Of the many different series of courses available around the world, the most recognized is the Royal Yachting Association’s learning scheme. This is for many reasons including the history of boating but I’ll avoid boring you on the details. The main reason is that the higher levels can be commercially endorsed by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) in the United Kingdom. If your goal is to do deliveries or work on sailboats, the commercial endorsement is a must.
Where to Start?
The first course in the RYA path is called Competent Crew. The level it will bring you up to is one of understanding the basics of how a sailboat works and the main systems.
The minimum duration for this course is 5 days long. Different schools will offer it in different ways but there is normally the option to either go through 5 days all at once or do three weekends in a row. This allows the first course to be accessible without eating up your vacation time at work.
Here is a list of the subjects you should be covering for the Competent Crew level:
- Sea terms and the parts of the boat
- The rigging and sails
- How to handle sails
- Ropework
- Fire precautions and fighting
- Personal safety equipment
- Man overboard drills
- Emergency equipment on the boat
- Meteorology
- Seasickness
- Helmsmanship
- General duties
- Manners and customs
- Rules of the road (COLREGS)
- Dinghies
What's the Next Step?
The short answer is Day Skipper. This is where things get a little more complicated as there is an additional theory portion to be fully certified. It is strongly recommended to do the theory portion first as you will be able to get a better experience out on the water after. I recommend going through NauticEd for the course. It allows you to do it from home when you have time and it is super easy to follow. They also have great tools that will help you better understand the theory behind the Day Skipper shorebased class. If online classes aren’t your thing or you just want the official book you can pick it up on Amazon.
The theory portion covers a lot and really gets you from being a crew member following the captain’s orders to being a skipper in nice conditions. Once you reach this certification level you will have a good knowledge of the following subjects:
- Weather and sea conditions
- Electrical systems
- Auxiliary power
- Standing and running rigging
- Rules of the road (COLREGS)
- Slip departures and returns
- Sail trimming
- Communications
- Navigation
- Tides and currents
- Passage planning
- Anchoring and mooring
- Emergency situations
Once you have your certificate for the RYA Day Skipper Shorebased class, you’re now ready to get out on the water and put it all in practice. At this point, your class will most likely resemble the format of the Competent Crew one. For those of you that want to get the certification quickly, a 5 day course will be ideal while a three weekend class will be better for the weekend warriors. On this course, there is a minimal age of 16 years old to be certified. So what’s included in this “on the water” class?
- Preparation for sea
- Deck work
- Navigation
- Pilotage
- Meteorology
- Rules of the road
- Maintenance and repair work
- Engines
- Provisioning
- Emergency situations
- Yacht handling under power & sail
- Passage making
- Night cruising
When Your Sailing Starts Getting Serious
So you still like sailing and want to keep getting certified? This is where casual sailors normally start doing more miles on their own. In usual RYA style, the theory or shorebased portion comes first before getting out onto the water. The difference is that the theory for the Coastal Skipper level is the same as the Yachtmaster Offshore. It means it is a little more challenging. To do this course, Navathome offers it online if you want to get it done slowly here and there. If you want a good reference book, I recommend the Yachtmaster for Sail & Power. The paper version isn’t the cheapest but the Kindle version is reasonable and who wants a stack of books on a boat anyways? What you can expect to cover in this course is:
- Charts & positions
- Electronics
- Positioning
- Tides
- Pilotage
- Navigation
- Weather
- Buoyancy & stability
- Anchoring, mooring & berthing
- Passage planning
- Safety & survival at sea
- Communications
- COLREGS
- Bends & hitches
Once you have your theory certification, there is one more thing to do and that is to make sure you have enough mileage accumulated. Before the course, RYA requires 300 nautical miles. If you’ve done your Day Skipper class you should be fine. After going through all of that you will be certified to skipper a yacht on coastal passages in the day and at night.
The Last Series of Steps
I know what you’re telling yourself by this point, “Are we done yet? When can I start sailing?” The answer is you’ve been sailing through this entire process! The goal is to be polishing your knowledge and building on it as you get through all these certifications.
Up to Yachtmaster Offshore, you’re pretty much done with theory at this point and the only thing left is one or two exams. You can skip over the Yachtmaster Coastal to the Yachtmaster Offshore as long as you have enough mileage built up. Here is an easy to read table to understand the requirements the RYA imposes to be able to do the exams.
| Yachtmaster Coastal | Yachtmaster Offshore | |
|---|---|---|
| Sea time |
|
|
| Minimum mileage | 800 n.m. (400 n.m. if you have your Coastal Skipper) | 2500 n.m. |
| Minimum certifications | Marine radio operator's certificate First aid certificate | |
| Special mentions |
|
|
One Last Step
You’ve made it through the hardest part, you love sailing and you have a couple of ocean crossings under your belt (or your lifejacket), it’s now time to reach the pinnacle in the Royal Yachting Association sailing scheme, Yachtmaster Ocean. This certification is reserved for the toughest sailors according to the RYA. Well, maybe not the toughest but definitely the ones that want to be fully certified. The next question you might have is “What does it take to be certified?” It is quite simple:
- A passage with the following criteria:
- 600 nautical miles
- 200 n.m. must be at least 50 n.m. away from land or charted objects
- Duration of minimum 96 hours
- Must take part in the planning and preparation of the passage
- Must have at least one fix taken using astro-navigation
- 600 nautical miles
- Have Yachtmaster Offshore or OOW unlimited
And once you’ve reached this point, if you want to go any further, you will need to fall into another scheme such as the MCA.