Shorebased


Coastal Skipper/Yachtmaster Offshore Shorebased Packs 2017


W


hen you receive the revamped Coastal Skipper/Yachtmaster


Shorebased packs for 2017, you may notice a change in style for many of the questions. There is an expectation that this may change the way instructors teach certain topics, and the depth of teaching required.


The syllabus The syllabus is detailed on pages 86 to 99 of the Yachtmaster Scheme Syllabus and Logbook (G158). Further guidance is provided in the Yachtmaster Scheme Instructor Handbook (G27) and the instructor shorebased pack for the course itself. These sources stipulate 40 hours of teaching time, plus additional hours for homework and assessment papers. The new pack contains more questions to push deeper into the syllabus and work up to students making skipper-like decisions, rather than being solely a memory test. The duration of the course remains unchanged, and depth of knowledge (denoted by A, B, or C on the syllabus) is as before. If you have become used to shorter days and less than 40 hours of teaching time, now is the time to set the standard back to where it should be.


The progression Students attending a Coastal Skipper/Yachtmaster Offshore Shorebased course should have knowledge to the level of the Day Skipper shorebased course and, in an ideal world, this would be combined with some sea-going experience. Prior knowledge should be established at the point of booking, and each new exercise will start with some revision questions. For example, the Day Skipper syllabus requires a full knowledge of Rules 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12-19 from the IRPCS. These can be revised on the Coastal Skipper/Yachtmaster Offshore Shorebased course, with teaching time given to the other rules and annexes.


Questions at the end of


the exercise and in the final examination could then be on any part of the IRPCS. With only one hour of the 40 hour minimum given over to IRPCS, this example highlights how understanding the progression, and the importance of screening for pre-requisite knowledge is vital in order to deliver most aspects of the course. When delivering the course, consider using revision questions (either those in the exercises, or perhaps your own) as a way of establishing what your students already know, and which areas they may need to revisit. Most exercises/questions will be mandatory for completion as part of the course, with the addition of some optional elements that can form homework or act as further learning tools.


Vaughan Marsh Chief Instructor, Sail Cruising and Shorebased


E-mail: vaughan.marsh@rya.org.uk Tel: 023 8060 4182


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Seamanship and situation awareness Good decision making and good seamanship go hand in hand, and the foundation of our classroom teaching is to cover the underlying facts, principles, background and processes required to make good decisions on the water. Whenever we head out on a voyage, we are faced with numerous variables and many different sources of information, all with their own unique characteristics. One of our roles as RYA Instructors is to increase the situational awareness of our students and help them make sense of all of these information sources. Following the Endsley theory of situation awareness, we have three main stages: » Gathering data (ie. what happened, where are we?) - Perception


» Understanding (ie. what does this indicate/mean?) – Comprehension


» Projecting ahead (ie. what will happen next?) – Projection


If we take the subject of weather, relatively straightforward questions can be designed to test perception, for example: What is the name given to this


type of cloud?


What weather phenomena are associated with these clouds? An answer of ‘ahead of a cold


front’ is a correct answer but equally (and perhaps more usefully) a description of the weather or indicators to be expected as the cloud approaches and passes would be of more use in practice. The level of situational awareness, and therefore knowledge, has progressed a stage further – the student has demonstrated they can recognise a cumulonimbus cloud (perception), and linked this with particular weather (a move towards comprehension). From a seamanship perspective,


we are getting there. However the final stage is more powerful, as we can explore the deeper understanding of what other factors they would look for to confirm their understanding of the overall situation. We can ask related questions such as: You are in a busy shipping area.


Does this weather situation have any impact on your application of the col regs? Their answer should show they


The answer of ‘cumulonimbus’ identifies that the student has grasped some underlying facts. However, on its own it is of little practical application at sea. The comprehension stage can be established by asking a more open question, for example:


appreciate that navigating near areas of restricted visibility means Rule 19 applies and sound signals should be sounded (Rule 35). Nav lights should be shown in restricted visibility. These questions require the candidate to project the implications of what they understand to be happening. It is critical to good decision making that they correctly identify the relevant facts, and then interpret them for what they are. So, whilst our first question in isolation didn’t have an immediate practical application, it was a cornerstone of the later questions, which correlate to actions. Projection questions are usually open, and can therefore be subjective, and difficult to mark but they are also powerful tools for teaching theoretical seamanship.


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