Yachtmaster Offshore — fast-track or do it the long way?

I've got about 2,500 miles and three seasons on deck. Been offered a place on an eight-week fast-track that takes you from zero to Yachtmaster Offshore commercially endorsed, but it's a lot of money. Alternative is to do theory online over the winter, then just the prep week and the exam in the spring. Has anyone done the fast track with sea time already behind them, and did it teach you anything you didn't have?

With three seasons and 2,500 miles you don't need the fast track. That course exists for people with no sea time who need the mileage building as part of it. Do the theory over the winter — it's the hard part and it's genuinely easier at your own pace — then a prep week and the exam. You'll save a lot and you won't sit through a week of "this is a rope". One caveat: make sure your mileage and your qualifying passages are actually logged and signed. Half the people who fail on paperwork have done the miles and can't prove them.

Agreed. The prep week is worth doing properly though — pick a school that does it on a boat similar to what you'll be examined on, and do it in the same area as your exam if you can. Blind pilotage in a place you've never been at night is a different experience to blind pilotage where you did your prep.

Did exactly what Elin describes two winters ago. Theory online from home, prep week and exam in Palma in March. Passed. Fast track quotes I had were nearly three times the cost.