coastal Skipper Cert (awarded by the instructor, not examiner).

You should do a YMCS/YMO prep week, either as a candidate or simply as crew, to assess your capability & then decide. Seems like you should be OK for YM Coastal examined route.

The Coastal Skipper certificate has to be awarded by an examiner.
The Sailing School issues a course completion certificate.

 

[Poignard]

I am not sure which course to do, hope you can help

I have done about 1300Nm+ over the past two years including-

800 miles as a watchleader onboard Ocean youth trust global challenge yachts and their oyster 70, in charge of a watch of 12-24 year olds who have not sailed before

500 miles of long passages over 50Nm onboard 30ft yachts

As well the above I sail almost every week onboard my westerly tempest as a skipper/crew with my father who is of the same ability as me so we share the responsibility.
I am happy enough with handling the yacht under sail and power, I am also happy with tides.

I am not sure whether to do the day skipper course, the coastal skipper course or the prep and the Yachtmaster coastal exam.
If I was to do the exam is it possible to do it onboard my own yacht which is based in NE scotland
I have all my STCW95 certificates, comp. crew and my day skipper theory.

Given your experience - why are you bothering to do it at all? Think of what you could buy with the money saved

 

[Skylark]

Suggest that you take a look at the RYA website, it should give you all of the information you require to enable you to make an informed choice.

The Day Skipper and Coastal Skipper courses are generally delivered by RYA sea schools. Assuming that you successfully demonstrate competence against all aspects of the syllabus the instructor will issue a course completion certificate.

At the end of some, but by no means all, of the CS courses, arrangements would have been made in advance for the instructor to leave and an independant examiner to join the boat to assess your capabilities in about 8-10 hours against any part of the syllabus (but there are a few certainties). This is the MCA / RYA YM CS cert of competence.

You can book an exam without having done the course directly with RYA and you can use your own boat. The website gives a few words about the suitability of boat, its equipment and crew.

You haven't mentioned shorebased courses? There's value in both DS and CS/YMO shorebased courses. Always something to learn. I'd suggest that you find a night school as I believe that there's value in shring the learning experience with like-minded sailors.

There is an ever-so-slightly controversial thread on here about the RYA/MCA YM Offshore cert of comp exam.

My experience is that the examiners do a great job, on the whole (we're all human). He/she will try to put you at ease as they want to see you skipper a boat to the best of your ability. He/she will look at your log book and may well ask about certain passages etc. 1300nm to and from the same port will probably require more questioning than if there was a breadth of experience gained on different vessels in different conditions into different ports, harbours and anchorages.

Anything on the syllabus is "fair game". The first hour or so on my YMO exam was spent briefing the examiner on the (charter) boat, its equipment and its service, repair and maintenance requirements. This was pretty easy for me as an engineer.

A day or so before the exam, you'll probably be contacted by the examier with a request for you to prepare a passage plan from A to B. There will likely be a few proverbial curved balls to test your knowledge on such matters. During the brief or the debrief, you'll be asked to talk through your plan.

The formal MCA exams also have a requirement for you to have a VHF radio cert of comp and an in-date first aid certificate.

Whatever you decide, I hope you enjoy it; you'll undoubtedly learn a few things.

 

[alant]

The Coastal Skipper certificate has to be awarded by an examiner.
The Sailing School issues a course completion certificate.

The coastal skipper completion certificate, like the DS one, is what I meant.
There is no Coastal Skipper Certificate of Competance, because this is now YM Coastal.

 

[VicMallows]

Given your experience - why are you bothering to do it at all?

I asked a similar question in the parallel (long) thread on Scuttlebutt, but never received any meaningful comment.

Vic

 

[st599]

The Coastal Skipper certificate has to be awarded by an examiner.
The Sailing School issues a course completion certificate.

Nah, the Yachtmaster Coastal is examined. The Coastal Skipper is handed out by the sailing school.

 

[PeterGibbs]

I am not sure which course to do, hope you can help

I have done about 1300Nm+ over the past two years including-

800 miles as a watchleader onboard Ocean youth trust global challenge yachts and their oyster 70, in charge of a watch of 12-24 year olds who have not sailed before

500 miles of long passages over 50Nm onboard 30ft yachts

As well the above I sail almost every week onboard my westerly tempest as a skipper/crew with my father who is of the same ability as me so we share the responsibility.
I am happy enough with handling the yacht under sail and power, I am also happy with tides.

I am not sure whether to do the day skipper course, the coastal skipper course or the prep and the Yachtmaster coastal exam.
If I was to do the exam is it possible to do it onboard my own yacht which is based in NE scotland
I have all my STCW95 certificates, comp. crew and my day skipper theory.

Seems you are well down the practical experience curve, perhaps not yet fully scoped on longer passages (24 hrs) as skipper. I strongly recommend you get YM theory done ASAP. Then a couple of longer passages. After that, whether you go for a test (YM practical) where someone comes on board to check out how you apply the theory is almost a matter of taste, not necessity.

All the other options are lesser, even repetitive approaches to getting up to speed.

BTW - this is how I did it, and I'm still afloat.....

PWG

 

[Sans Bateau]

The OP is still a little short on sea miles, but as you suggest, do the YM theory, then do the YM practical.

YM practical requirements (from the RYA site)

" 50 days, 2,500 miles including at least 5 passages over 60 miles measured along the rhumb line from the port of departure to the destination, acting as skipper for at least two of these passages and including two which have involved overnight passages. 5 days experience as skipper. At least half this mileage and passages must be in tidal waters. All qualifying seatime must be within 10 years prior to the exam."

 

[nickd]

Day Skipper and Coastal Skipper are both course completion certificates, handed out by the sailing school.
Yachtmaster Coastal, Offshore and Ocean are examined by an external examiner.
I have dayskipper and recently completed Yachtmaster Coastal (still awaiting the RYA certificate to come through).
I would say that you are well passed Dayskipper and would find the course a little boring. I would suggest that you do Yachtmaster theory which is split into three exams - Weather, Navigation, ColRegs and then go for YM Coastal Practical. You can do it in your own boat, however I think all you will get is an examiner coming on board for a day and giving you a throughly hard time (I guess it depends on the examiner but mine was very thorough) I would have found this very tough on my own. I would therefore suggest that you do a YM Coastal prep week with others and finish it with the exam, with a sailing school, you will get to learn a hell of a lot and have some support on the big day.
Good Luck