Yachtmaster Training

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CatPrice

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I'm currently doing a Yachtmaster Traineeship. I've just concluded the first part with four weeks of training in Cowes, and am about to head to Sydney for 8 weeks to do part 2.
I'm interested to hear from anyone with any views in this kind of training - good or bad, or anyone also doing it? I've been keeping a blog of my experiences on my website, www.catherineprice.co.uk, if anyone is interested!
 
Welcome to the Forum Catherine.
I know that there are critics of the "16 weeks to Tachtmaster" type of course because it gives the qualification to people without them actually having a great deal of sailing experience but your blog shows that you are on a pretty good course. I certainly wish that I had not left it so late in life to learn to sail, and even if you do not in the end take up a sailing career it will be a great experiece to have had. I hope you enjoy Sydney.
 
Catherine

Enjoy your course, as much as I enjoyed reading your Blog, /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Thats meant in a good way.

I think you'll do fine. I'm not going to comment on the 16 week courses, but my advice would be, spend as much time in crowded waters as you can, and spend as much time maneuvering in tight spots!! Honestly, you can do the Nav bit you've proved that, get boat handling experience now, and as much as you can.

Time at sea is great, but learn to be around the 'numties', we have all seen them. They get commented on in here enough. Well done on getting this far, and keep going. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Good luck in the future, and most of all enjoy your time whilst you have some one to ask!! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Regards

Al /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
"spend as much time in crowded waters as you can,"

Problem is Al, its happening in Oz.

No such thing as 'crowded waters' - come out of Sydney Harbour & just turn left or right for a 1000 miles. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

However "spend as much time maneuvering in tight spots!!" - a Sheila won't have much of a problem practising that in Oz! /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
 
Catherine, just remember that 9 out of the world's 10 most venomous species live in Australia. (most of them are in the cricket team)
 
Hello Al!

We can take it your ASBO has run out now then? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

What can you say to some one who is on a 16 weeker, and has proved the nav side to the 'required' standard, and more? We all know where the problem lies. It's when new Yachtmasters are in close proximity to land and other sea goers. I think it's great that they have their 'tickets' but I do wish they are all also taught that experience is THE most important thing on the water. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

You know my back ground, as I do yours, and we still admit that we are still learning.

Good grounding eh?

Al.
 
/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
If there is one lesson I have learned about sailing, it is the ability to deal with the unexpected confidently and competently without an instructor behind you.

This skill, if such a term can be used, comes over time, not through instruction or training. So get as much experience as possible where your decision making is autonomous and accountable to yourself only. And when you make a mistake - make it a gemstone for re-confirming what your training has taught you.
 
It can only be a good thing. You can do a lifetime of sailing and learn things they'd never teach you for your yachtmaster. But on the flipside, you can do your yachtmaster and learn things you'd never learn in a life time of sailing.

In my opinion a lot of sailors are envious of those able to take the fast track. As long as you still retain a certain amount of modesty, and recognise your own abilities once you've got your ticket then I don't see how anyone can complain.
 
The daughter of a friend did the same course finishing off with a Fastnet. She thoroughly enjoyed it and says she learned a lot.

Woodlouse is right - there is no downside to the training as long as you remember that the most dangerous time for new drivers is just after they have passed their test and before they have accumulated experience.
 
"as long as you remember that the most dangerous time for new drivers is just after they have passed their test and before they have accumulated experience."

"accumulated experience" , can bring confidence, but can
also breed a realisation that not everyone is following the 'rules' you painfully learned on your course.

"recognise your own abilities" - this should be regardless of how much experience you think you have. Experience is only a useful tool if you can recognise your limitations & modify your decisions accordingly. This should be the rule whether just off a 16 week course or after a lifetime sailing.

"As long as you still retain a certain amount of modesty"

Why? If you really are good at something, why keep it to yourself? Ellen McA isn't modest, she oozes confidence & capability, but perhaps without the arrogance, still trying to test her limitations. She would not have received her sponsorships by keeping quiet about her incredible capabilities!

CatPrice - enjoy your course, ignore those who decry 'fast-track' sailors, push your instructors to their limits & learn as much as you can. Then, give the 'blokes' a run for their money!
 
You certainly won't get crowded waters in Oz. I stood on Sydney harbour bridge one Sunday in mid summer and saw about 20 boats out. 10 of them were press mobbing a visiting royal and 4 were global challenge boats out for corporate jollies.

On several previous visits to Port Philip (Melbourne) I saw a total of one sailing boat and the harbour has 100+ square miles of sheltered water.

To be fair though, plenty of opportunity for encounters with commercial boats in Sydney, the harbour is thick with ferries, most of them going very quickly.
 
Cat, loved your blog. Your course sounds solid and I am jealous, never had such concentrated teaching myself. I think what is being said here is that, once you have finished your training programme, your sailing life begins, and you are a beginner - a better-than-most-educated beginner. Mention of experience here is just a reflection of some of the zero-to-hero stories of well-educated beginners being given, or taking, too much responsibility and making a hash in difficult situations - beyond their experience, and beyond the book. I expect you get the same from the instructors on the course.

Good luck... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Sailing with a crew recruited from these hallowed halls, he commented on the number of sailing anecdotes I came out with. I replied that you do tend to have a fair few incidents over the course of 50 years sailing. And I reckon I'm still learning.

Doing the yachtmaster training & exam does force you to focus on what you're doing and accelerates the learning process but what comes later is the awkward bits that can't be simulated in an exam (like an engine getting stuck in reverse in a Portuguese marina or a forecast of Southerly 10 when you're in the middle of Lyme Bay)
 
If I had the funds I would have loved to do something like that, I do not think there is a substitute for experience, but I would love the confidence that covering that course must give anyone coming in.

To be honest, I think if I did have the funds I would send the wife, I am happy to potter about and learn as I go along, she is the "controller" who would enjoy the boat all the more is she had that confidence!
 
An interesting programme, and very concentrated. I wonder if the Fast Track Yachtmaster taken over say 12 to 16 weeks, has any real advantages over buying the courses separately, perhaps from several providers.

How selective are the Fast Track providers? A week spent with a dysfunctional group of students might be tolerable - but a Fast Track group that fails to gel could be worse than watching Big Brother.
 
Thanks all for your responses. It's so interesting to hear the different opinions. I realise that doing my fastrack course is just a start to my education in sailing, and that there will be so much to learn once I am done in Sydney. But what a great experience I am having? Not just the sailing, but meeting new people, visiting new places and spending two months in the sunshine!! Who knows whether I will take up a career in sailing once I'm done (although I hope I do), but I don't for one moment think I will regret doing the course. And I promise to remember that I still have lots to learn no matter how many courses I have done!
 
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