YACHTMASTER OCEAN - Shorebased Course (Residential on Sula)

This is the RYA's most advanced shorebased course for navigation and seamanship, and is geared towards the RYA Yachtmaster Ocean qualification (the highest yacht skipper qualification in the RYA's scheme).

A substantial proportion of the course is devoted to the use of the sextant for position fixing (aka astronomical, astro or celestial navigation), as this is a relatively complex procedure to master. The course also covers world-wide meteorology, route and passage planning, passage making and communications.

We provide a six-day residential course covering the full syllabus, and including actual practice in using the sextant and performing real sight reductions. The course is held on Oyster 55 Sula. Sula possesses a spacious saloon "classroom", shore power for computer-based visual aid display, and full facilities for staying on-board.

We take a highly practical approach to this subject, concentrating on what the yachtsman needs to know in order to safely undertake an ocean passage. Sula is a good example of a highly capable ocean-going yacht, and we take advantage of this by examining the on-board systems, communications and safety equipment.