On occassion since uni I’ve commented on how much of a relief it is/was that my, albeit unintentional, career path was one which didn’t require exams – given that there are so many of you still doing exams ten years on, with a couple of years to go in some cases!  The working life has been kind to me in that respect and, for the mostpart, my out of hours time was my own, there certainly wasn’t homework, there may have been the odd midnight summons to the office to save a situation, but that was all fun – when something comes out of the blue you either know it or you don’t – very different to knuckling down and studying when everyone else is out having a nice time.

How unexpected then to find myself in this boat (pun intended) now.  I hope it won’t be three years of exams before I can work again, there’s certainly a number I have to pass before I can apply for work – and thereafter re-evaluations on a routine basis.  As someone who was never very good at exams, I definitely didn’t think this part through when I made this life leap!

Since the world of sailing is one away from finance and engineering – where most of my friends seem to belong – I’ve had some questions about the path from here.  So I’ll try to explain a bit; with a huge upfront caveat, it’s a learning curve for me too, the below may well contain errors!  This is my understanding of what is required of me from here to hit the cusp of working in this world.

I got my Competent Crew and Day Skipper certificates back in 2009 and 2010 (anyone who came to Val Thorens with us in 2010 will remember my great dislike of tides, yes I did my coursework in Val Thorens.  Sailing and apres ski!).  I’m now attempting the Yachtmaster Offshore shorebased, which is completed ahead of a practical – there’s also a seperate practical in the middle, Coastal Skipper.  The coursework and exams are the same for both, however, the prerequisite for Yachtmaster is 2500 sea miles – of which I’m at about 800.  For this reason I’m being a bit bold and doing a ~four week passage in October.  This will get me the missing 1700 miles, but will be a huge step mentally too – having never spent more than eleven straight hours on a yacht before (I’ve never had to use yacht facilities, suffice to say it’ll probably be 36hrs before I eat or drink anything!).

If I achieve my Yachtmaster Offshore I can then look at getting my cruising instructor licence, after which I can try to get a job – if successful I’ll no longer be living off the sale of my City shares.  Fortunately, Tenerife is more affordable than London, so I have been able to give myself six months to get back into employment.  Whether I require – and how to get – more experience as well as school weeks and the passage before I am employable remains to be seen…..

In the meanwhile I’ve done a couple of other exams, one to get my short range radio licence and another pair so I can be commercially endorsed.  I’ve been trying to study 5hrs a day 5-6 days a week, and having got 96%+ in these exams I’m feeling happy that something is going right.  Obviously it would be very appealing to just sunbathe on my terrace every day – but that’s not why I’m here.  And the sun doesn’t set until 9pm at the moment, so there’s still plenty of daylight for a little terrace time after working my hours.

Next step, therefore: the Yachtmaster exams, and these things have a 90% pass mark….  I’ve completed the required coursework, but was temporarily scuppered when the tutor asked my invigilator to send an email to confirm my exam conditions; invigilator?  The cats aren’t very good at emails.  Where’s Kim when I need her?!

Whatever happens, I leave for the passage late September and I’m certainly in a small amount of denial, but what’s for sure is that if I manage – and dare I say, also enjoy – the passage, then I’m going to put my all and everything into passing that Yachtmaster Offshore practical.

Optimism + Fear + Determination = ?