Complete Nump... Novice

[Marc1t]

Hi to all.
This is my first post.
To all you experienced yachtmasters or daysailors :- I am one of those people wondering up & down the quay bag of chips in hand in admiration of all the expensive yachts wondering what that rope does, what that thingy does, & wondering what its really like to circumnavigate the world in something so small. At least compared to the vast oceans of this world.
Now let me first say, My knowledge of sailing a yacht at the moment is NIL. Yes I am a complete novice!!
Having recently had a windfall I have just bought a yacht at the cost of £88,000 & will be sailing to Brazil in a few days & was hoping some of you could tell me what to do.
Admit it had you going there for a minute didn't I? But seriously, I have reached a point ware I am more secure & have the time to actually start sailing. Stay with me I'm serious about this bit
I am thinking seriously about buying a small 25ftish trailer yacht in the future in which to learn in.
Might sound like a giant leap for a complete novice? & it probably is, so I'm not going to jump into the sea feet first so to speak, but I am a 'know what I want' kind of person & I have hatched a plan.
I'm a licenced aircraft engineer by trade & lucky enough to work for a company with a yacht club owning 2 Beneteau Oceanis 37 yachts & is a recognised RYA training centre with access to training courses & exams right up to Ocean Yachtmaster. at a greatly reduced price compared to other organisations & what you lot had to pay Ha Ha!! & have made enquiries in this direction.
So my masterplan:-
1. Join the yacht club at work.
2. Gain some experience in sailing a yacht. & train towards RYA qualifications
3. Qualify (hopefully) to at least Day skipper or coastal Skipper
4. At some point between 1 & 3 buy my own boat. thinking second hand at the moment.
5. Equip it & maintain to a seaworthy or more seaworthy condition.
6. Some ware between 1 & 5 sail my own boat & the Oceanis 37 under qualified supervision gaining the required experience for 3
7. Sell said boat buy a yacht for at least £88,000 in order to sail to Brazil singlehanded (pipedream)
Easy peasy Bobs yer firkin. Will be cruising round the Solent by next weekend
Not.
So what do you think of the masterplan or have I shown myself to be a complete numpty? A bit tongue in cheek but seriously would welcome any comments discussion ideas you might have on the masterplan & how to progress as a yachtsman.
& by the way which way is Brazil?
Cheers Marc.

[Jeff]

Hi Marc! Welcome!!

Yes, you had me going!!

It sounds like a very sensible and well thought out plan. My first boat was a Westerly Centaur which I bought after doing an online course (RYA Dayskipper - highly recommended) and doing a 2 day sailing trip on a small yacht with an RYA instructor (competent crew). The Centaur is a 26 footer.

I then proceeded to sail single-handed, repeatedly. Working things out as I went along. Asking a lot of questions in forums etc.

That was 7 years ago now I think. I sit here now on a Nauticat 38 which I have lived on for the best part of 3 years while sailing the souther ocean (by which I mean the channel, around Devon and Cornwall).

I am sure, especially given your own day to day work, you will be able to achieve your plan without too much trouble. I found most things made sense and were pretty obvious after playing around a bit - except for some aspects of the navigation, chartwork, symbols shapes lights and sounds and rules of the road.

Upshot - I think if I'd done Dayskipper Theory only, and then bought a yacht, I'd have worked out the rest as I went along - I think.

You don't need to spend anything like £88k to get a boat capable of taking you to Brazil by the way.

And it's West South West, ish. Go to the Canaries, at the right time of year, and use the trade winds to take you there. I think. Never done it myself

Good luck! And keep us posted!

[Marc1t]

Hi Jeff
& thanks for the advice.
I will be joining the yacht club at work in October item 1 ticked from the masterplan.
Now Iv jumped straight to 4. at least at the looking stage, but, unfortunately some of the budget needs to go on 1,2,& 3 so my boat purchase allowance has been reduced to £87'700, & the Brazil trip is on hold. What a blow
Sometime in December I will be freezing my ***** off someware in the Solent on a RYA Compitant crew course for a few days. TBC.

In The mean time I was interested to hear your advice about online RYA training theory for day skipper, might like to go down this rout. The club do the courses, but this is set classroom time so online might be better for me being a shift worker??
I was wondering if you could give me a link to the training website you used or is it on the RYA website.
Many thanks.

Hi Marc! Welcome!

Yes, you had me going!!

It sounds like a very sensible and well thought out plan. My first boat was a Westerly Centaur which I bought after doing an online course (RYA Dayskipper - highly recommended) and doing a 2 day sailing trip on a small yacht with an RYA instructor (competent crew). The Centaur is a 26 footer.

I then proceeded to sail single-handed, repeatedly. Working things out as I went along. Asking a lot of questions in forums etc.

That was 7 years ago now I think. I sit here now on a Nauticat 38 which I have lived on for the best part of 3 years while sailing the souther ocean (by which I mean the channel, around Devon and Cornwall).

I am sure, especially given your own day to day work, you will be able to achieve your plan without too much trouble. I found most things made sense and were pretty obvious after playing around a bit - except for some aspects of the navigation, chartwork, symbols shapes lights and sounds and rules of the road.

Upshot - I think if I'd done Dayskipper Theory only, and then bought a yacht, I'd have worked out the rest as I went along - I think.

You don't need to spend anything like £88k to get a boat capable of taking you to Brazil by the way.

And it's West South West, ish. Go to the Canaries, at the right time of year, and use the trade winds to take you there. I think. Never done it myself

Good luck! And keep us posted!

[Jeff]

I used a company called "Teach-me Interactive".

They send software, charts and books etc etc and assign you an RYA qualified yacht master as you tutor.

Software was a little clunky but made the point very well. Seem to recall it cost about £250 ish.

They are (were? Not checked for 7 years, things change) a bone ride RYA training company.

Do let us know how you get on!

[Marc1t]

Thought I would post an update on the masterplan :-..............I am now a member of SOYC 'Speedbird Offshore Yacht Club' at British Airways & I am booked onto the Comp Crew course in early December. Cant wait! A friend lent me the comp crew handbook from the RYA & have studied this from cover to cover several times. For a heads up, I bought a book on Day Skipper theory, & have been studying all the info required for the course. I have learnt loads, though I havn't done any sailing yet . I guess this is ware the real learning begins?

I hope to be doing the shore base DS course early in the new year when a course becomes available, maybe I will have done some sailing by then. I Did book a cross channel trip in March, but it seems due to lack of experience, i.e. NONE I have been placed perminantly at the bottom of the ever growing list. This jolly Im told is designed for those nearing Yachtmaster OS who need the miles & night experience but I still could be on the trip fingers crossed :thumrigt: & I have bought some yachting wellies, yippee! So Iv really pushed the boat out but Iv got my eye on some waterproof sallopets on ebay.
Cheers for now more on the Masterplan blog later

[Jeff]

Good progress so far! Let us know how you find DS theory.

Hope you get on the trip!

[Marc1t]

An update on the masterplan.

I successfully completed a 5 day Comp Crew course in December in the Solent & really enjoyed it living on board & mooring in different ports each night, a full on week & I learnt loads the Skipper/instructor was excellent, especially on the last day when it blew a hooley at force 6-7 exciting stuff heeled 30' on a close haul. For me it was my first experience of handling a yacht of this size a Bavaria 36. learnt loads!

I am now booked onto a Day Skipper shore based theory course in early February, & I am pre studying from a few books.

I would welcome any advice hints & tips on the assessment/course what should I really concentrate on that might trip me up & what question am I likely to get & is the assessment easy or difficult ie do I need to study loads??
Cheers Marc

[Jeff]

Awesome stuff

DaySkipper. There's quite a lot of facts to learn but for most I suspect the 'secondary ports' and tidal vectors in passage planning are sticking points. Fortunately for me I still remembered doing vectors in maths at school and uni so the tidal effects on courses came relatively easy to me but they were still quite tough. And secondary port tide height calcs I think are prone to error because there's a good number of steps to go through... but both of these, with practice, will be fine I'm sure.

I also found remembering all the anchor types and the best bottom for them, and the weather stuff, hard to hammer home - but got there in the end.

In the end though, it really wasn't the hardest exam I've ever had to sit by a long way.

Perhaps if you start with astro navigation stuff it'll get a bit tougher. And calculating great circles etc. Neither of which I've ever done. Not needed if you don't plan to cross an ocean. Arguably not needed even if you do. But both are included in the Yachtmaster Ocean theory I think.

Have you got hold of the RYA practice chart and pilot and example questions? I just worked through those before the exam proper - which is using the same pretend locations.

Any more thoughts on what boat you might get?

[Discus]

Day Skipper theory is an enjoyable course and not too taxing. As already said, it mainly covers estimate position, course to steer, 3 point fixes, parts of the boat, tidal curves, lights and day shapes, rules of the road, buoyage and a bit of light passage planning. Once you have done a bit of sailing it all seems quite straightforward and relevant.

30' close hauled? Should have told the skipper he had too much sail up!

Good luck with it. You'll love it!

Rob

[Marc1t]

Hi & thanks for your replies.

Up to now I havnt done a great deal of sailing Just 5 days on the comp crew course the instruction was fantastic & I learnt a lot, & got some practice on position fixes. as well as all the other stuff inc man over board etc. Actually Rob ('Discus') you are right about too much sail, the instructor did make the same point at the time! When I was at the helm I was surprised how much force was required to keep the boat on course, Obviously drag inducing & tiring, a good lesson I suppose. It was at the end of the day & everyone was having fun.

Jeff! I don't have any charts or practise questions yet! I assume Ill have these on the course. By "tidal vectors in passage planning" are you referring to course to steer?
I did look at some youtube clips on secondary ports & course to steer I think I will be ok with these after a little practise.

I'm really looking forward to the course Iv been told the course instructor is extremely good. The plan thereafter is to complete the dayskipper qualification with another 5 day practical & sail as much as I can (more experience required). To take the club boats out with a crew as Skipper I will need the DS certificate. A VHF radio licence & a first aid course which I can do at work for free + a checkout sail with one of the club kipper/instructors. Something I do want to achieve.

As for the choice of boat not sure yet I'm being patient for now .
Cheers for now.










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[Jeff]

Hi Marc!

We found with all of our boats that we sailed much better with reduced sail in most conditions - except very light airs of course. Even our last very heavy boat sailed great with reefed sails. Which was fortunate as the mainsail was chopped off at the bottom by a previous owner. I think you're absolutely right that the extra drag counteracts the benefit. Also the area of sail projected to the wind is reduced of course as you heel, and it's less comfortable too, so all in all it's better to reduce sail as soon as you start heeling more than a little.... Oh but there is one benefit to lots of sail and lots of heeling - it feels awesome! (and perhaps it can be useful to raise the windward rail, to protect against spray - not sure about this one - Rob?)

Yes I was referring to course to steer. Calculated from leeway, tide and heading combined. Using 'vectors' as you're taught to do makes it all very simple. But sometimes it's hard to remember where to draw the 'vectors' starting from. For example when working out a CTS so you arrive at a particular destination the other side of a channel in which the tidal flow crosses your course, and changes direction during your passage... which I think happens in the exam. You're forced to estimate a duration for the passage before you can begin to work out CTS.

In practice it's sometimes better to steer one heading and enjoy a large 'S' to your destination. If timed correctly you'll arrive having steered a single bearing despite being swooshed up and down. We did this on passage from Milford Haven to Padstow which was an overnighter under a full moon with lots of dolphins. One bearing steered for something like 12 hours. Worked like a charm.

TTFN

[Marc1t]

"Tidal flow crosses your course, and changes direction during your passage... which I think happens in the exam."

Jeff your making things very difficult for me you know! making me think outside the box so to speak!
Which is absolutely great by the way, thank you! I feel half way to Brazil already! what would have happened if I just headed South West South ish?

Think the Southampton coast guard would be very cross.

Lol

Marc

[Jeff]

[Marc1t]

Hi all been a while since I posted
Thought I would do an update on progress of ' The Master Plan' so far.
I successfully passed my DS theory & have done about 20 days + a couple of night sails this year. So the miles are building towards the Yachtmaster coastal experience required. I've already made up my mind that I would like to take my sailing to this level.
The days I've spent at sea have been mainly training days with a couple of overnight trips with instructor skippers in the club including a days Simrad Radar training on yacht Speedbird the Benateau Ocianis.
I am booked onto the 5 day DS practical course in September to complete The DS RYA qualification. & then to qualify as a fully fledged skipper with the club I will have too do a vhf assessment for a radio licence booked early September. Then After a 'check out' sail with one of the training instructors. I can take the boat out as skipper with a crew. in the mean time got my sights fixed on a cross channel passage to France. I've been wanting to do this for ages.
I haven't even thought about buying a boat just yet, I'm getting more than enough fun on the 2 club boats.
Next update soon.

[Jeff]

Good work Marc, I'm very jealous. I am boatless, clubless and free-time-less.

Have you had more thoughts on what you might buy, now you've got a bit more experience?