The Cumbrae Blog

Yachtmaster Instructors

Both Cumbrae yachts were out last weekend running Yachtmaster and Cruising Instructor Updates. Both boats were full, 5 people on each yacht, all renewing their Instructor qualifications. These updates come around every 5 years and provide a great opportunity for sharing ideas. Put 5 “experts” together and you will get rewarded with 15 different ways of teaching things, great for instructors the more teaching tools in the Instructor box the better

The weekend was very worthwhile, despite the rain and drizzle, plenty of discussion ensued around all things yachty. The normal environment for Yachtmaster and Cruising Instructors is to work in isolation from other Instructors working with their students on a week or weekend courses. The interaction over the weekend as well as informative was also at times entertaining as stories and experiences are shared.

Put 5 “experts” onto a boat and things just happen, no need to have to ask or explain, sails go up with just a nod, a tilt of a head towards a locker and mooring warps appear or disappear, a reef mysteriously appears as the kettle goes on, sailing on and off pontoons all just happens without a break in the banter
 

The course trainers, Cumbraes Chris Nichol and OYT’s Nick Fleming set a challenge for the Instructors to develop an exercise for use with students, bridging the gap between the old and new schools of navigation. The old school; that paper is best, use charts and pencils, GPS should not be relied on, they are the work of the devil. The New school that GPS and chart plotters are here to stay, they are reliable can be backed up by a handheld unit and GPS is much more accurate than most peoples 3 point fixing!

We discussed and designed exercises that combined the use of GPS and paper charts, This produced some interesting and informative results. The RYA is keen to combine the two schools of thought, there is a new middle school that uses both together very successfully and the instructors have now gone away with fresh thoughts and new exercises to help their students.

The only regret is that it could be another 5 years before we get to sail with such an experienced crew.

Both Cumbrae Yachts are again out this week this time not updating Yachtnmaster Instructors but training and assessing  them over a five day course, 6 candidates being put through their paces to see if they can make the grade required to become a RYA Yachtmaster Instructor.
 

By David