Our aim as an educational establishment in the UK is to provide Yacht Brokers in the United Kingdom with similar opportunities to yacht brokers in the United States, who can study and prove their grasp of core knowledge essential to their profession.
The Historical Example and Inspiration
The USA organisation CPYB (www.cpyb.net) has established their National Yacht Broker Certification program; a joint effort of the Yacht Brokers Association of America (YBAA, Annapolis, MD), the Florida Yacht Brokers Association (FYBA, Ft. Lauderdale, FL) California Yacht Brokers Associate, Ontario Yacht Brokers Association and the Northwest Yacht Brokers Association (NYBA, Seattle, WA).
“In development since 1999, the yacht broker certification project objective has been to set a performance baseline for professional yacht brokers nationwide. A program ‘Design Team’ of volunteers from the three associations worked with the National Occupational Competency Testing Institute to define the industry Body of Knowledge, which lists the key areas of performance skills and knowledge required to be a professional yacht broker. The team then crafted a certification exam, comprised of 151 questions, designed to be an objective measurement of a broker’s knowledge.
“The process of determining the essential skills that a professional yacht broker needs to have was daunting,” stated Vincent Petrella, president of Hellier Yacht Sales, new London, CT and chairman of the multi-year effort. “This has never been done before, and it was both a challenge and an honor for our volunteer team to be involved in this project. I firmly believe that our efforts will result in raising the bar of performance for the yacht brokerage profession, and will greatly enhance our credibility in the minds of the boating public.”
As in many other industries, performance standards, professional training and recognition are essential tools for ensuring that the industry encourages and maintains aggressive performance goals and sound business practices. YBAA, FYBA, NYBA, CYBA and OYBA each have had in place, for many years, association mandated codes of ethics, which provide the minimum standards for ethical broker performance and which are mandatory for all brokers who desire membership in the organizations. The Yacht Broker Certification Program takes this process to a new level, providing a comprehensive method for qualifying eligible brokers who have the necessary experience, skills and know-how to be recognized as a Certified Professional Yacht Broker – CPYB.
In addition to defining the industry Body of Knowledge and creating the CPYB exam, the newly expanded Certification Advisory Council will work over the next few years to identify and develop training and education resources that will assist applicants, as well as developing new training seminars and resources that will form the basis of a yacht broker education program.”
THE WAY FORWARD in the early days for CPYBUK.
Following the example from the USA above, it was originally decided to launch CPYBUK in early June 2010, with a “Graduate Founder” program, open only to those UK Brokers who are already outstanding in their education and other ways relating to Yacht Brokerage.
Graduate Founders were to retain this privileged status for as long as they remained as members in good standing, enjoying special recognition and permanent discounts, potentially for life.
In this way it was hoped the initial members would be the best qualified to examine the initial course material and examinations. By their feedback future members should benefit and the highest possible standards be achieved.
So from now on, the rules are as follows.
(DISCLAIMER:- CPYB UK is not connected with CPYB in the USA and does not exist or operate in the USA
CPYB in the United States clearly identify theirs as a NATIONAL, not international, program leaving a clear need in the UK.)
* Fair use under United States law
The legal concept of “Test copyright” was first ratified by the Kingdom of Great Britain’s Statute of Anne of 1709. As room was not made for the authorized reproduction of copyrighted content within this newly formulated statutory right, the courts created a doctrine of “fair abridgment” in Gyles v Wilcox, which eventually evolved into the modern concept of “fair use,” that recognized the utility of such actions. The doctrine only existed in the U.S. as common law until it was incorporated into the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107. (quoted under “Fair Use” from Wikipedia)