Yachting and Boating World forums: Leisure versus commercial training

Welcome Rod

I would be interested in your comments on the RYA training courses with regard to the split between what could best be described as "leisure" and "commercial" tickets.

It is my opinion that there has been a general dumming down of what is required to get a commercial ticket. I believe it is now possible to get a commercial YM after doing a 16 week course, this in my opinion is nowhere near long enough to give a true background to what might be expected of a commercial skipper.

To sight a parallel , apprenticeships (which I have also done as a fitter and turner) used to be 5 years long and at the end of it you were described as a "proving" fitter and turner and were still under the basic control of a tradesman. So you were not called a "tradesman" until you had done 7 years. During this time (7 years) you would expect to come up against most problems and were shown how to deal with them. Unfortunately pressure from government and employers reduced this time down to 3 years and you had finished and could call yourself a "tradesman" it was then found that all these newbies didnt quite cut it when let loose.

Now as an "assistant boatman" I had to do a minimum of 4 years (I in fact did 5) with fully licenced DTI/BOT boatman. In that time I learned (the practical way) the basics on how different types of hull performed under different weather / wind conditions, how diesels worked and how to maintain them, dangers of powered winches, basic fault finding on electrical systems, how to safely recover a dahn marker in strong wind a tide, VHF protocols, towing, "going foriegn" with strange boats, how to set up a boat for SAR crew recovery, when to ask your "freight" (paying passengers) when to donn lifejackets and MANY MANY more things, and at the end of this a 2-3 hours session with a DTI/BOT inspector who "tested" me.

Now I'm sorry, but I believe that this cannot be learnt in 16 weeks.

I would argue that the RYA should deal with the "lesure boaters" and the MCA should deal with any "commercial" tickets.

regards
Peter Aird
TheBoatman

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