Yachtmaster Practical exam

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Thank You a great web site, I will await the at anchor sounds and signal as this is what I find most difficult, once again thanks

[/ QUOTE ]Skysail is keeping his light hidden under a bushel - he has an excellent test in Powerpoint on his website - http://www.skysailtraining.co.uk It is better if you run it as a slide show so you get to answer the questions then see the answers, rather than just looking as the whole slide itself.
 
Understand that one of the most important part of the test is to see how you perform under stress. The examinator will probably use many ways to push you; emergencies, bad tempers, sabotage and many more ways. Stay calm and assess each situation. Explain why you do what you are doing. It might not be what the examinator would do, but that is not the point; you have to prove that have thought through your actions, have a plan that will work and you are not panicking.

Then crew handling and crew communication is paramount. Make sure you make the most of your crew, including the examinator if you deem that to be necessary.

Sailing skills should not be on test. If you are up for a YM, it should be assumed that you have already acquired that.
 
I did mine in early April, in Scotland, I think I had it easy, we went off, on my boat, girl crew, down the river, passage plan made, crap forecast!

We had a few hours swanning, getting tossed around, then,

What do you propose skipper?

Well I,m fed up! The tides low, we can,t get back up to Kirkcudbright at the mo.

So, says he, what now then?

Lets abandon the FECKIN passage plan, pick up the buoy behind Ross Island and have some grub.

OK says he.

Things get worse, white out snow storm, 5mls back up the buoyed channel to the habour.

What now, says he?

I think we should go Fekkin home, I,m seriously fed up, says I.

Can you find your way says he?
I can says I, am I not the Harbourbastard! so off we goes.
25 buoys later we,re on the mooring, with a bottle of malt.

Passed with honours, take it as it comes. Bill
 
Rule #1: if it's blowing an F9 in a crowded marina, you will still be going for a sail. YM's are supposed to be able to handle it.

If you've spent a lot of time sailing solo, or with neophyte crew, then make sure you practice interacting with crew. The YM exam places a huge emphasis on crew management. This means being 'in command' and not doing all of the tasks yourself, no matter how competently you might be able to do them. Sheet in? Ask the crew! Looking for a light? Give the crew the information they need and request their help! Give the crew clear instructions so, if tacking up the Hamble, say 'we're tack at the moment the depth reads 4' - or whatever. Let the examiner hear that you have a plan. This can include some 'showing off', such as telling the crew 'we're going to tack onto x course so to take advantage of the lee bow effect', or we're going to bear off because that fishing boat has gear astern' etc. The examiners like to know YOU are not surprised.

Rule # 2: Help your shipmates! They're struggling, so be really supportive - a wink or a nod if they've forgotten to switch from sailing to steaming lights. The favor will surely be returned.

During the exam things will probably go wrong. You might make your worst approach to a dock EVER. So what. Press on with good spirits. Throw yourself at the galley duty, show yourself to be a team player and (hopefully) to be someone who the instructor might like to take out on his own boat. DON'T GIVE UP. Not until he's said he was going to fail you but decided, at the last minute, to change his mind. This might be in his car in the parking lot when the boat's been put to bed.

Important: choose a good school. I used John Goodes school in S'ton for my Coastal Skipper. Slightly tatty boats made perfect by superb instructors and a 100% fantastic attitude. I did my YM in GIB in January - also brilliant.

YOU ARE ASSESSED BY YOUR INSTRUCTORS - PLEASE THEM DURING THE WEEK AND THE EXAMINERS HEAR ABOUT IT. So, all week, be a team player and give it 100%. Amongst a bunch of strangers, many of whom can be highly opinionated, expect some stresses and have fun.

Oh ... practice MOB's before you go. Get really good. Your week will be much easier!

I loved my courses - every damn minute - because pass or fail you know where you stand. Good luck.
 
You might well start by leaving a marina berth under power and proceed towards the open sea. After maybe about 5 or 10 minutes the examiner introduces your first emergency situation of engine failure. Whatever you do, such as hoist sail quickly
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Make sure, before you drop any mooring lines, that your boat is able to hoist sails quickly. This means NO sail covers on/halyards attached etc (ready for sea!).

There is one urban myth tale, where a candidate motored thru the lock at Port Solent, with the sail cover still on his main & no hallyard attached. The examiner apparently 'failed' him on the spot & asked him to return to berth.
 
Remember you are a sail boat - not a motor boat.
Hoist sails at appropriate time, not too soon, not too late.

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There is one urban myth tale, where a candidate motored thru the lock at Port Solent, with the sail cover still on his main & no hallyard attached. The examiner apparently 'failed' him on the spot & asked him to return to berth.
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I think I would be fuming if that happened to me. I would expect feedback on all aspects at the end, not just preparation before setting off to sea. I would be 98% confident this is only a myth. Most examiners I have come across allow sometime for nerves to settle down. I had one candidate who scraped my boat whilst leaving the pontoon at the start and still passed!
 
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first hand experiences - the best bits, the worst bits

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Like many others, I had been sailing 'all sorts' for decades before I ran out of excuses not to try for an RYA YM sustificate. Taking advice, I had a 5-day handling skills MOT with a small school at Falmouth, on a Rival 38 - and that was worth every penny, then and since.

Among the odd things my examiner asked of me - on a brilliant, sunlit morning - was to follow a particular depth contour just off St Mawes, where the Percuil River meets the deep water channel. This was simple enough - a mental Rule of Twelths/Height of Tide conversion - for a minute or two, until the depth started to twist and turn like a snake. The boat couldn't turn tight enough, so I went a bit deeper/port, then back again. No further problem... "Probably a mud gully just there," I said. The examiner just smirked, and I never did find out quite what it was he was after.

A little later, about lunchtime, he asked me to sail into Restronguet Creek, where I'd confessed to starting sailing in a Hurley 22. "Yes, I know you'd normally use the engine, but do it under sail, through the moorings...." OK, I just made sure of enough way and rudder control, and room to turn back if needed. Just as I was shaping to turn and run out again, and briefing one of my crew about holding the jib aback to spin her on her heel, he asked if I thought I could bring her alongside the T-jetty at The Pandora Inn. "Yes, provided there's enough water just there. The chart isn't detailed enough EXACTLY there, and I reserve the option of throwing it away." So I did an elliptical 360º, briefed for fenders and lines, and carefully put her alongside the T-end in a gentle 'ferry glide', with lines ashore. Surprisingly, there was still almost a metre under the keel.


Pandora-LG.jpg



"Good," says the examiner. "It's a while since I've been here. Maybe there's time for a pint and an oggie in the pub, a spot of lunch, maybe.....?" "That's a very good idea", says I, tongue hanging out, "but hang on a minute. I think I'd better just check exactly how long we've got here."

A careful working - and then re-working - of the prepared Tidal Height Diagram showed all too clearly that my 'almost a metre under the keel' would completely disappear in about 20 minutes - not quite enough time to order and receive the oggies, although the cool pints were certainly beckoning, and probably just enough time to have us touching bottom, if not hard aground. "Sorry, we'll have to go now, I'm afraid," decided I, with considerable regret. So off we sailed, back down to the wide waters of The Fal Estuary. Had I stayed, we'd probably have been stuck there for the rest of the afternoon, and I would have 'failed' - but in no pain whatever.

Now that was an 'examiner-trap' with attitude!


/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
 
Further to my earlier post.
If you sail a BOB (Basic Old Boat) don't underestimate the amount of kit that you may not be used to, or even have seen. on the exam boat. For example: Wheel steering, Gas alarm, DSC radio, Sailing instruments, Self tailing winches, Portable VHF, Complex electrical panels, Chart plotter, Safety kit, Radar and the rest. As a Yachtmaster you will be expected to take many of these items in your stride. A colleague of mine was producing almost instant tidal data, whilst I struggled with the almanac. I was very impressed. Then I watched very closely, he was getting the stuff out of the GPS box, an item I had never used before. Ok the examiner would take a dim view of such shortcuts, but my point is there may be a lot of side issues you need to think about (and could do without) during your prep week.
OK, OK, I can hear people laughing but many people sail all their lives without being touched by such luxury. It never did Slocum any harm,
 
[ QUOTE ]
Make sure, before you drop any mooring lines, that your boat is able to hoist sails quickly. This means NO sail covers on/halyards attached etc (ready for sea!).

There is one urban myth tale, where a candidate motored thru the lock at Port Solent, with the sail cover still on his main & no hallyard attached. The examiner apparently 'failed' him on the spot & asked him to return to berth.

[/ QUOTE ]

On my little boat I keep the sailcover zipped untill the moment I want to hoist the sails, after experiencing the wind catching my sail and blowing it out of the sailpack, spilling it into the water.
I would hate to fail because of my safety concerns, but then the boat I am doing my YM on (eck, three weeks away) doesnt have a stack pack, but is so much bigger than I am used to.
Ive crewed for YM exams and have before now, hoisted anchor ball, switched on steeming, etc that the skipper has omitted to mention to be done(because hes under examination) without making a point of it, examiner still noticed, and actually said that he knew we had a good skipper because of loyalty the whole crew had shown that day!
 
It appears examiners all have their little quirks. Mine needed tea every hour on the hour, even if he sent you down to plot a course he wanted tea with it! He also carried a magnet which found its way onto the compass binnacle.

Another one told the crew to hoist the motoring cone upside down to see if the skipper spotted it....
 
The school where you will do your prep course will know the characteristics of the available examiners and will tailor your training accordingly - so its not a lot of use to listen to what dozens of ex candidates say here. In my case, the emphasis was on boat management ie looking after crew, and on safety from crew briefing to colregs. He specifically told me to use the gps rather than mess about with EPs, and was heard to comment "he's not raising that thing again, is he" when I raised the cone on motor sailing through the river entrance. In short he was very practical and he described his pass standard as "would he allow his daughter to be my crew on a passage to France?" If she looked like him, she was safe.

He even had the proverbial pork pie in his pocket.

The worst bit was that I was the only candidate on board, the crew were 2 (barely) comp crew who had never sailed before and an incomp coastal skipper. So I was under examination for 15 hours with no let up. Worse than uni finals.
 
I think there is lots of good advice in there Wota.

Examiners are human and will (probably) make some sort of judgement before you have left the Marina. Its a bit like being a passenger in a car - you know within the first mile or so if you are going to be relaxed and at ease.

My (excellent) sailing school who trained me certainly briefed me along the lines of what was particularly important for the exam. I did my best to take that on-board for the day of reckoning.

When I eventually spoke to the examiner after the exam about his standards, his response was much along the lines of those you mention.

Viz - "would I let this candidate take my grandchildren out for the trip" and more importantly "If they fell overboard would he get them back safely, quickly and efficiently, even if the engine didnt start and all around him there was panic".

You have to add the theory element (and boat handling etc) to all of that - but in many ways I think that is an excellent way to judge a candidate.

There's many I know who I wouldn't let take my grandson out to sea - and some I know who I would /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Yes you are right there is far to much emphasis on doing mob undersail by instructors to the extent i have heard of people actually turning the engine off before sailing upto the mob.
when i used to teach i would concentrate on doing it under engine with day skips and drum it in that this how it should be done, and then doing it undersail, again emphasising that this method should be used only if the engine has a problem
Doing prep weeks it was usually 50/50 but again reminding the students that they should always attempt to start the engine as once you do that it is then upto the examiner to say whether it is to be done under engine or sail.
Because what would a coroner say if you lose someone if you do it under sail when a perfectly good engine was AVAILABLE.
So practice both methods!

joha
 
If the proverbial hits the fan, and everything starts going wrong all around you, the examiner will be impressed if you stay cool and (for example) say that you are going to tack and heave to (assuming that you have sea room, and are not in imminent danger of a collision) - everything will then become much quieter and more peaceful, and you and your crew can then sort out all the fracas without fuss or panic and maybe have a mug of tea as well.
This happened with us during my exam 12 years ago, and it seemed to work OK.
My exam was over two days (there were 4 of us being examined), and we each basically had half a day as 'skipper', and we each had to have a bash at skippering in darkness.
It was all hard work, but good fun, and enjoyable - we even did just manage to get to the pub for last orders that evening.......... but we also had to remember that we had a very early start the next day to catch the tide.......
 
Some thoughts from the dark side - or a current examiners ponderings.

Firstly:
[ QUOTE ]
YOU ARE ASSESSED BY YOUR INSTRUCTORS - PLEASE THEM DURING THE WEEK AND THE EXAMINERS HEAR ABOUT IT. So, all week, be a team player and give it 100%. Amongst a bunch of strangers, many of whom can be highly opinionated, expect some stresses and have fun.


[/ QUOTE ]

I examine for a number of seaschools and whilst several of them pay for their instructors to be on board during the exam, none of them have ever really spoken to me about a candidate before an exam. I know that they have their opinions and I often compare notes afterwards, but even if an instructor said 'so-and-so's a strong candidate, I wouldn't take a blind bit of notice!! Perhaps they know that and that's why they don't bother telling me their opinions beforehand?

My feeling is that examiners shouldn't as a general principle play tricks on candidates. Putting magnets on or near the compass is a mean trick that should be discouraged. Try not to get worked up about such stories. I always make it clear that there are no trick questions. If I ask to go up a creek, its because I think it can be done - I am not waiting for the candidate to work out there's not enough water to float the boat.

Bill Anderson told me when I was first appointed, "You don't have to set trick questions, the candidates can muck up quite easily by themselves".

PM me for my number if you want a chat.
 
Do your best, take it as it comes, BET you wish you hadn,t asked, I would be a nervous wreck now.
Good Luck,
Enjoy It. Bill.
 
Rule #1: if it's blowing an F9 in a crowded marina, you will still be going for a sail. YM's are supposed to be able to handle it.
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Really??

Would be interested in other oppinions on this, including JohnMorris's.

OK, you as a YM or any other competant sailor, would have to deal with it IF you were caught out. However, are you a 'good manager' if you CHOOSE to take your crew out into a full F9, from a perfectly safe marina? The marina operators might also have some concerns about anyone manouvering around their expensive charges in F9.
 
[ QUOTE ]
OK, you as a YM or any other competant sailor, would have to deal with it IF you were caught out. However, are you a 'good manager' if you CHOOSE to take your crew out into a full F9, from a perfectly safe marina?

[/ QUOTE ]You are supposed to make a sensible decision given the circumstances, showing neither foolhardiness nor over-caution. Your crew are experienced. One can imagine situations, in sheltered water, where it would be quite possible to put out in a gale, or stay out if one occurred. On the other hand, at the start of my exam I refused to move out of Cowes marina in dense fog - still passed.
 
Exam blues. I have toyed with the idea of doing a YM for about 20 years now. I would like to swot for the exam by myself, sit it, and do the test on my boat. This is because sailing is something I have done entirely as a self-taught amateur, as the latin origin of the word implies, one who does the activity for LOVE of it. As a mere personal vanity, I would like to stay that way. I have found this to be much too hard. In this part of the world (Oz) the few examiners have had to pay to get their quals, and need to recoup their expenses by putting candidates thru sailing courses and exams at a "professional" level and charging accordingly. Then there is my boat. It is a condition of examining aboard that it be outfitted to Offshore Category (something). So I have ended up not doing it at an age where it hardly matters anymore.
I have paid for a couple of short courses in areas I could not learn unassisted, Marine legals, Radio and Radar operations, etc. For radar ops I ended up with an exam experience which like iain789, I bitterly regret 15 years later . . . even though I passed the exam!!
I did the course at a TAFE college. I had an exam at 3pm, at 2pm I went into the cafeteria/common room area to do a final swot. It was after lunch, no-one was there. I sat down in the lounge area and started reading. Shortly later a TAFE college senior exec type woman came in with a male underling and sat in the area and conferred with him in a low voice. After a few minutes she spoke to me abruptly, "Look I'd like you to leave this area I have something Very Important to discuss." I felt affronted, but thinking of the exam and not wanting to get upset and flunk it, I got up to leave. As I passed the male underling he sneered, "You've been thrown out!" I was 40-odd years old then and still had not shaken that feeling when in a school of any sort, that I must not confront anyone or I will be a naughty boy in trouble. I went, concentrated on my study, passed the exam without a problem.
Now I would be able to laugh at this experience IF passing that exam had led to getting a nice job in a liesure industry . . . but . .it didn't. That exam pass has done nothing for me at all. I have never looked at another radar set. All I can think about is that I was humiliated and I chose to do nothing about it. Crap!!!
 
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