It is one of the responsibilities of the Board of SOYC to monitor the safety standards within the club and to ensure that skippers operate the boats in a safe and sensible manner for the enjoyment and security of every crew member. The IYS is primarily to develop good practise in boat handling under power and sail with good safety awareness at all times as we sail our boats alongside professional mariners in an environment which is increasingly regulated by rules and legislation.
As the few problems which we have within the club involving skippers skills are almost always related to a lack of practise and not to a lack of ability, the IYS, rather than being a regular sailing course as such, is two days of practise or updating of skills during which the comprehensive agenda of mandatory items (ref to pages 2 and 3) can be practised or discussed and skippers can be brought up to date on club procedures and boats equipment.
Skippers on the club list are required to attend a two-day IYS course every two years. However, the course is suitable for any member from complete novice to Offshore Skipper and is facilitated by an RYA instructor-qualified member of the SOYC Training team. The facilitator will structure the IYS course to suit the attendees "on the day" and will include the technical items if these are requested. These technical items constitute the SOYC Boat Systems training module, the emphasis being upon "knowing your boat".
As part of the clubs duty of care policy the course will confirm that a reasonable level of competence is displayed by the attendees and it follows that any gross discrepancies between skills demonstrated and level of skipper appointment held would be advised to the Board of SOYC.
Please click here to make a confidential safety report
