SAILING COURSES

Making the transition from participant to sailor is far more accessible than you think! The Royal Yachting Association (RYA) run many courses designed to cater for the absolute beginner to the Yachtmaster Ocean.

Whilst you are sailing with us we will be delighted to pass on tips and advice to those wanting to extend or to begin their seamanship knowledge. This understanding can then be formalised into practical and theoretical exams, which will eventually allow you to come back and skipper one of our yachts yourself.

Each course takes the form of a five-day cruise. You will live on board the yacht and will be involved in all aspects of cruising – from keeping a look out to washing up.

Competent Crew

This is for beginners and those who would like to become active crewmembers rather than just passengers. Most courses start in the evening to give the new crew a chance to settle in and find their way around the boat before setting sail the next day. The instructor will give a full safety briefing before the passage but virtually all the course is hands on. You are the crew and without you the sails won’t go up and the boat won’t be steered.

A particular pleasure of this course is the way that total strangers start working together, making their yacht look smart and sail efficiently. By the end of the course you should be able to steer, handle sails, keep a lookout, row a dinghy and assist in all the daily routines on board. You should also have visited some interesting harbours and anchorages and had an enjoyable holiday.

Day Skipper

The Day Skipper practical course is for aspiring skippers who have some yachting experience and basic navigation and sailing ability. If you are concerned about your sailing ability, the best way to learn is on a RYA Level 2 dinghy course. You should be able to sail around a triangular course and control boat speed. If gybing is still a surprise you need more practice. Navigation can be learnt by attending the RYA Day Skipper shorebased theory course at one of the 1000 centres throughout the UK and abroad.

Each trainee skipper will be asked to skipper the yacht on a short passage. The instructor will be on hand to give advice and encouragement, and to ensure that your destination is reached safely. The essential element is that you experience being in charge, taking the credit when all goes well and also being responsible when it doesn’t. The end of each day is usually spent around the chart discussing the passages and gaining from each other’s experience.

It is at this point you will have your formal qualification, but not the experience, for chartering with GBR Yachts. To gain this pre-requisite you would be invited to join our charters as an assistant skipper over a two year period. This will allow you to grow in confidence and seamanship in the sailing waters around the south coast. At the end of this period you will undergo an assessment of competency which if passed will allow you to skipper your own party on a bareboat charter.

Coastal Skipper

This is an advanced skippering course for yachtsmen and women who have considerable knowledge of sailing and navigation and are usually aspiring towards a Certificate of Competence. Most schools will expect you to have attended the Coastal Skipper/Yachtmaster Offshore shorebased theory course since your practical instructor will not have time to teach you theory during the week. Coastal Skippers should be able to undertake more difficult passages by day and night and handle the yacht in more demanding situations.

By the end of the course you should have the knowledge, if not the experience, to become a Yachtmaster. The course, like the Day Skipper, consists of skippered passages by each of the trainees in a whole variety of situations. It adds up to a satisfying but intensive week.

Yachtmaster

The definition is: “a yachtsman or woman competent to skipper a cruising yacht on any passage that can be completed without the use of astro navigation”. In practice, this means coastal and cross-Channel passages.

As any yacht skipper will tell you, those passages close to land or across shipping lanes are the most difficult, particularly if the weather is rough or the visibility poor. A Yachtmaster needs a wealth of knowledge not only to cope with plain sailing or motor cruising but also to be able to cope when things go wrong.

What experience do I need before the exam?

The RYA Sail Cruising Logbook (G15) and Motor Cruising Logbook (G18) include the full requirements and syllabi. Remember, the examination is essentially a test of ability to take charge of a yacht so your experience as skipper is the most important. The mileage requirement is quite high and encourages candidates to sail in a variety of weather conditions to a variety of harbours and anchorages. A Yachtmaster should be able to enter any well-charted harbour for the first time, with sufficient depth, by day or night.

The only way to gain confidence is by practice, particularly at night when skill is required in picking out navigation lights and buoys against a background of shore lights.

Before taking the exam, be more adventurous than the usual weekend trip to your favourite anchorage. For example, try some new harbours that require a good knowledge of tidal heights. Attempt the occasional night entry and be aware of the problems. Most Yachtmaster examinations involve some night sailing.

Do I need any other RYA certificates before the exam?

Before the exam you need the restricted (VHF only) Radio Operator’s Certificate or Short Range Certificate (SRC) and a First-Aid Certificate. The logbooks G15 and G18 list which certificates can be accepted. You stand a better chance of passing if you have attended previous RYA courses, but these are not essential.

For further information log onto to the RYA’s website www.rya.org.uk