AntarcticPilot
Well-known member
East Anglia Sea School at Suffolk Yacht Haven were well able to accommodate my previous experience in a day's own boat tuition to get an ICC. I was in a similar position to you - I was a professional geographic information specialist, so my understanding of navigation is probably well above average! And I was pleased to see a) that the instructor proved my understanding by questioning and b) was willing to learn when I used a different technique to the one he knew. My main problem is things that require rote learning; lights and signals are my bugbear!I had a similar situation. I did the ICC assessment and theory examination with these guys on their boat in Cardiff. All done in one day and a good experience. Private Tuition
I found the RYA schools I talked to pretty inflexible. They wanted to sell their set courses and did not recognise experience and Merchant Navy Navigating Officer qualifications meant that sitting through hours of theory tuition and a multi day assesment was not necessary.
Perhaps most embarrassing was demonstrating my ability to turn the boat in her own length under power - it was only necessary because she failed to turn the right way as I reversed out of the berth!
One thing that's a bit unrealistic in own boat tuition is that because there's a knowledgeable, capable crew member on board you can do things that you wouldn't try with just husband and wife