|
Mileage Builders
When "trainees" have done a practical sailing course, it is desirable to take part in a yacht sailing experience that is not a course. A holiday trip for example.
There are a number of special types of sailing experiences that are not courses. Crossing the English Channel, for instance, is a special type of experience - being a part of a crew and travelling to another country. Whilst rewarding, this type of experience may well be a very expensive way of doing something fairly simple, like visiting France.
If you make progress within the RYA sail cruising scheme, you may find that you wish to take one of the assessment examinations, to gain a Coastal or Yachtmaster qualification (for example). In each of these cases there is a minimum distance (at Sea) which you should have experienced, 2,500 nautical miles in the case of Yachtmaster. These "miles" should be recorded in your logbook.
So a trip we organise, descibed as a "mileage builder", is intended to help you add miles to your log book. It may involve you "working in watches" if the yacht was to sail for 24 hours non-stop. This could mean you gain night hours as well. It could be that you need the experience of being in charge of the yacht for a passage exceeding 60nM. A Yachtmaster candidate needs a few of these! If we know your capabilities and are confident about them, we may put you "in charge", acting as "skipper" for a part or all of the voyage.
Is this for me?
Perhaps a mileage builder is not suitable for a first trip to Sea.
You ought to have at least completed a RYA Day Skipper practical course, although we may be happy to take you if you have "Competent Crew". It really depends upon there being sufficient experience within the crew, for us to expect that the yacht will be safely navigated, 24 hours a day.
Check out the details of the trip to see if there is any "pre-trip experience" required. A qualified Yachtmaster Instructor will be going with you.
Coding of Yachts
The Marine and Coastguard Agency have been taking action against companies offering sailing experiences and adventures that have been taking people to Sea in yachts which may not be safe. Each "coded" yacht is inspected annually to the appropriate code of practice and a certificate is issued for a particular category of water.
A yacht properly equipped and certified for, say, to ten miles offshore, would not be suitably equipped for crossing the English Channel, whereas one certified to sixty-miles from any safe haven, would. The yacht certified for sixty-miles from a safe haven would not necessarily pass an inspection for a yacht intending to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
Please be assured that 1st Watersport will never Charter any yacht for your Sailing experience which is not properly "coded" and inspected for the category of waters that we are taking you on.
|
| |
