I don't know quite how to say this without sounding like a
chauvinistic American, but let me suggest you look at a local chart
(maybe Aus370) before making more plans.

The Whitsundays cover a very small area -- it took us only five hours
to pass them in 1997. Even the whole of the Cumberland Islands and
Northumberland Isles are only a couple of days. There are no offshore
possibilities because you're inside the Reef. I doubt that there are
any real "sea passages" done by charter companies, although certainly
you can do night sailing inside the Reef -- we did Gladstone to the
Torres Strait with only three stops.

For places outside the EU with good teaching, think about Maine, the
Chesapeake, the Caribbean, Sydney, Auckland (the area from Auckland to
Opua is far more interesting than the Whitsundays), the Drake Passage.

Or, think about getting more yacht hours as crew locally, then getting
your Inshore Skipper in the UK -- that opens up many possibilities
that would be chaeper than starting from scratch at the other end of
the earth.

Regards,

Jim Woodward
www.mvfintry.com



(skunk.co.uk) wrote in message . com...
Hi,
I am thinking of heading out to the Whitsunday islands in mid October
this year, and would like to do some AYF courses. I am interested in
the Competent Crew, Inshore skipper and possibly the Yachtmaster
Offshore Course.

Can anyone offer me any advice on this at all as far as what are the
better schools, and anything else I should consider before doing this?

I have a fair amount of dingy sailing and windsurfing experience in
the UK, but next-to-no time on yachts.

Sunsail (for example) do the courses very cheaply compared to some of
the other schools, but they seem to just be day courses, and other
companies do more expensive 'sea passages' where you get to spend 4-5
days and nights aboard. I will be on a budget, but if I am going to
need to spend extra money paying to log extra hours outside the course
in order to become qualified these longer sea passages seem a good
idea.

Thank you for any advice you may be able to offer me...

Tom

email :
web : www.skunk.co.uk