As part of my RYA Trinity House scholarship, I went to Hamble school of yachting to complete my yacht master theory course.

On day 1 I turned up at 9, ready to learn. I met all the other sailors, I was the youngest by about 30 years and the only girl 😦 I found it a bit hard to relate to them, but soon realised I wasn’t out of place in terms of actual knowledge. We started off with an introduction to the course by our wonderful instructor Jake. Then we got straight into buoyage and collision regulations. This included lights and day shapes, the IRPCS (rules of the road at sea) including sound signals when making way or towing in low visibility. At the end of the day, we were told to revise what we had learnt and cover some practice questions. After going out for fish and chips I did just that.

On Tuesday, we talked through different publications you need onboard, Notice to Marinas and the Mercator projection. We went through radio procedures and compass calculations, and then we worked through some practice questions. We got started on chart work, position fixing, tidal streams and interpolation of springs and neaps. We would learn one section and then have a go at some practice questions before moving on to the next topic. We then had 3 hours of homework, I am dyslexic and my brain was starting to hurt from the overload of information so I went for a walk by the water before getting started on the homework, but soon realised I had no desk in the B&B and so had to make do. I emptied the wardrobe to find a flat service at desk height that worked just perfectly.

Wednesday we covered more chart work including a course to steer for 1 and multiple hours. Project estimated position, running fixes, more tidal calculations and secondary ports. We spent the afternoon doing practice questions and revising what we’d already covered. Then we went on to cover electronic navigation, AIS and radar. I got a message from a friend and arranged to meet up after. She asked how everything was going and we had a hot chocolate together. It was really nice to see a familiar face, as I was feeling a bit lonely and slightly out of my depth. It was great to have some reassurance and I felt more confident after that. My boss and a couple of people I work with were down to do a day skipper/competent crew course. They were moored for the night in Hamble and invited me over for dinner. It was nice to see them and have a look around the boat.

Thursday morning was the chart work exam for 1.5 hours. It was definitely hard but went better than I was expecting. We had a break before covering safety equipment and procedures. Our next exam was passage planning so we looked at creating an appraisal for the exam tomorrow. by this point I had made friends with some of the other sailors and it was nice to be able to compare our different approaches to the questions.

Friday we had the passage planning exam, which consisted of 2 parts. We started off as we always did by going over the homework, and then we spent about an hour covering safety at sea before attempting part 1 which was 2 hours with questions on our plan, what decision we would make and why. The paper was not too difficult but I found myself running out of time. I was very glad for a break, some fresh air and lunch before part 2. This exam I found more difficult, I found the questions were more binary A or B, but for some things, I simply did not know the answers. The exams were difficult but I was glad they were over, I now had just the IRPCS exam and I was pretty confident. My head was so full I found trying to revise really difficult so I instead watch a bit of tv and set my alarm early intending to do some revision first.

I had the revision cards and spent about an hour going over them in the morning. I arrived at class and we went over some of the past exams, where each of us had gone wrong and what should be done differently in the future. I then attempted the IRPCS exam, I found this the hardest exam of all. The questions of who was standing on and giving way were easy but my mind was blank when it came to sound signals in fog and some of the lights even. We had a break then each went in for a private talk with the instructor, for me, my weaknesses lay in IRPCS at night and low visibility and just not rushing on questions. Occasionally I had misread the questions or used the wrong date for tidal calculations, simple mistakes but that meant my end answers were incorrect. As much as I had struggled I had done just enough to receive my certificate, I was honestly super proud.