Yachtmaster Ocean - 5 Day versus Correspondence

brokethebox

brokethebox

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I'm thinking of doing my Yachtmaster Ocean Theory this season, and am wondering what your collective opinion would be on a 5 day course or a correspondence course.

I work on a 4 week on 2 week off rota during the season and would probably rather not do the course on my relief, so have been thinking that correspondence may be the answer.

Do any of you have any experience of this, and who would you recommend? I've googled and there's a few options at various prices.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

James
 
I have no experiemce of 'Ocean', but when I did my yachtmaster I found it very helpful to do both! The correspondence course was in many ways more thorough than the evening classes that I did, but the evening classes allowed direct interaction between me and the teacher and the other students. They therefore rather complemented each other. I was very glad of the background of the correspondence course when it came to the classes.
The problem with correspondence is that you have to have the discipline to actually spend the time doimg it!
 
I did my Yachtmaster Theory by correspondence course while I lived in France. You do have to be very self motivating to ensure that you put the time in, but I found it a good way to do it, and I could contact the tutors easily if I needed to.
 
IMHO, the 5 day course is too short too commit the factual knowledge required to your long-term memory. Sure you can remember enought o pass the exam, but will you remember it two years later?

Five years ago I did an evenings class course spread over about eight weeks - good fun to do it in company, and one truly learned a lot.
However I felt there were still too many gaps and am currently re-doing the course by correspondence. This does provide more detailed explanations as well as leaving you with a big book to refer back to in future. Bit dry doing it by yourself, and self discipline required. (BTW, I should be studying now instead of prattling on to you!)

Conclusion: Do the correspondence first, then a 5 day practical on board course.
 
This weekend we ran as an experiment an "Introduction to Celestial" practical. There were no paying members on board, just 5 members of our group.
The idea was to give a hands on taster of Celestial Navigation giving some basic theory and practical hands on.
Saturday we went along the south side of the Isle of Wight and had a great day first giving people the basics of how to check and correct the sextant followed by a Meridian passage and then a running fix. Before sunset we got in a bit more theory including some star planning.
So successful was the weekend where people could actually turn theory into practice that we will offer a couple of weekends in March/April for any one wanting to purchase just such a weekend. (This course complements the RYA Ocean Theory course as a taster for those thinking of doing it or for those who have already done the theory but want to have a go prior to their qualifying passage.)
 
Many thanks for the quick replies!

I don't reckon the motivation will be an issue as there's a few friends thinking of doing the correspondence at the same time but i can see the point of the 5 dayer not really sticking in the mind.

At the same time, i just can't invest the time in one of these 20 week evening classes, we sail until November and back on the water before the course would be finished in April!!

Any reccomendations on who the best colleges would be?
 
I did it over 5 days - despite a reasonable mind (good university degree etc - although in French(!)) I bl**dy needed it! Not sure whether a good correspondence course would quite have cut it.

But then you need to practice. Only after a long ocean crossing did I really feel I had the wherewithal - and even then my submission wasn't quite right. Practice is what you need.
 
Is sextant work still part of YM Ocean? I thought they accepted GPS was reliable enough now?

If sextant work is still a requirement unless you are really good with maths and tables and figuring your own way through textbooks do the class based course.

I passed mine but would still want a practical refresher course before ever relying on sextant navigation and doing it from the deck of a small boat is I believe an aquired art!
 
I did my YM ocean by correspondence and found the experience both stimulating and informative. The celestial bit is not the whole of the course, most of it from memory was about weather and prepping a boat for an ocean voyage. I found the only way to get really familiar with a sextant was to use it, although the course was useful in providing a framework for deriving position from the readings.

I took and passed the theory 10 years ago and still haven't got around to taking the practical.....
 
The sextant work is the majority of the course.
To pass the practical you have to prove you can and did navigate with a sextant.
The remainder of the course, planning, weather etc is mainly a discussion topic.
 
I did mine by correspondence (centaur sailing)- very thorough and took at least 15 days, not 5, if you did all the exercises.

As long as you are well organised and committed, I would recommend it. Doesn't of course teach you much about actually using a sextant out there on the ocean- so a practical day of sextant stuff would be a great addition, in my view.
 
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