Welcome W


hether you are undertaking this course in a classroom or online this is your opportunity to learn some of the skills required to skipper or become a more useful crew member of a small vessel. Your instructor, online or in person, will introduce you to the principles of paper- based and electronic navigation, safety and seamanship and keep you updated about your progress throughout the course.


Upon successful completion of the exercises contained within this booklet, and successful completion of the assessments, you will be awarded the RYA Day Skipper/ Watch Leader Shorebased certificate.


I wish you every success with your course and many enjoyable years out on the water.


Richard Falk FRIN


Director of Training and Qualifications Syllabus


The complete RYA Day Skipper/Watch Leader syllabus is printed on pages 4 and 5 and details the topics which will be covered as part of this course.


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• Get into the practice of annotating the time zone whenever you write a time e.g. 1232 UT. This avoids simple errors and makes it easier to go back and check your answers.


• Read the scale on the Training Charts care- fully. It may be helpful to pencil in the increments on the latitude and longitude scales to help you read off them more accurately.


• Before setting the plotter, work out in your head the approximate angle and direction of the line you need to draw. This should help to avoid plotting lines in the wrong direction!


• Measure twice, plot once! Navigational precision


At sea it is often impractical or even undesirable to work to high levels of precision but at times the safety of the yacht depends on precise navigation and accurate calculations. Work- ings and answers should therefore adhere to the following guidelines:


• Depths to one decimal place e.g. 5.7m (metres)


• Times rounded up or down to the nearest whole minute and written with the time zone e.g. 1429 UT or 0703 DST


• Distances to one decimal place e.g. 4.3M (miles) on Chart 3 and two decimal places e.g. 4.65M on Chart 4


• Latitude and longitude to two decimal places e.g. 46°05’.25N 005°55’.59W 3 Assumed prior knowledge


You are not expected to have any experience of navigation or meteorology but some practical on-the-water experience is desirable.


Duration


This course requires a minimum teaching time of 40 hours plus time for homework, revision and the final assessments.


Please help us to improve the course by completing our online feedback form: www.rya.org.uk/go/course-feedback


Tips for completing the exercises • Read each question thoroughly before making a start on the answer.


• Work neatly and methodically to help embed the processes that you are learning. This will also help your instructor review your calculations and your level of understanding.


CONTENTS Contents


Introduction Syllabus


Exercises:


Safety and seamanship Chart familiarisation


Tidal heights and tidal streams Chartwork: Position fixing


Using Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS)


6 8


10 12


14


Route planning with a chartplotter 15 Buoyage and pilotage Course to steer Meteorology


Passage planning Collision regulations Passage making


Where do you go from here?


Environmental guidance for boat users


Guide to RYA Training Charts


16 17 18 19 20 21 22


23 24


Page 2 4


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