YM- exam only?

[Sea Change]

Is it possible to do the Yachmaster Offshore practical exam without doing the practical course first? What about the theory?

(I have my reasons for wanting to do it this way, and I also have my reasons for feeling fairly confident in doing so)

 

[Sandy]

Yes. No need to do the theory either.

Not sure if you contact the RYA or a local sea school to book an examiner, you will need to provide boat and crew.

Good luck.

 

[Sea Change]

Yes. No need to do the theory either.

Not sure if you contact the RYA or a local sea school to book an examiner, you will need to provide boat and crew.

Good luck.

Thanks, I'm unfortunately not in a position to provide either of those things at the moment...I wonder if I could blag my way on to a spare slot at a school...?

 

[West Coast]

Confirm the answer is yes - I went this route earlier this year for YM Offshore.

I considered using my own boat and crew, but in the end I booked a week "build up" course on a sail school boat with 3 other aspiring YM candidates. The week culminated with an examiner coming on board to examine each of the candidates. Ahead of the week I studied all the required theory in my own time using books and on-line tutorials. I think this is a fairly typical approach for those of us who have been sailing for may years.

However, when joining the boat, I initially I wondered if I had made the right decision! All the other candidates had been through the various RYA day skipper, coastal and even YM coastal courses and exams, and when I let slip that I had none of these, there was more than a little astonishment from the others that I had jumped right in at this level. When the RYA type acronyms were thrown into the conversation (who knew what WOBLE stood for?) I increasingly began to lose my confidence.

But the week course was incredibly helpful and confidence building - I had the experience and knowledge, just needed some polishing in certain areas, and know how to present what I knew and what the examiner would be looking for.

So - if you can, even if you have lots of experience, would recommend a similar training week ahead of the exam.

 

[Sea Change]

Confirm the answer is yes - I went this route earlier this year for YM Offshore.

I considered using my own boat and crew, but in the end I booked a week "build up" course on a sail school boat with 3 other aspiring YM candidates. The week culminated with an examiner coming on board to examine each of the candidates. Ahead of the week I studied all the required theory in my own time using books and on-line tutorials. I think this is a fairly typical approach for those of us who have been sailing for may years.

However, when joining the boat, I initially I wondered if I had made the right decision! All the other candidates had been through the various RYA day skipper, coastal and even YM coastal courses and exams, and when I let slip that I had none of these, there was more than a little astonishment from the others that I had jumped right in at this level. When the RYA type acronyms were thrown into the conversation (who knew what WOBLE stood for?) I increasingly began to lose my confidence.

But the week course was incredibly helpful and confidence building - I had the experience and knowledge, just needed some polishing in certain areas, and know how to present what I knew and what the examiner would be looking for.

So - if you can, even if you have lots of experience, would recommend a similar training week ahead of the exam.

Thanks, good to know.
Just to fill in the blanks, I'm not a stranger to RYA courses:

PB2
Advanced Powerboat (course only)
Day Skipper Sail, Tidal (practical course)
Day Skipper theory
Day Skipper Power Tidal (practical)

Plus about fifteen years owning and sailing various boats, including an Atlantic crossing as skipper, and several years driving powerboats commercially.

I would still want to refresh and update my theory knowledge, but I'm up against time and money constraints so I'm looking to do this without having to take too much time off work.

 

[Stingo]

...who knew what WOBLE stood for?

A Google search hasn't helped. What does it stand for?

 

[Biggles Wader]

A Google search hasn't helped. What does it stand for?

West of Blighty Looks Exciting

 

[capnsensible]

Thanks, I'm unfortunately not in a position to provide either of those things at the moment...I wonder if I could blag my way on to a spare slot at a school...?

As long as you pay....

 

[Kwik Decision]

A Google search hasn't helped. What does it stand for?

Water, Oil, Belts, Look, Electrics. It's an aide memoir when checking the engine, but misses fuel...

 

[West Coast]

WOBLE - I was told it stands for Water, Oil, Belts, eLecy, Exhaust !

 

[Boathook]

Water, Oil, Belts, Look, Electrics. It's an aide memoir when checking the engine, but misses fuel...

So really a daft aide memoir if it misses an important item !

 

[wonkywinch]

So really a daft aide memoir if it misses an important item !

I was taught WOBBLE (two Bs).

W - Water (sea) strainer clear
O - Oil Levels (engine & sail drive if fitted)
B - Belts (twist 90 degrees to test tension, not up/down)
B - Bilges (clear of dribbles of oil, coolant, belt fragments etc)
L - Levels (oil, coolant & fuel)
E - Exhaust - (mixer and manifold secure and water bubble out after start thus testing the impellor)

 

[B27]

I crewed for a friend when he jumped straight in to a YM Offshore practical.
Unfortunately he failed, despite being very experienced.
A shorebased course would have made the difference.
He did pass a week later!

Personally I did a 5 day YM prep and exam, I found I had to revise a few elements of the shorebased syllabus which I 'never need to know' due to some years having elapsed since I did the theory.

Perhaps there is a middle way, like a day or two revision/prep, one-to-one with an instructor? Although you'd need crew really, as managing a full crew is a big part of it?

 

[capnsensible]

I was lucky to have coached dozens and dozens of candidates for coastal and offshore exams. Not one regretted putting in the time, money and long hours over a 5 day period. Even those who fluffed their lines on the day.....which can sometimes mean a partial resit on one or two dodgy areas.

 

[wonkywinch]

Since examiners are tested and authorised by RYA methods, it's well worth the prep course to identify and polish out any weaknesses and learn the words to the RYA/MCA tune they want you to sing during the exam.

Unlike other RYA courses, the YM prep week is specifically tailored to you so you pass the exam, it's not a standard selection of tick boxes like a DS or Coastal course.

 

[capnsensible]

Since examiners are tested and authorised by RYA methods, it's well worth the prep course to identify and polish out any weaknesses and learn the words to the RYA/MCA tune they want you to sing during the exam.

Unlike other RYA courses, the YM prep week is specifically tailored to you so you pass the exam, it's not a standard selection of tick boxes like a DS or Coastal course.

A prep week is basically the Coastal practical week without thre need to get the miles in. Lots of local stuff and night time familiarisation. Great to coach, you can really push skills along. And not use a lot of diesel!!

 

[LittleSister]

When I did my Coastal Skipper course many years ago, there were two others aboard doing alongside us a 5 day prep for the YM exam (which they were doing on the same yacht in the following days). They were both very experienced sailors and skippers - one had done a circumnavigation and much more, the other regularly skippered a company club yacht. I have no doubt that they both valued the week and learnt a great deal (including about themselves) during it.

They certainly even learnt from the other Coastal Skipper and myself, both of whom were experienced but less so and and in different types of sailing. There was no real distinction made that week between the CS course candidates and YM exam preparees (the curriculum was the same), but it was made clear that the YM candidates would be required to demonstrate skills, knowledge and judgement to a higher standard in their exam than was required of us CS candidates to successfully complete our course.

In practice we all did the same things, shared our different approaches and techniques, discussed their relative merits for particular circumstances, and added them to our personal repertoires ready for deployment if and when we saw fit. Our instructor did relatively little 'lecturing' or demonstration type instruction, but set us increasingly demanding challenges as our individual and collective capabilities developed during the week, expertly guided our learning and discussions, and added additional knowledge, techniques and warnings from time to time as we were doing things.

We were told that there was no "RYA Approved' method expected to be used for any task, rather that whatever you did needed to be appropriate to successfully tackle the task and minimise danger, and you adaptable enough to vary your approach should it initially not work, or as circumstances emerged/changed during the course of tackling it.

People had boned up before hand on various knowledge - secondary ports, variation/deviation, etc. - but what really came to prominence during the week (and I at least had not fully previously appreciated beforehand) was the importance of skippering - managing the crew, their well being, appropriately deploying and monitoring them according to their strengths and weaknesses, building team spirit, defusing tensions, etc, etc. (I often looked back with appreciation of what I learnt that week when I later became a manager in my working life.) While the skipper taking the helm on occasion was not actually forbidden, any skipper who hogged the helm most of the time was likely headed for a fall. I hadn't really appreciated how important was the skipper's personal character and their self-knowledge of it - you don't have to be perfect, but you do need to know which aspects are your strengths, and where your weaknesses lie so that you can work on and mitigate them.

This was all thrown into sharp relief when one of our number, a technically experienced skipper, suddenly completely fell apart when under his command the boat came a cropper during one exercise. This was due to him not noticing a very minor and easily made error he'd made a few moments earlier, but that wasn't the problem, it was that he was so devastated by it going wrong on his watch that he was then incapable of seizing the new situation and getting us out of it. Others had to step in and effectively take command. No harm was caused to the boat, but one ego was badly dented!

p.s. We all had a lot of fun that week, too, despite it being the depths of the British winter. All in all an absolute bargain at the price.

 

[capnsensible]

I think that's about the best summary I've read about the exam!

 

[awol]

I went straight into the YM exam on my own boat some 17 years after my shore based course. It amused my crew at least, running fixes from 1st principles, blind navigation, anchoring on an exact lat/long position and various other fun activities (I think they were taking bets). I deliberately went in totally unprepared to see if my "competence" was up to the RYA standard - apparently it was! The one pice of prior advice I had gleened was tea, biscuits and a decent meal. The most difficult part was getting the crew out of the pub after we had our one-to-one theory session.

 

[finestgreen]

Thanks, I'm unfortunately not in a position to provide either of those things at the moment...I wonder if I could blag my way on to a spare slot at a school...?

Even if you don't need the skills prep, I can't imagine jumping on an unfamiliar boat straight into the exam.