Dated:08 July 2011
Sailing Today test our RYA Day Skipper Course
The article has been reproduced with the kind permission of Sailing Today Magazine.
Duncan Kent, Guy Foan and Jake Frith bring you a variety of gear installations and tests, from the sublime to the superfluous.
Splash Sea School RYA Day Skipper theory
With the vast number of sailing schools offering numerous learning formats, it is not hard to find a course to suit. My girlfriend, Emily, and I both wanted to do our Day Skipper, but with busy schedules, had limited time.
We therefore decided that an online course with Splash Sea School would be the most flexible option and, with a long winter ahead and little in the way of free weekends and evenings, we could take our time covering the syllabus, ensuring the learning was not crammed into a week and then forgotten a short time afterwards.
The RYA Day Skipper Theory Course is a fully comprehensive introduction to seamanship skills: Progressing through chartwork, weather, tides, pilotage and on to the collision regulations, this course is for those who want to progress and develop the skills to manage and take charge of a small craft safely in daytime in familiar waters.
Getting underway
Once signed up for the course, we were quickly introduced to our online tutor, John Kelso, who would also be our assessor and source of encouragement right through to completion. Our login details were emailed to access the course syllabus, so all we were waiting for was our pack of ‘goodies’, which arrived the following morning. Like two over excited children on Christmas morning, we sat cross-legged on the floor (can still just about manage such athletic positions) diving into the bottomless sacks, taking out endless charts, books, dividers and so on. Only five minutes later, after the initial joy had passed, did we look at each other, faces slowly dropping, and realise that all this material had to be studied and memorised.
The RYA qualification is not set out to scare the novice sailor, however, and is broken down into a very progressive syllabus, starting with basic sailing language, parts of the boat, rope names, sea safety and then moves into the meatier tidal calculations and chartwork.
We both race on opposing J/109s, so often leave home at weekends in the early hours to meet again, later in the day, fighting for position up to a mark.
In addition to this, we both grew up around dinghies and parents owned cruising yachts, so the terminology wasn’t difficult, but until you own your own boat, or go on a charter, opportunities to take the helm or make decisions are very few and far between, so the nav was a fresh challenge.
The point is that without any prior knowledge I would suggest doing the Essential Navigation course with Splash first, just to learn the basics. The RYA does not require any previous experience to undertake the Day Skipper Theory course, but it will certainly help you to grasp the basics. The same with the practical. Doing the Comp Crew course first ,which is the entry level on the water certificate, will vastly improve confidence when progressing.
Course Syllabus
• Nautical terms
• Ropework
• Anchoring
• Safety at sea
• Navigation drawing instruments
• Magnetic compass
• Rules
• Buoyage
• Position, course and speed
• Charts
• Tides
• Tidal streams
• Echosounder
Download a PDF of the Sailing Today article here.