A course for those who already have some sailing and navigation knowledge and want to undertake coastal voyages by day and night
This course serves as the perfect bridge between Day Skipper and preparation for the RYA/MCA Yachtmaster Coastal exam. An experienced Day Skipper should gain enough knowledge and skills to begin undertaking longer and more demanding passages, both day and night.
The Coastal Skipper course places a strong emphasis on practicing advanced navigation techniques, including sailing in reduced visibility, understanding and using weather forecasts for passage planning, and preparing the boat and crew for adverse weather conditions. Each student will have the opportunity to fully plan and command a section of the voyage. The course also covers sail trimming, various maneuvers under sail and engine, and includes a longer nonstop passage with watch rotations.
Courses are taught in English by Slovak or Czech instructors.
Courses in Tenerife are led by our instructors but are otherwise provided by our partner RYA Training Centre, Canary Sail.
The theory course is not a requirement. The knowledge is – and it does not matter whether you got it from a course or from your own sailing. At Coastal Skipper level, though, navigation, tides and passage planning take more time than you want to spend below deck. That is why the practical course comes with RYA Coastal Skipper / Yachtmaster Theory at 10 % off. You study online, at your own pace, any time before the course.
The practical course fee includes: accommodation on a fully RYA-certified sailing yacht, including all fees, mooring in the home marina, instruction from an RYA-certified instructor, course materials, and certification fees.
The course fee does not include: harbor fees outside the home marina, fuel consumed during the week, and food costs (shared equally among participants), as well as personal and travel insurance and transportation to the course location.
The meal plan is arranged by the crew, but typically, a joint grocery purchase is made before departure. Breakfast, snacks, and light lunches are usually prepared on board, while dinners are either on board or at a restaurant, depending on crew preference (usually a combination of both).
Before the course, we can connect all registered participants to coordinate shared transportation and other arrangements.
Yes, if you have the recommended experience: 15 days at sea (2 as skipper), 300 nautical miles and 8 night hours. Missing miles can be built on a cruise with an instructor.
Coastal Skipper is a training course with continuous assessment by the instructor. Yachtmaster Coastal is exam preparation, with an external examiner joining for the final 2 days.
Because the charter price of the school yacht varies by location and time of season. The price is always shown with each date, and nothing is added on top.
We recommend it. You take RYA Coastal Skipper / Yachtmaster Theory online at your own pace, and practical course participants get 10 % off.
Accommodation on board, harbour fees in the home marina, the instructor, training materials and the certification fee. You pay for travel, food, diesel and fees in other marinas yourself – budget 100 to 150 euros of diesel for the whole crew.
Yes, for two reasons. Booked with the practical course it is 10 % cheaper, and more importantly you then spend your week on the helm rather than below deck with a chart. The theory course is not compulsory – the certificate needs the knowledge, not the course.
You do not have to take the theory course with us, but you do need the knowledge. Check that yours covers: A. Position – dead reckoning and estimated position, satellite-derived position, use of waypoints to fix position, radar fixes, techniques of visual fixing, fixes using a mixture of position lines, relative accuracy of different methods, areas of uncertainty. B. The magnetic compass – allowance for variation, change of variation with time and position, causes of deviation, swing for deviation (not corrected), allowance for deviation, different types of compass. C. Tides – causes of tides (springs and neaps), tide tables and their sources, tidal levels and datum, standard and secondary ports, tidal anomalies. D. Tidal streams – sources of tidal information, tidal stream information in sailing directions and almanacs, allowance for tidal streams when computing a course to steer, tide rips, overfalls and races, tidal observation buoys and beacons. E. Buoyage – IALA buoyage in Region A, importance of lights as navigational aids. F. Lights – characteristics, ranges (visual, luminous and nominal), rising and dipping distances, light lists. G. Pilotage – harbour regulations and control signals, methods of pre-planning, clearing lines, use of soundings, transits and leading lines. H. GPS and chart plotters – principles of operation and limitations of use, raster and vector charts, datum, confirming position from an independent source and keeping a separate record of position, importance of paper charts. I. Echo sounders – principles of operation and limitations of use. J. Logs (speed and distance measuring) – principles of operation and limitations of use. K. Deck log – the log as the yacht’s official document, layout of the log, hourly and occasional entries. L. Meteorology – basic terms and the Beaufort scale, air masses, cloud types, weather patterns associated with pressure and frontal systems, sources of weather information, interpreting a shipping forecast, weatherfax and weather satellite information, land and sea breezes, sea fog, use of a barometer as a forecasting aid. M. Rule of the road – a sound knowledge of the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, except annexes 1 and 3. N. Safety at sea – personal safety, use of lifejackets, safety harnesses and lifelines, fire prevention and fire fighting, distress signals, coastguard and Boat Safety Scheme, preparation for heavy weather, liferafts and helicopter rescue, understanding the capabilities of the vessel and boat stability. O. Navigation in restricted visibility – precautions to be taken in fog, limitations to safe navigation imposed by fog, navigation strategy in poor visibility. P. Passage planning – preparation of charts and notebook for route planning and use at sea, customs regulations as they apply to yachts, routine for navigation in coastal waters, strategy for course laying, use of waypoints and routes, use of weather forecast information, sources of local and national regulations. Q. Marine equipment – responsibility to minimise pollution and protect the marine environment.