RYA Day Skipper

On this course you will learn basic skippering techniques and boathandling skills in a variety of mooring situations.

Under the guidance of your instructor, you will be put in charge on short passages and cover subjects such as deck work, sail trim, emergency situations and man overboard drill.

Day Skipper

The course also includes meteorology, engine checks, preparation for sea, passage planning, navigation and pilotage and rules of the road so that by the end of the course, a successful Day Skipper will be able to skipper a small yacht in familiar, tidal waters by day.

Whilst this course contains elements of navigation theory every day, it is a practical course, not a theory course. There simply isn´t the time available to teach someone with no knowledge of navigation theory the detail required to competently skipper a yacht. It is therefore highly recommended that you complete the Day Skipper theory course beforehand or at the very least, study the Online Essential Navigation and Seamanship course.

Successful completion of this course also qualifies British citizens, UK residents or non-EU citizens to purchase the International Certificate of Competence (ICC) which may be required if you charter a yacht in certain European countries - application forms are available from the RYA website. The new photo-id style RYA Day Skipper certificate is now widely accepted for yacht charter worldwide as it carries a translation into 13 European languages on the reverse like the ICC.