TopCat Cruising School and Seanavigate.com

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Recognised School

Catamaran Familiarisation courses

INTRODUCTION TO THE RYA NATIONAL CRUISING SCHEME

This brief guide to the RYA courses will give you an idea of how they fit together and how you can use them to build on your experience.
Competent Crew (practical). If you have never sailed before, then this is the course for you. After a minimum of 5 days on the water, you will have learned basic seamanship and helmsmanship and you will be a useful crew member on any yacht.

Day Skipper (shore based). An introduction to navigation, meteorology and basic seamanship. It is very helpful to have some practical experience first, but not essential. 
Also available on CD as a correspondence course

Day Skipper (practical). If you already have basic navigation and sailing ability and have completed 5 days at sea (including 4 night hours and 100 miles) and you actually want to be in charge, you would be looking at taking this course. During a further 5 days at sea, you will learn basic pilotage, boat handling, seamanship and navigation, after successful completion of this course you could skipper a small yacht, by day in familiar waters and good weather.
Diesel engine course (shore based - 1 day). This course teaches you the principles of diesel engine operation, basic maintenance and hot to diagnose and correct faults. These skills are essential if you aim to skipper a small yacht at sea.
Coastal Skipper / Yachtmaster Offshore (shore based) This course covers offshore and coastal navigation, including pilotage and more advanced meteorology. You should already be able to navigate to Day Skipper standard.
Also available on CD ROM correspondence course please call, email or see www.seanavigate.com 

Coastal Skipper (practical) For this course, you should have completed at least 15 days at sea, including 2 as skipper, logging 8 night hours and 300 miles. You should be able to navigate to Coastal Skipper shore based standard and sail to Day Skipper practical standard. The course teaches skippering techniques for coastal and offshore passages. After successful completion, you will have the knowledge to  be able to skipper a yacht on offshore passages by day and night.

RYA / Department Of Transport Certificates of Competence

 Yachtmaster Coastal. To become an RYA/DoT Coastal Skipper, you can take an exam at the end of a Coastal Skipper practical course. You must already have logged at least 30 days at sea (2 as skipper), 800 miles and 12 night hours. You also require a VHF licence, a current first aid certificate, and two passport sized photographs.
Yachtmaster Offshore. There is no RYA course for this exam, but we do run intensive Yachtmaster preparation weeks, with the aim of honing down your skills and getting you used to the boat and her crew. The instructor will tailor the course to your needs. To take the exam, you must have logged 50 days at sea, Done 2500 miles, 5 days as skipper, 5 passages over 60miles, including 2 overnight and 2 as skipper. You must also hold a VHF licence and a current first aid certificate.

Booking Form & Prices

To contact TopCat e-mail to : Jim Duerden (Principal)

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Last modified: January 05, 2010

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