Offshore commerical skipper!

Relief. It has been an intense 2 years completing my RYA and Trinity House Scholarship but finally, I've come out the other side of it as a commercially endorsed offshore skipper for sail and power. I couldn't have done this without my Dad and Tony teaching me how to sail when I was 12 and then so many others along the way teaching me their tricks. I have been building up to these more advanced courses since I was 15 and completed my competent crew! 

They were intense courses. The sail prep week finished with an exam from 2 pm till 2 am where even over dinner I was getting grilled about nav lights and anchoring all whilst in yet another gale! 

Information on how you can get your commercial endorsement if you need/want to drive sail/power vessels for work can be found here: https://www.rya.org.uk/training/professional-qualifications/commercial-endorsements

So, what does this actually all mean?

An RYA Yachtmaster® Offshore is competent to skipper a cruising yacht/vessel on any passage during which the yacht is no more than 150 miles from a harbor.

I have got both licenses commercially coded which means that I can use these licenses to skipper vessels on either sail or powerboats that are coded for work and be paid for it, within 150 miles offshore. 

Happy on the inside, on the outside I am terrified.

To put all of this into context...this is what I have been tested on during both exams:

"Candidates may be given the opportunity to demonstrate knowledge or competence in the areas listed below. In each section the examiner will expect to see the candidate take full responsibility for the management of the vessel and crew. The candidate will be expected to demonstrate competence based on broad experience. 

International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea Questions will be confined to the International Regulations and although candidates must be aware of the existence of Local Regulations, they will not be expected to memorise specific local regulations.  General Rules (1-3)  Steering and sailing rules (4-19)  Lights and shapes (20-31)  Sound and light signals (32-31)  Signals for vessels fishing in close proximity (Annex II)  Distress signals (Annex IV) Safety 

Candidates will be expected to know what safety equipment should be carried on board a motor yacht, based either on the recommendations in the RYA Boat Safety Handbook (C8), the ISAF Special 

Regulations or the Codes of Practice for the Safety of Small Commercial Vessels. In particular, candidates must know the responsibilities of a skipper in relation to:  Safety harnesses  Lifejackets  Distress flares  Fire prevention and fighting  Liferafts  Knowledge of rescue procedures  

Helicopter rescue Boat Handling Candidates will be expected to answer questions and demonstrate ability in complex situations and will also be expected to show a high level of expertise in:  Coming to and weighting anchor under power in various conditions of wind and tide  All berthing and unberthing situations in various conditions of wind and tide  Recovery of man overboard  Towing under open sea conditions and in confined areas  Boat handling in confined areas  Boat handling in heavy weather  Helmsmanship  Use of warps for securing in an alongside berth and for shifting berth or winding 

General seamanship, including maintenance  Properties, use and care of synthetic fibre ropes  Knots  General deck-work at sea and in harbour  Engine operations and routine checks Responsibilities of skipper  Can skipper a motor cruiser  Communication with crew  Delegation of responsibility and watch-keeping organisation  Preparing vessel for sea and for adverse weather  Tactics for heavy weather and restricted visibility  Emergency and distress situations  Victualling for a cruise and feeding at sea  Customs procedures  Standards of behaviour and courtesy Navigation  Charts, navigational publications and sources of navigational information  Chartwork including position fixing and shaping course to allow for tidal stream and leeway  Tide and tidal stream calculations  Buoyage and visual aids to navigation  Instruments including compasses, logs, echo sounders, radio navaids and chartwork instruments  Passage planning and navigational tactics  Pilotage techniques  Navigational records  Limits of navigational accuracy and margins of safety  Lee shore dangers  Use of electronic navigation aids for passage planning and passage navigation  Use of waypoints and electronic routeing  Use of radar for navigation, pilotage and collision avoidance Meteorology  Definition of terms  Sources of weather forecasts  Weather systems and local weather effects  Interpretation of weather forecasts, barometric trends and visible phenomena  Ability to make passage planning decisions based on forecast information Signals  Candidates must hold the Restricted (VHF only) Certificate of Competence in radiotelephony or a higher grade of certificate in radiotelephony. "

This was a blind nav exercise up a random river to this training ship during the prep week, woop made it! My brain was completely frazzled but I learned so much/consolidated my knowledge.
A gale!!!

Revising in the bathrooms at the marina...only private/quiet area! 

On the last morning on the yacht Pheobe, I awoke to a beautiful sunrise in Plymouth after hearing that I heard had passed.

After the long week in Plymouth, it was great to decompress and soak up the sun, sand and sea of Wembury with the Reeds and Venables :) 

Back on the power boats to convert my coastal licence to offshore!

What a stressful rollercoaster...I could have done these RYA exams in a better order and had a lot less stress with fewer ups and downs. The last RYA practical exam (I hope/think) as I've now converted my commercial power license to offshore 🥳. Instead of a gale like I've had in the last two exams, I had a fog bank instead...great times.

Thanks to everyone that's supported me with this and for Al testing me on lots of the theory beforehand! 

The Calmac ferries gave us a good show of its Christmas lights!

 Now maybe we could even hire some sailboats/large offshore vessels at SAMS for sciencing 🤓.

 If anyone's interested in applying here is some more info: https://marineindustrynews.co.uk/applications-open-for-trinity-house-rya-yachtmaster-scholarship/