Coastal Skipper

[ecsrobin]

Hello all I'm currently an RYA day skipper and eventually looking to progress to Coastal skipper. However here's the problem, I haven't sailed in 3/4 years prior to that I have clocked only about 4 weeks in total and that included competent crew and day skipper courses plus my VHF radio licence course.

I have recently moved back to the coast (Solent) and so want to get back into something I really enjoyed but how should I go about it? I obviously need a refresher to sailing as such but not sure where to look. All my previous sailing was with the military so I would turn up on a Monday morning meet 7 random people and then sail with them for a week and it was great fun. Is there anything similar now I'm a civilian?

Then the intention is to carry out a coastal skipper shore based course over the winter. Any recommendations on a training centre within Hampshire?

[ecsrobin]

Anyone able to assist?

[JeremyH5]

I'm astonished you haven't had any suggestions. I don't have local knowledge but can offer two possibilities for information.

Firstly try Yatching Monthly's Scuttlebutt at http://www.ybw.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?16-Yach...

Secondly the Tallships Youth Trust have 4 of Chay Blyth's wrong way round Challengers, see www.tallships.org

Good luck!

[ecsrobin]

Thanks for the reply, looks like the tall ships trust is very much what I was after just need to see what dates are available for leave in the new job.

[hidetheelephants]

YBW is not bad but you might be best googling to see if there's a Solent-specific crew forum; there's one for the Clyde and people looking for crew and those looking to crew get sorted out quickly, given how much busier the Solent is you shouldn't struggle to find a sail.

[albatross]

I did my Yachtmaster theory at the Royal Southampton, Brian runs it every year and I also did my day skipper with him previously. I also used SWAC a fair bit over the years, they are good too.

hope that helps?

[wilwak]

I have a few boats friends who say these were very good for their courses...

http://www.solentboatcharters.com/rya-training-cou...

[petop]

If you dont mind going to darkest Dorset (Poole) try Moonfleet Sailing.
Run by ex Forces (Inf but i dont hold that against him).
May even give you discount but dont tell him i said it.
No conflict of interest apart from the fact he is my old man.

[Fishtigua]

There are crewing opportunities at the Royal Southern and many other yacht clubs on the Solent.

http://www.royal-southern.co.uk/Afloat/Crew-Regist...

[ecsrobin]

Fishtigua said:

There are crewing opportunities at the Royal Southern and many other yacht clubs on the Solent.

http://www.royal-southern.co.uk/Afloat/Crew-Regist...

Registered, thank you for the link that's right next to the RAF yacht club where I've been previously.

[DH01]

Why CS ? The syllabus /exam for YM is only slightly more involved. If you think you can do the CS, you can do the YM .

Ask what the differences are, you'll be surprised. The training places love training for trainings sake .

[markmullen]

DH01 said:

Why CS ? The syllabus /exam for YM is only slightly more involved. If you think you can do the CS, you can do the YM .

Ym demands more qualifying miles though. I've got sufficient for YM/C but not YM/OS so even though I've got YM Theory I'm a bit away from Offshore.

[DH01]

True but it's self certifying. It soon becomes apparent to the examiner if you're competent or you're telling porkies ! Having sailed in the military the OP should be fairly competent.
I turned up for my YM practical with reams of log books and was crestfallen when the examiner just said, 'I don't want to read that drivel, I'll soon see if you know your onions ' ! He promptly wedged himself in the corner of the cockpit and went to sleep, or so it appeared , until lunchtime. At lunch he said, ' well , you didn't wake me up so it must be going well ! And on we continued.

[ecsrobin]

DH01 said:

Why CS ? The syllabus /exam for YM is only slightly more involved. If you think you can do the CS, you can do the YM .

Ask what the differences are, you'll be surprised. The training places love training for trainings sake .

To be fair I never looked at it like that, I know they are all voluntary qualifications however I also like the fact that I do have an RYA qualification.

The biggest issue will be hours for me so I need to do some hours building. I registered on the royal southern and I have had a gent contact me so when I get to my logbook tomorrow I can provide him with more hours details with the hope of getting some refresher training and miles building.

I'd happily go for YM but without checking my logbook I think I'm a way off the mileage. Whereas if I complete coastal that halves the requirement and I would have the correct amount of sea time. However all completely irrelevant if I manage to build up experience this summer.

[ecsrobin]

So checking my logbook,

I have 19 days, 483miles tidal, 12 hours at night with 2 days in command and hold my short range VHF certificate so I need to obtain 300 miles and a first aid certificate over the next year which should be easily doable for coastal skipper.

[maser_spyder]

DH01 said:

True but it's self certifying. It soon becomes apparent to the examiner if you're competent or you're telling porkies ! Having sailed in the military the OP should be fairly competent.
I turned up for my YM practical with reams of log books and was crestfallen when the examiner just said, 'I don't want to read that drivel, I'll soon see if you know your onions ' ! He promptly wedged himself in the corner of the cockpit and went to sleep, or so it appeared , until lunchtime. At lunch he said, ' well , you didn't wake me up so it must be going well ! And on we continued.

This was basically my experience too.

The miles are not mandatory, they're a guideline for experience but are not essential. Don't get too hung up on taking an exam on mile 2001 just because that's what the website says you should do.

A good week's cruising could see you covering 3-400 miles, why not do a bit of charter and get out on your own at some point?

[ecsrobin]

Cheers for everyone who's posted so far, some really helpful advice.

I would love to do a charter but would like to get out on the water with an experienced crew to refresh myself first but agreed a few hundred miles can be achieved quickly and hopefully all my skills come back to me quickly.

I posted on one of the crew wanted pages last week and I'm happy to say I've been contacted and I'm meeting up this week so hopefully all goes well.

[maser_spyder]

ecsrobin said:

Cheers for everyone who's posted so far, some really helpful advice.

I would love to do a charter but would like to get out on the water with an experienced crew to refresh myself first but agreed a few hundred miles can be achieved quickly and hopefully all my skills come back to me quickly.

I posted on one of the crew wanted pages last week and I'm happy to say I've been contacted and I'm meeting up this week so hopefully all goes well.

If you can manage it, an off-season charter in Croatia or Greece or somewhere might be ideal. No tides, so it's just boat handling and basic navigation. A nice way to get back in to it!

[ALawson]

Do YM theory and then CS or YM practical to suit whatever you are comfortable your log book shows.

There are plenty of online YM courses which work pretty well and depending upon your circumstances let you miss sessions in a classroom that you might not be able to attend.

[markmullen]

ALawson said:

Do YM theory and then CS or YM practical to suit whatever you are comfortable your log book shows.

There are plenty of online YM courses which work pretty well and depending upon your circumstances let you miss sessions in a classroom that you might not be able to attend.

If you can manage the time for it I can recommend a classroom session for YM theory.

I did Dayskipper theory online and whilst I learnt the syllabus and passed the test when I did Yachtmaster theory in a classroom I learnt far more from the asides and conversations with the instructor and my fellow candidates, stuff which wasn't on the syllabus but was really useful. The instructor had run yacht companies, charters, all sorts, one of my fellow candidates was a commercial diver, the other drove pleasure boats on Skye, and I am the coxswain of a rescue boat. We all had different experience and learnt from each other.