Yachtmaster training South Africa

Happy

The course sounds to be a good basis on which to build experience and to enable you to take your family safely to sea for coastal trips.

But as many have said the experience gained in a long trip is nothing compared to that gained in many short ones. Some Knowledgeable person on this board once said there is a wealth of difference between 2500 miles of general sailing and of sailing 2500 miles representing 1 mile repeated 2500 times. In the latter you get lots of handling experience and build confidence in the former lots of sleep, a small amount of navigation and not much else.

The anwer lies in between and the RYA stipulations are a sensible basis on which to start the serious business of learning to sail safely and confidently.

I had a good basic training from pre-teens to 20s, then lots of crewing, masses of navigation and skippering (coastal and offhore) before I took my YM in my 50s. I had, then, about 20,000 miles of sailing and boating over a period of 25 years. There is no need to take the test until you are thoroughly experienced unless you need it for commercial reasons. In the latter case it is even more important to get the experience first, who would want to tae the onerous reponsibility for paying customers without a full depth of experience.

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Hi Happy

All i can say is go for it if you pass you pass if you dont then do it again at the very least i think you will learn alot from the experience.
It seems to me that alot people think that if they have been boating for a vast number of years they are the only ones allowed to take such courses, where as someone relatively new to boating shouldnt be allowed .
If someone can pass a Yachmaster course in 10 weeks having never been on a boat in their life then then the whole course and Yachtmaster cert seems a farce.
As i said Happy Go for it.

Good luck
Dave.

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Re: Why not

Get the qualification if you can. But how will you feel in yourself.

My definition of a YM is that he can take a boat he's not familiar with, a crew of strangers and a cruising area he has never seen in his stride. They'll all have a good time too.

If you can do that a qualification is the cherry on the top. If you qualify and you can't do the necessary well who are you fooling.

Only you know if your a good skipper.

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Re: Why not

Please don't take it the wrong way, it is the experience I want, I am the first to admit I am new to this especially having never been on a yacht whilst it has been moving. Anyway I may get seasick so I had better try one this weekend.

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Hear , here. As you say, if he passes, he passes. In any event he'll come out with a better understanding. What's the difference between doing YM the way Happy MAY do it and taking private flying lessons and going on to get a commercial pilots licence all in one go?

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