"Bart" wrote in message
...
On Oct 24, 10:22 pm, OzOne wrote:

I have indeed sailed the Solent....when it was slightly less crowded,
and agree wholeheartedly with all points.
If only they could do something about the food and the weather :-)

I was fortunate with the weather. The food
Is life threatening!

I enjoyed the "finding unlit buoys in the dark
part--I nailed that one. The key is to use back
bearings and pick easy to see ones, and have
several cross bears that are easy to pick out.
There were lots of tricky stuff in the exam like
an off-station buoy and a harbor approach with
a sector light out. I glad I had tons of night
sailing experience because that was the bulk
of the exam.

I have to go. More later.

Bart, I think you are talking about the Yachtmaster Offshore certificate
which includes all that sort of stuff, not the 'Ocean'..
Having got the 'Offshore' qualification, to qualify for 'Ocean' you then
need to pass an additional exam in astro navigation and then submit a log
showing that you have successfully completed a 500 mile nonstop ocean
passage.
Since I took the 'Ocean' astro navigation exam many years ago I have no
doubt that the syllabus has been expanded to take account of the various
electronic aids available these days.