RYA Day Skipper Theory Course

[hoppy]

I'm looking at doing the RYA day skipper or the coastal skipper theory course (distance learning) and just wonder if it matters which RYA training centre I should choose? Are there good and bad centres or are they pretty much the same?


At the moment I am not sure whether to do the day skipper course of jump to the coastal skipper. The day skipper sounds very basic but the last time I did any real navigation was 20 years ago. For the last 2 years I relied on a GPS in my sports boat and I'm not sure how much I have forgotten and what they expect

[s/v Moondancer]

All RYA courses follow the same curriculum and there should be no difference centre to centre and all centres are audited by the RYA

If you are experienced and need a theory navigation refresher just do the Coastal Skipper course. You will probably benefit most from the tidal theory part...you can't really use a GPS to get you into a secondary port with 6 inches under your keel.

I used BOSS Sailing Schools - British Offshore Sailing School UK for all my practical courses, they are excellent.

[hoppy]

Thanks

Originally Posted by s/v Moondancer

If you are experinced and need a theory navigation refresher just do the Coastal Skipper course.

The more I look at the curriculum for the day skipper the more I think I should bypass it. I'm sure I'll struggle at first with the CS course, but I have all winter

[Talbot]

Hoppy,

The Costal Skipper theory is also the yachtmaster theory. Thus your knowledge will not just be tested on navigation, but also on rules of the road and weather. with distance learning, your success is achieved less by the quality of the material, and more by the level of effort you can give to the course.


I took this course at the local university, but found the following to be of great value:

Rules of the Road, lights and signals training book

There is a similar book on basic chartwork

Both of these have been used by the Royal Navy to train their young deck officers.

I also found the flip cards tremendous value when learning with someone else.

[goboatingnow]

The day skipper and coastal theory courses are very different. The day skipper actually is on a boat and you must actually do practical examples of the theory. I now many people that have passed Coastal Theory and could not pass their day skipper. Also The day skipper cert is a real practical cert and can be used to get an ICC or to charter over seas.

Secondly of you want to do a theory night class, skip the coastal one and do the Yachtmaster Offshore theory. Its alomost identical syllabus, with a bit more concentration on certain subjects.

[Talbot]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

The day skipper and coastal theory courses are very different. The day skipper actually is on a boat and you must actually do practical examples of the theory. I now many people that have passed Coastal Theory and could not pass their day skipper. Also The day skipper cert is a real practical cert and can be used to get an ICC or to charter over seas..

Sorry you are wrong

There is a Day Skipper Practical which is in acordance with your post.

But there definitely is a Day Skipper Theory, which is a shore course designed to teach people the basics of IRPCS and navigation. for example

Frequently, the schools offer combined theory and practical weeks for the Day skipper courses.

Otherwise known as the Dazedkipper course.

The Dazedkipper practical course does entitle the successful sailor to an ICC certificate (International Certificate of Competence) and this is issued free for UK Royal Yachting Association members. If you are not a member, the cost equates to one years RYA memmbership!

[Onedaysoon]

Just to confirm what Talbot said; there is most definitely a seperate Day Skiper theory and practical course. I took both last year in Australia and I did the theory over five continuous days, rather than going to evening classes for a couple of hours every week for about 12 weeks. I think that many schools give this option.

I found the theory course to be pretty straightforward as I too already had some experience, albeit more limited than yours perhaps. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the course and did discover a couple of things of value that I wouldn't necessarily have found out just from reading books. Having said that though, why don't you get the RYA books "Navigation Handbook" and "Navigation Exercises" to make sure you're on top of it all. I found the handbook to be well written and clear and the exercises were very useful. I've just checked the Exercise book and it actually says that some of the exercises are used to complement the Coastal Skipper shore-based course.

[Cacique]

Day Skipper or Coastal Skipper Theory can be done in the UK at most Secondary Schools or Universitys at Night School and really quite economically. I don't know if any are available in your country but I would certainly check, If you are unsure at which level to start have a quick conversation with the Lecturer as they will be happy to advise, at out College they really try to get 100 percent pass rate even to the extent that the lecurer gave one student 1 to 1 coaching prior to the exam.

[bitman]

i just did my coastal skipper tidal practical but never did any theory school. just studied the books my self. but i do sail for some years...

since you are sailing for many years, my advise is buy some good yacht master books and do your theory exam and then do your yacht master practical and skip all that day skipper / coastal skipper stuff as you might fall asleep. since i bet you can park / night sail / pilot / make knots / know the rules of the road etc.

i only did that coastal skipper because i wanted to sail an ovni for a week.

[goboatingnow]

Sorry I didnt say there wasnt a day skipper theory course. I may have misread the OP original post as he mentioned the "day skipper"course and not the day skipper theory course.

In my opinion ( and I am a RYA trainer). If you want to do a night course and while away some time over a dark and dreay winter, then just do the Yachtmaster Offshore Theory. There no real point in doing the other theory courses.

[QUOTE]since you are sailing for many years, my advise is buy some good yacht master books and do your theory exam and then do your yacht master practical and skip all that day skipper / coastal skipper stuff as you might fall asleep. QUOTE]

Actually you dont need to to do teh theory exam at all to do the practical. However if you want to take the YM offshore practical, I would reccomend a 5 day YM preparation course. That way you do the actual type of excercises that a YM instructor will ask you to do. Because how many of you have done say a blind navigation excercise with no nav electronics. Note the prep course isnt an RYA one, its usually run by the training centre

[bitman]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Because how many of you have done say a blind navigation excercise with no nav electronics.

i did this by only using the depth sounder, compass, tides and charts sitting down below with no outside vision and instructing the helms man the course to steer

following this method we safely arrived at our destination