In article , OzOne wrote:

On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 11:50:21 +1100, Peter Wiley
scribbled thusly:

Nobody I know has a yachting cert of any type so who cares, really? In
Australia it's pretty much for people who want to go racing. Everyone
else just goes sailing.

PDW

Nah, actually it's not.
It's for people who like a bit of paper to show to their friends.

OK, I stand corrected. You do racing & I don't. I thought that for
offshore racing there was a requirement for a certain number to have
done 'Competent crew' and the like, though, and was assuming the
skipper had to be the holder of some piece of paper. Am I wrong on this
one too? Pure idle curiosity here, mind you.

My guys have to hold limited coxwain at least because our boats are
under survey. Power boat licence isn't good enough. We all might go do
the full coxwain course at the Maritime College in winter, God knows we
have the time up. This year it's refreshers in first aid, survival at
sea & firefighting at sea. Lotta fun.

Glorious weather here atm. Pity I have to finish building my house but
the toy sailboat mast is in my shop while we TIG weld bits to it. It's
3" shorter than it used to be but apart from having to shorten the
stays that won't matter and it saved my buying a new one.

Maybe February I'll have more free time, probably come up to Sydney in
March.

Peter Wiley