RYA Level Two - Basic Skills
By the end of the course, the successful sailor will be safety conscious, have a basic knowledge of sailing and be capable of sailing without an instructor on board in light winds. It will be assumed that every student starting this course has already mastered the practical skills and absorbed the background knowledge required for Start Sailing Level 1. Both courses can be combined.
Trained instructors, using appropriate supervision ratios with regard to the location and stage of instruction will give tuition. For courses run in dinghies, the ratio of students to instructors should not exceed 6:1 when using single-handed dinghies or 3:1 in crewed dinghies.
In dinghies or multihulls, capsize recovery will be conducted in a controlled way, one boat at a time, with a suitable rescue boat in attendance.
Practical work will be assessed on a continuous basis though an oral interview or short written paper may be used as the basis for theory assessment if required. Students will be kept informed of their individual progress throughout the course.
SECTION A: PRACTICAL
Rigging:
- Understands how to rig according to weather conditions.
- Able to reef ashore
Ropework:
- Can tie a bowline, clove hitch and rolling hitch
Sailing techniques & manoeuvres - understands the basic principles of the following:
- The Five Essentials - sail setting, balance, trim, course made good and centreboard*
- Leaving and returning to a beach, jetty or mooring
- Coming alongside a moored boat.
Knows basic rules of the road:
- Power/sail, port/starboard, windward boat, overtaking boat.
- Aware of lee shore dangers, sailing in close company with others and man overboard recovery.
Launching & recovery:
- Has knowledge of dinghy storage ashore, launching and recovery.
- Able to paddle a sailing dinghy and row a boat around a short triangular course, come alongside and make fast.
Capsize Recovery:
- Has practical experience of one method and knowledge of one other procedure.
Racing:
- Understands the course and starting procedure. (May be covered as onshore teaching)
MULTIHULL SAILORS ONLY:
- Understands the basic principles of crew weight, airflow, technique (C.A.T.)
SECTION B: SAILING BACKGROUND
Sailing theory & background - has knowledge of:
- Points of sailing
- No Go Zone
- Basic aerodynamic theory - how a sail works
- Sea sailing - basic advice for inland sailors; local tide tables, tidal sequence springs & neaps, ebb & flow
- taking local advice
- The effects of wind direction and tidal flow on sailing conditions
- Speed over ground with/against tidal flow
- Estuaries and harbour mouths ? conditions and hazards
- Informing someone ashore
- Inland sailing - basic advice, local bylaws, permits, overhead power lines, locks and weirs.
- Aware of the dangers of hypothermia and knows importance of first aid training, particularly in cardio pulmonary resuscitation.
Meteorology:
- Knows sources of weather information, weather & shipping forecasts, when to reef.
- Understands Beaufort Wind Scale.
Clothing & equipment:
- Knows importance of personal safety, clothing & buoyancy, boat buoyancy & basic equipment (anchor, paddle, bucket, bilge pump if fitted).
- Emergency equipment & precautions
- Knows importance of first aid kit, stowage and use of flares, visual methods of attracting attention, action to help those in distress.
SECTION C: COASTAL (OPTIONAL):
- Capable of practical application of meteorology, and Section A in coastal waters.
- Able to anchor, (keelboats only) sail using transits.
- Understands how to apply weather forecasts in coastal waters.
SECTION D: EXPERIENCED SAILOR'S ONE DAY ASSESSMENT:
- The candidate must present logged evidence of at least a full season?s sailing experience. He will satisfactorily complete the whole of Section A and shall, while afloat and ashore, satisfactorily answer questions on Section B. Candidates seeking assessment on coastal waters will demonstrate a proper knowledge of Section C.