Am I Ready for RYA Day Skipper?

An Experience Checklist

The RYA Day Skipper Practical Course is an important step in the development of any cruising sailor. It marks the transition from being a useful and capable member of the crew to beginning to take responsibility for the yacht, the passage and everyone aboard.

It is therefore quite normal to wonder whether you have enough experience before booking.

You do not need to arrive as a finished skipper. Developing your skippering ability is the purpose of the course. However, you should already be comfortable with the basic operation of a sailing yacht and have enough experience to concentrate on navigation, pilotage, decision-making and taking charge.

This guide explains the recommended pre-course experience and provides a practical checklist to help you decide whether you are ready for RYA Day Skipper.

What is the RYA Day Skipper Practical Course?

The RYA Day Skipper Practical Course introduces experienced crew members to the responsibilities involved in skippering a cruising yacht.

During the course, you will begin taking charge of short passages and will practise:

• Preparing a yacht for sea
• Passage planning
• Practical navigation
• Pilotage
• Berthing and close-quarters manoeuvring
• Handling a yacht under sail
• Handling a yacht under power
• Anchoring
• Meteorology
• The International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea
• Basic engine checks
• Emergency procedures
• Crew management
• Night pilotage

You can also view the official RYA Day Skipper Practical course content and requirements on the RYA website.

The course is practical and hands-on. Students live aboard the yacht and take turns planning passages, navigating, handling the boat and acting as skipper under the guidance of an RYA instructor.

Successful students should be capable of taking charge of a cruising yacht on short daytime passages in familiar waters.

What experience do I need before RYA Day Skipper?

The official RYA Day Skipper Practical course requirements list the recommended pre-course experience as:

• Basic sailing ability
• Five days aboard a sailing yacht
• 100 nautical miles
• Four night hours
• Navigation and theoretical knowledge to RYA Day Skipper Shorebased standard

The minimum age for the RYA Day Skipper Practical Course is 16.

These figures provide a useful starting point, but experience cannot always be judged by numbers alone. Two sailors may both have completed 100 miles but have had very different levels of involvement.

One person may have regularly helmed, handled sails, worked with ropes and taken part in navigation. Another may have spent most of those miles as a passenger.

The quality of your experience is therefore just as important as the mileage recorded.

RYA Day Skipper readiness checklist

Work through the following questions honestly. You do not need to answer “yes” to every point, but the checklist should help identify any areas that need attention before your course.

1. Have you spent at least five days aboard a cruising yacht?

The recommended five days should give you some familiarity with life aboard a cruising yacht.

You should have experienced the normal routines involved in:

• Preparing the yacht to leave
• Stowing equipment safely
• Working with other crew members
• Keeping a lookout
• Handling ropes and fenders
• Sailing between ports or anchorages
• Arriving and securing the yacht

A five-day RYA Competent Crew Course is a common way to gain this experience, although holding a Competent Crew certificate is not a compulsory prerequisite. Sailors who have gained equivalent practical experience through clubs, family sailing, charter holidays or sailing with friends may also be ready.

The important question is not simply whether you have been aboard for five days. It is whether you actively participated during that time.

2. Have you sailed approximately 100 nautical miles?

The recommended 100 nautical miles should have exposed you to a range of normal sailing situations.

Ideally, your experience will include more than repeatedly sailing around the same small area. Coastal passages between different harbours help you understand how weather, tides, navigation, crew organisation and passage planning fit together.

You do not need to have skippered these miles. However, you should have been an active member of the crew rather than simply a passenger.

3. Have you completed at least four night hours?

Night sailing experience is an important part of the recommended preparation.

Even a few hours after dark can introduce you to:

• Identifying navigation lights
• Recognising lit buoys
• Maintaining an effective lookout
• Interpreting harbour approaches at night
• Understanding how familiar surroundings appear very different after sunset
• Moving safely around the yacht in darkness

The Day Skipper Practical syllabus includes night cruising, so having already experienced some time afloat after dark will make this part of the course less daunting.

4. Can you steer a reasonably steady course?

You should be able to helm a yacht under sail and power without needing continuous instruction.

This does not mean that your steering must always be perfect. You should, however, understand how the yacht responds and be able to:

• Steer towards a fixed point
• Follow a compass course
• Maintain a reasonable course under sail
• Make controlled changes of direction
• Respond to instructions from the skipper
• Keep a lookout while helming

During Day Skipper, you will begin combining helming with navigation, pilotage and crew management. If all your attention is still required simply to keep the yacht moving in the right direction, you may benefit from further crewing experience first.

5. Can you assist with tacking and gybing?

You should understand what happens during a tack or gybe and be able to take an active role.

This includes:

• Preparing the appropriate sheets
• Working safely around loaded ropes
• Communicating with the helm and other crew members
• Releasing and trimming sheets in a controlled manner
• Keeping hands clear of winches and moving equipment
• Understanding the risks associated with an uncontrolled gybe

You do not need to conduct every manoeuvre perfectly, but the terminology and sequence should be familiar.

6. Can you help hoist, lower and reef the sails?

Before Day Skipper, you should have some practical experience of working with the mainsail and headsail.

You should broadly understand:

• How sails are prepared before hoisting
• The purpose of halyards, sheets and control lines
• How to hoist and lower sails safely
• Why sails are reefed
• The importance of reducing sail before conditions become unmanageable
• How to flake, furl or secure sails after use

The Day Skipper course will improve your understanding of sail handling and sail trim. It should not, however, be your first introduction to the basic process of setting and lowering sails.

7. Are you comfortable handling ropes and using basic knots?

You should be reasonably comfortable handling mooring lines and using the principal knots required aboard a cruising yacht.

These commonly include:

• Bowline
• Round turn and two half hitches
• Clove hitch
• Figure of eight
• Securing a rope correctly to a cleat

You should also understand the importance of keeping ropes organised, avoiding standing in loops and keeping hands and fingers away from potential trapping points.

Perfect knotwork is not required, but you should be able to perform basic deck work without needing every task demonstrated from the beginning.

8. Have you taken part in berthing and leaving a berth?

You do not need to be an accomplished marina boat handler before starting Day Skipper. Close-quarters manoeuvring is an important part of the course.

You should, however, have helped with:

• Preparing fenders
• Preparing bow, stern and spring lines
• Stepping ashore safely
• Securing the yacht
• Casting off
• Communicating with the helm
• Keeping ropes clear of the propeller

It is also helpful to understand that successful berthing is a planned crew exercise rather than simply a test of the person at the wheel.

9. Do you have navigation knowledge to Day Skipper Shorebased standard?

This is one of the most important areas to consider.

The practical course assumes that you already understand the principles of:

• Latitude and longitude
• Chart symbols
• Measuring distance
• Plotting a position
• Working with compass courses
• Tidal heights
• Tidal streams
• Buoyage
• Pilotage
• Weather forecasts
• Collision regulations
• Passage planning

The RYA recommends completing the RYA Day Skipper Theory Course before the practical course so that you can apply your navigation knowledge on the water. The official RYA course page provides further details of the shorebased syllabus, including chartwork, navigation, meteorology and seamanship.

BOSS also strongly recommends completing the RYA Day Skipper Shorebased Course before attending the practical course.

You may possess the necessary knowledge without holding the shorebased certificate, but you should be able to apply it. A practical sailing course does not provide enough time to teach the entire shorebased navigation syllabus from the beginning.

Sailors who already have the necessary practical experience can also complete the theory and practical elements consecutively on the Combined Nine-Day RYA Day Skipper Theory and Practical Course.

10. Are you ready to take responsibility?

This is where Day Skipper differs most clearly from a crew course.

As skipper, you must begin thinking beyond your own individual task. You need to consider:

• Is the yacht properly prepared?
• Is the proposed passage appropriate for the conditions?
• Does the crew understand the plan?
• Are tasks being allocated clearly?
• Is anyone becoming tired, cold or seasick?
• Are the yacht’s position and surroundings being monitored?
• Is there an alternative plan if conditions change?
• Is the yacht, crew or equipment being placed under unnecessary pressure?

You are not expected to arrive with all the answers. Your instructor will guide you through the process and allow you to develop in a safe and supportive environment.

You should, however, be willing to make decisions, communicate clearly and learn from situations that do not go exactly to plan.

Do I need an RYA Competent Crew certificate?

You do not have to hold an RYA Competent Crew certificate before starting Day Skipper Practical. The RYA specifies a level of experience and ability rather than requiring the certificate itself.

The RYA Competent Crew Course is nevertheless the most straightforward preparation for sailors who are relatively new to cruising yachts.

It provides structured experience in:

• Helming
• Sail handling
• Ropework
• Safety procedures
• Deck work
• Living aboard
• Working as part of a yacht’s crew

Experienced dinghy sailors may already have a good understanding of wind, sail trim and points of sail. However, they may still need experience of cruising-yacht systems, engines, marina manoeuvring, navigation and living aboard.

Similarly, motorboat experience can provide useful knowledge of navigation, passage planning and close-quarters handling, but it does not replace practical experience of sailing and handling sails.

What if I completed Competent Crew several years ago?

A previous Competent Crew Course may have provided the right foundation, but sailing skills can become rusty when they have not been used regularly.

Consider whether you can still confidently:

• Tie the principal knots
• Prepare mooring lines and fenders
• Steer under sail
• Assist with tacking and gybing
• Hoist and lower sails
• Recognise basic navigation marks
• Move safely around a yacht

A small amount of recent sailing before Day Skipper can make a significant difference. This might take the form of a refresher course, a sailing weekend, a cruise or several days as an active crew member.

The aim is not to delay your progression unnecessarily. It is to ensure that you can make full use of the Day Skipper course rather than spending the opening days relearning basic crew skills.

What if I have the theory but not enough practical experience?

Completing Day Skipper Theory does not automatically mean that you are ready for the practical course.

The theory course provides essential navigation and seamanship knowledge, but the practical course assumes that you can already function as a basic member of the crew.

Where practical experience is limited, the best route may be:

1. Complete an RYA Competent Crew Practical Course
2. Complete the RYA Day Skipper Shorebased Course
3. Progress to the RYA Day Skipper Practical Course

BOSS also offers an intensive Fastrak to Day Skipper programme combining Competent Crew, Day Skipper Theory and Day Skipper Practical within a structured 14-day course. It is designed for complete beginners and those with limited previous experience who want to progress through the full training pathway.

Those who already have the required Competent Crew-level sailing experience but have not completed the theory course may instead find that the Combined Nine-Day RYA Day Skipper Theory and Practical Course provides the most convenient route.

A simple self-assessment

You are probably ready for RYA Day Skipper Practical if:

• You meet or are close to the recommended five days, 100 miles and four night hours
• You can take an active role as a crew member
• You can helm under sail and power
• You can assist with sail handling
• You are familiar with basic knots and deck work
• You have Day Skipper-level navigation knowledge
• You are ready to begin making decisions and managing a crew

You may benefit from more practical experience first if:

• You have spent very little time aboard a cruising yacht
• You are unfamiliar with basic sailing terminology
• You cannot yet steer or assist with normal sailing manoeuvres
• You have not handled mooring lines or sails
• Your navigation knowledge is limited
• Your previous experience was a long time ago and has largely been forgotten

Still uncertain about your experience?

People arrive at Day Skipper through many different routes. Some complete Competent Crew and Day Skipper Theory in sequence. Others develop their experience through family sailing, yacht clubs, charter holidays, racing or sailing with friends.

As a result, experience does not always fit neatly into a list of certificates.

If you are uncertain about whether you have the appropriate experience, speak to BOSS before booking. Tell us how much sailing you have completed, the types of yacht you have sailed and the tasks you are comfortable performing.

We can then help you decide whether you are ready for the RYA Day Skipper Practical Course or whether another course would provide better preparation.

The right starting point will allow you to gain more from your training and take your first steps towards becoming a safe, confident and capable skipper.

Not sure whether you are ready?

If you are still unsure whether your experience is suitable for the RYA Day Skipper Practical Course, please speak to us before booking. Everyone reaches Day Skipper by a different route, and we will be happy to discuss your previous sailing, current skills and future ambitions.

Our experienced team can help you assess where you are now and recommend the most appropriate next step, whether that is Competent Crew, Day Skipper Theory, additional practical experience or the Day Skipper Practical Course itself. Click here to check out our article on choosing the right course.

Call BOSS on 02380 457 733, or complete our online contact form to start the conversation.