YM Practical

[Twister_Ken]

Re: Chart in Cockpit on YM Exam or any other time

>Why not scan, print (A4) and laminate any useful sections of chart or pages from the pilot?<

Breach of copyright might be one reason!

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[DeeGee]

CONFIDENCE...

Surely, if the test is to be meaningful - to you, apart from anyone else - you should do whatever you usually would do. Either you are or are not up to the mark.

This business about charts in or out of the cockpit - goose and ganders stuff. Do what you would otherwise do under the circumstances, which would be quite different negotiating a tight estuarial passage vs an overnight across the Channel.

All you need to do is be CONFIDENT in your own ability. If you don't have that, ask for your fee back and do it next year.

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[Badger]

Re: CONFIDENCE...

Seeing someone trying to read a wet chart flapping around the cockpit and wrapping round his head in the wind does not inspire confidence in the crew or examiner.The pilotage plan should be worked out and prepared ahead of time and used to confirm visual evidence as it comes along. with rough headings, buoys, transits, lights etc.If something seems awry then nip dowm below consult the chart and come back up quickly.This is the seamanlike approach IMHO.It takes 2 minutes to nip down below and check something. I have never been on a yacht in my life anywhere including Brittany etc where there was a chart in the cockpit.

I think you will find it is actively discouraged by RYA instructors.

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[NigeCh]

The point was not about the examiner ...

but the examiners qualification to qualify.

Each and every YM exam is a unique experience for both for the examiner and the examinees.

It's up to the Examiner to determine whether the examinees are up to the task.

IMO, having crewed with RYA bits of paper recently 'qualified' crew then I'd say that what they think they know is not worth a candle ....

It's no reflection on the RYA for what they are doing, but a reflection on us all for thinking that an RYA qualification is a piece of paper that says that a paper qualified person is a person fit to sail with.


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[ericw]

Hi agn !

2 other points I've remembered :

1) when u nip down below to use the heads, be ready for a MOB ! May surprise u, but actually happened on my practical exam to another candidate and is quite a legitimate test given the prevalence of Sod's Law in sailing !

2) don't skipper from the companionway steps - my examiner commented to the same candidate as mentioned above that the yacht was not a U-boat, so didn't expect it to be skippered as if it were - i.e. skipper from the stern and delegate a decent helm !

Good luck agn,

Eric.

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[Cornishman]

Thanks for the compliment!
There is a lot of good advice here already. Twister Ken's short and pithy remark about hogging the helm is spot on.
Because the exam is over a relatively short period of time inevitably there has to be some game playing, so play along with it and think things through to their logical conclusion. As I am about to retire after too many years have passed me by I can give this example away now. You are just about to leave the safety of the enclosed waters of your home port under power when the examiner says in a loud voice "BANG", at the same time one of your crew, previously briefed, will put the engine out of gear. The examiner then explains you probably have a large piece of rope or plastic wrapped around the propeller which has brough the engine to a halt.
To play the game properly I would expect you to seek, under sail, either an unoccupied buoy or an anchorage in order to sort the problem out. More than one candidate has not played the game and has hoisted sail and continued on their way to make a cross Channel passage. ( I then ask what he would do in the TSS if the wind died)
Difference between Co Sk and YM? Take a look at the different experience requirements for taking the exam in your G.15 and that is what the examiner will expect you to demonstrate.
Remember that if the yacht is equipped with radar, gps, electronic chart plotter etc you will be expected to demonstrate how to make full use of them. Don't do it the 'hair shirt' way unless he (oops, or she) asks you to.
Charts in cockpit? If there is the slightest chance of the chart getting wet, or blown away (!), leave it on the chart table. Construct a set of pilotage notes from your pilot books and chart and then you should be able to enter anywhere. If you have a copy of the Shore Based Theory Course note book there are good examples there on how to do it. Pilotage in the almanacs is rarely detailed enough, so make sure you have a "proper" pilotage book on board.

Good Luck - make the examiner welcome and feed him well and you are well on the way to passing. Be confident, and try not to let your nerves show. The examiner fully understands the stress you are experiencing and should make a small allowance.

And don't forget to give a full report on how it went here afterwards. I'm sure everyone will be interested.

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[Badger]

Nige,

<I told him that he was an arsehole and ordered him below >

You never told us whether you passed or not ?

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[Twister_Ken]

Re: CONFIDENCE...

Ah well, if you do insist on using those big flappy charts...

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[NigeCh]

Bermuda June 2002

Kitchen Shoal to North East Breakers. Wind South F6 to F7. And then trying to work out the how to get to get the layline to St Davids Head lighthouse ....

A chart in the cockpit was a necessity.

 

[webcraft]

Re: Chart in Cockpit on YM Exam or any other time

Yes Ken,

So it might . . .

But I would have thought this constitued 'reasonable use' provided it remained on the boat with the original and was not distributed in any way.

Of course, in the case of the UKHO the word 'reasonable' is not applicable when it comes to their copyright, so if I was bold enough to do this with any Admiralty charts I might worry about that 4am knock on the washboards . . . a wee box of carpet tacks comes in useful here.

Seriously, as far as I am concerned, if I have bought something and wish to transcribe it into or onto a more useable medium while retaining the original then I will do so and not lose any sleep over it, and I doubt if the CCC will either.

- Nick



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[Badger]

Antigua 1996

Left Antigua heading for the Azores.Borrowed chart from US boat and photocopied section on Hamilton as we thought we might pop into Bermuda on the way.Failed to spot Bermuda at night so kept going to Azores.No need for chart in cockpit at any time.

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[Aja]

Re: Chart in Cockpit on YM Exam or any other time

Nick

I 'inherited' the original 1971 CCC 'chartlets' from my father. These were originally produced before the Sailing Directions were given a facelift and when the 'Blue' book was still around.

There are 50 chartlets, A3 size and are the same as are in the Sailing Directions now - only on a larger scale.

I copied my dads, laminated them and punched a hole in them. Held together with a bit of string.

The rocks are still in the same place, but bouyage has totally changed (black and red in those days!).

Dont use them all the time, but are handy for places you havn't been before.

Donald

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[NigeCh]

And that\'s proof of the pudding ....

as to why YM is only as good as it is.

How could you miss Bermuda ???? .... But then I once missed Horta

 

[NigeCh]

Re: YM Practical thread

Let's assume that you've read all the posts. They are all over the place, but they all agree that YM practical is a doddle.

Just be yourself and take command. Don't worry when the YM examiner throws something daft at you. Think about it for a couple of minutes and then work out what he's trying to say. Don't be fazed - reactly slowly and deliberately.

At all times be in command and then excercise command.

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[Badger]

Re: And that\'s proof of the pudding ....

Nige, its really low lying and difficult to see and the vis was not good.(plus we weren't looking that hard)I think secretly we didn't want to use the dodgy photocopied chart.

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[duncan]

Re: Chart in Cockpit on YM Exam or any other time

I think you wil lfind that most charts are copy protected now, in the same way as money, unless you are using an old scanner/photocopier.
I only know this second hand - from someone returning my Solent portfolio!

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[tome]

We have a little routine onboard for anyone hogging the companionway. They are gently told that only fools and admirals stand in the companionway, "and you're not an admiral, are you?"

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[webcraft]

Re: Chart in Cockpit on YM Exam or any other time

I'm intrigued, Duncan . . .

I can scan, photocopy or photograph banknotes quite successfully using any scanner, photocopier or digital camera.

The results are unlikely to fool anyone, but then that's not why I would want to photocopy an A4 section of chart and laminate it, is it?

What on earth do you mean?

- Nick

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[NigeCh]

To be truthfull ....

Doing my 1st transat westbound ex Horta I almost missed it too !!!! It was only hearing Bermuda Harbour Radio in extremis that guided me south. Those were pre-GPS days and the problems with plastic sextants.

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[tome]

Cornishman

Point I made about being put under pressure should also be expanded. There's a well respected local examiner of Scots origin who tested us. During the night sail I was first skipper and had to take the boat with 'casualty' from Portsmouth to Northney where an 'ambulance' was waiting. Instructions were to sail the boat as fast as possible by the most direct route.

Now Northney is my home port (though I didn't let on) so I had a token look at the chart and gave the helm a course which I knew would take us to the harbour entrance. As a back up, I stole the occasional glance at our GPS latitude underway to make sure we kept South of the West Pole beacon.

The examiner berated my choice of charts and kept telling me to re-check my depth calculations, with a fair bit of effing and blinding. The penny dropped and I realised what he was up to, did the same sort of thing to the other two candidates when their turn came and one of them was a nervous wreck at the end of the night.

Point is that every examiner has their own way of doing things and this chap liked to get the leadership bit out of the way. After it was all over he admitted that this was the way he worked. Incidentally, he taught us a couple of great tricks.

Just thought this worth explaining in case YMRookie gets similar treatment or the same examiner.

Regards
Tom

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