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RYA Training Centre

 Centaur Sailing RYA Courses by distance learning: High quality tuition at reasonable cost
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A step-by-step guide to our distance learning courses
  1. Choosing your course provider
    1. Be sure the course provider is approved by the RYA. You can check on the Royal Yachting Association website, simply put a tick against 'offer Distance Learning courses' and click the 'search' button to view the multi-page list.
    2. Compare prices: our slogan 'High quality tuition at reasonable cost' really says it all, we strive to offer the highest quality tuition that it's possible to get. All our full-support courses cost £220 each and all our no-support courses cost £120 each. Our courses are conducted by e-mail and the notes are supplied on a CD-ROM allowing students to study when not connected to the internet.
    3. Compare quality: It is important that you feel you can learn from a course provider's materials, here are the instructions for the use of our plotter as a sample of our course materials.
    4. View testimonials: See what students have said about their Centaur Sailing experience: RYA Day Skipper course, RYA Coastal Skipper/Yachtmaster Offshore course and RYA Yachtmaster Ocean course.
    5. Centaur Sailing doesn't subscribe to "fast-track" methods and students seeking just to acquire a certificate, with less regard to the acquisition of firmly founded skills and knowledge, are likely to find that a Centaur Sailing course is unsuitable for their needs.
    6. When you've chosen your short-list of course providers, why not talk to them on the telephone to help you make your final choice? Telephone free to 'Centaur Sailing' (as the 'Full name') on Skype or call 07970-646885. Making a free 'video call' using Skype allows us to 'show you' while we are talking just as if we were face-to-face in a classroom. We are normally available from 1000 to 1700 (Zone 0, i.e. UK time), 7 days a week. Although we prefer telephone contact for answering enquiries, we can also be contacted by e-mail: centaursailing@gmail.com.
  1. Choosing your course
    1. View the official syllabus on the RYA website for: RYA Day Skipper, for RYA Coastal Skipper/Yachtmaster Offshore and for RYA Yachtmaster Ocean courses.
    2. RYA Day Skipper is our entry level theory course covering inshore passages that are within sight of land (approximately 7 miles from shore), i.e. in familiar waters during daylight. Students receive:
      1. Centaur Sailing's Day Skipper CD-ROM providing 387 pages of notes and exercises requiring approximately 59 hours of study and practice to extract the most benefit from the course. The notes are provided in 'pdf' format suitable for both Windows and Mac computers,
      2. RYA Training Charts 3 and 4 (Northern Hemisphere) in paper and electronic versions. The electronic version doesn't work on a Mac computer.
    3. RYA Coastal Skipper/Yachtmaster Offshore is the advanced level course for anyone wishing to extend their knowledge of navigation to include offshore (up to 12 miles from shore for Coastal Skipper or 150 miles for Yachtmaster Offshore) including night passages for both. Students receive:
      1. Centaur Sailing's Coastal Skipper/Yachtmaster Offshore CD-ROM providing 442 pages of notes and exercises requiring approximately 63 hours of study and practice to extract the most benefit from the course. The notes are provided in 'pdf' format suitable for both Windows and Mac computers,
      2. RYA Training Charts 3 and 4 (Northern Hemisphere) in paper and electronic versions. The electronic version doesn't work on a Mac computer.
    4. RYA Yachtmaster Ocean is another advanced level course for anyone wishing to extend their knowledge of navigation to include ocean passages using astro-navigation, i.e. anywhere in the world irrespective of the distance from shore. Students receive:
      1. Centaur Sailing's Yachtmaster Ocean CD-ROM providing 370 pages of notes and exercises requiring approximately 62 hours of study and practice to extract the most benefit from the course. The notes are provided in 'pdf' format suitable for both Windows and Mac computers,
      2. RYA Yachtmaster Ocean course book containing extracts from the Nautical Almanac 1980 and AP3271 Sight Reduction Tables.
  1. Ordering your course
    1. View the 'Place your order here' page of our wesite. Please note that we now only ship course packs to addresses with a UK postcode.
    2. A marine course plotter is also needed to be able to complete your course. It is an optional extra because students often already have one.
    3. Before finalising your order please view our term & conditions.
    4. We will acknowledge receipt of your order and if it and the payment are received before midday on a normal working day, it will be shipped that afternoon and an e-mail sent to advise it has been shipped. Otherwise your order will be shipped on the next normal working day. If there is a problem which may cause delay we will contact you.
  1. Also required (from other sources)
    1. Technology based: a personal (Windows or Mac) computer with a CD-ROM drive; a broadband connection to the internet; e-mail facilities; if you don't already have a copy of 'Adobe Acrobat Reader' on your computer, you can be download it free of charge; a printer, for proformae and if you want the notes printed on paper for retention; a scanner (or a digital camera).
    2. RYA Training Almanac (Northern Hemisphere), a fictitious almanac designed specifically for RYA Day Skipper and RYA Coastal Skipper/Yachtmaster Offshore shorebased theory courses (not required for Yachtmaster Ocean). The latest edition is available direct from the Royal Yachting Association's shop.
    3. Admiralty Chart 5011, the reference book for the symbols and abbreviations used on Admiralty charts, i.e. those used for RYA shorebased courses. The latest edition is available direct from the Royal Yachting Association's shop.
    4. More traditional “tools for the job”: we recommend a pencil-holding compass for drawing erasable arcs on your charts (Google: 'Weems & Plath 1049 Professional Brass Pencil Compass' to find a supplier); a 2B pencil (gives a good bold line which can easily be erased and therefore is kinder to your charts); a soft eraser (white is kindest to your charts), the hard or brown types of erasers aren’t very successful on charts and can ruin them; a pencil sharpener.
  1. Assessments & certificates (included in the cost of a course)
    1. When study and completion of the exercises for all the modules of the course have been completed, we ask students to send us an e-mail to ask for the mock assessment paper(s).
    2. Mock assessments are conducted by e-mail using 'Acrobat Forms'. This means that you can sit the papers at home or even on board your boat. We will never short-change a student's best interests and allow final 'real' assessments to be undertaken without having first received feedback and advice from mock assessments which provide a useful focus for final revision.
    3. Just like the mocks, final 'real' assessments are conducted by e-mail using 'Acrobat Forms' but they need to be invigilated, e.g. by a relative or friend. If you are enrolling on Coastal Skipper, or a Yachtmaster course and are planning to work commercially on super yachts over 24 metres LOA, the assessments have to be invigilated under special conditions by a RYA Training Centre, we'll discuss these 'special conditions' with you when returning your marked mock assessments. If not, you can sit the papers at home or even on board your boat, however to retain their validity as assessments they need to be completed and submitted to us for marking within 48 hours of the time shown in the e-mail sending them to you.
    4. For Day Skipper there are 2 assessment papers: chartwork and a general paper covering the rest of the course. For Coastal Skipper/Yachtmaster Offshore there are 3 assessment papers: chartwork, meteorology and collision regulations. For Yachtmaster Ocean there is just 1 assessment paper, covering everything!
    5. On achieving the required standard in all the assessments for your course we will: award your genuine RYA/MCA satisfactory course completion certificate and send it to you by first class post to the address we have on record for you, we will also send you a 'Congratulations' e-mail to let you know that your certificate is on its way to you.
  1. Consolidation and gaining experience
    1. We recommend John and Helen's Wetstuff for your practical course. E-mail to info@wetstuff.org.uk. Telephone +44 7811 407777. If you do not get through to them, they ask that you leave them a message and they will get back to you as quickly as they can.
    2. Gain experience and sea miles afloat in good company with BRASSY.org ~ Basingstoke & Reading Association of Social Sailors & Yachtsmen welcome people with a mutual interest in sailing.

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