Yachtmaster Ocean is earned at sea. The oral exam examines a passage you have already made, and the passage has rules: non-stop, at least 600 miles, at least 96 hours, at least 200 of those miles more than 50 miles from land or charted navigational objects, on a yacht up to 500 GT, as skipper or mate throughout, fully involved in the planning, navigated by sextant along the way, and within the ten years before the exam. Australia's geography makes some routes ideal and rules others out.
Why most coastal passages fail
The 200-miles-more-than-50-miles-from-land rule is the one that catches people. Sydney to Hobart is 630 miles and takes most cruising yachts four or five days, but the route runs down the New South Wales coast, across the eastern edge of Bass Strait and down Tasmania's east coast; for most of it the yacht is within 50 miles of land. A careful route standing well out into the Tasman can accumulate the offshore miles, but examiners look closely at the track and you should not rely on it. Brisbane to Cairns, Fremantle to Exmouth and Adelaide to Melbourne have the same problem.
The passages that work
| Passage | Distance | Season | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bundaberg, Brisbane or Southport to Noumea (New Caledonia) | 750 to 850 miles | May to July out, October back | The standard Australian Ocean qualifier. Trade-wind sailing, 5 to 7 days, with a large fleet departing with the winter rallies. The return in October is the reverse and also qualifies. |
| Sydney to Noumea | About 1,050 miles | May to June | Longer and more exposed at the start; watch the East Coast Low season. |
| East coast to Port Vila (Vanuatu) | 1,000 to 1,100 miles | May to July | Often sailed via Noumea, which would break the passage; the direct route qualifies. |
| East coast to Fiji | 1,500 miles or more | May to June | A serious passage; 10 to 14 days. |
| Sydney or Brisbane to Opua or Auckland (New Zealand) | 1,100 to 1,300 miles | Shoulder seasons, typically November or May | The Tasman is not trade-wind sailing; fronts and lows cross it constantly. A demanding qualifier that examiners respect. |
| Darwin to Ambon (Indonesia) | About 600 miles | July to August | Right on the limit; plan the route to satisfy the distance-from-land rule across the Arafura and Banda seas and expect scrutiny. |
| Fremantle to Bali | About 1,400 miles | May to September | Trade-wind sailing north of about 25 degrees south; 10 to 14 days. |
| Fremantle to Cocos (Keeling) Islands | About 1,600 miles | June to September | Remote, long and superb; the Indian Ocean crossing begins here. |
| Hobart to New Zealand | About 1,200 miles | Summer | High-latitude Tasman crossing; rarely sailed but qualifies. |
Being in a responsible capacity
You need not have been the skipper. Sole charge of a watch qualifies, but "sole charge" means exactly that: you were the person responsible for the yacht during your watch, making the decisions, not one of three people on deck under someone else's direction. And you must have been involved in planning and preparing the passage: the route, the weather strategy, the yacht's material condition, stores and spares, the crew. Examiners ask about this in detail. Turning up at the dock to crew someone else's fully planned passage does not qualify, however many miles it covers.
The sights
You must plan, take, reduce and plot either a sun-run-meridian altitude (a morning sun sight run up to a noon latitude) or a sun-run-sun (two sun sights separated by a run), and check the compass by a celestial bearing (amplitude at sunrise or sunset, or an azimuth). Do it more than once. Keep every sight form, every plot and the log pages: they go on the examiner's table. Do the Ocean theory course before the passage, not after, so that you know what you are doing when the horizon is there and the sun is out.
Finding a berth
If you do not own a boat, the winter rallies to New Caledonia and Vanuatu and the Darwin to Indonesia fleets are the best sources of crew places, and owners often want an experienced watch leader. Deliveries to and from New Zealand are another. State clearly when you sign on that you need to be a watch leader involved in planning, and that you will be taking sights; most owners are happy to accommodate a serious candidate.
What to write down
Keep a detailed personal log alongside the ship's log: the planning decisions and why, the weather as forecast and as experienced, sail changes, problems and fixes, your sights and their reductions, positions by GPS for comparison, crew and watch arrangements. The narrative you must submit 48 hours before the oral exam is built from it, and the oral exam is a conversation about it.
Questions people ask
Does a passage sailed years ago on a friend's boat count?
If it was within the 10 years before the exam, met the distance rules, you were skipper or mate throughout involved in the planning, and you took and worked sights that you still have, yes. If you did not take sights, it does not qualify for the Ocean certificate no matter how long it was.
Can the passage be on a catamaran or a motor yacht?
A sailing catamaran up to 500 GT is fine for the Sail certificate. The Motor scheme has its own Ocean certificate with equivalent rules for motor yachts.