rhinorhino
New member
Distilling some of what has been posted after I started this debate, there seem to be a number of issues here;
1. What is the purpose of the YM exam? There seem to be three main targets; as a professional qualification for the industry, as a purely voluntary learning/testing exam for the lesuire sailor and as a defence against complusory licencing. Which is the main objective? Are they mutually exclusive? Does each require the same type of exam?
2. What should the standard/s be? A number of people have proposed the test is "Would I let this candidate take my family across the channel?" is this the correct bench-mark or is a better test "can skipper any conventional yacht under say 70' on any passage not involving a ocean crossing" or something else?
3. How should this be tested? A longer exam, a requirement for unfamilar waters? Where should the pass fail line be drawn, is it really a bad thing if some people fail? The RYA seems to take more of an overall view of the candidate rather than the DSA type view, that one safety error and you fail however good the rest of your test.
3. What is the role that days/miles/years should have in the ability to take the exam? Should there be stiff minimums, higher than the current ones, this seems particularly relevent to "zero to hero courses".
4. What are the core competancies that should be required of a candidate? Sailing, motoring, command, navigation (Traditional and Electronic), passage planning or more?
These are IMHO valid questions with an important bearing on the future of sailing in the UK. Long may debate continue.
1. What is the purpose of the YM exam? There seem to be three main targets; as a professional qualification for the industry, as a purely voluntary learning/testing exam for the lesuire sailor and as a defence against complusory licencing. Which is the main objective? Are they mutually exclusive? Does each require the same type of exam?
2. What should the standard/s be? A number of people have proposed the test is "Would I let this candidate take my family across the channel?" is this the correct bench-mark or is a better test "can skipper any conventional yacht under say 70' on any passage not involving a ocean crossing" or something else?
3. How should this be tested? A longer exam, a requirement for unfamilar waters? Where should the pass fail line be drawn, is it really a bad thing if some people fail? The RYA seems to take more of an overall view of the candidate rather than the DSA type view, that one safety error and you fail however good the rest of your test.
3. What is the role that days/miles/years should have in the ability to take the exam? Should there be stiff minimums, higher than the current ones, this seems particularly relevent to "zero to hero courses".
4. What are the core competancies that should be required of a candidate? Sailing, motoring, command, navigation (Traditional and Electronic), passage planning or more?
These are IMHO valid questions with an important bearing on the future of sailing in the UK. Long may debate continue.