Am I Ready for Day Skipper?
Five days, 100 miles, four night hours and theory to shorebased level. That is the RYA's bar. The harder question is whether you could run the boat.
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Are You Ready to Skipper a Yacht?
RYA Day Skipper is the Royal Yachting Association's practical qualification for taking charge of a 30-45ft sailing yacht and its crew on day trips in familiar waters.
The Short Answer
You are ready when you meet the RYA's entry requirements on paper and can do the crew's jobs without being told. The paperwork takes a minute to check. The second part is where people misjudge themselves, usually by thinking they need more than they do, and sometimes by counting a holiday at the helm as experience. Our four-question readiness check gives you a quick answer.
Quick Navigation
- 1 What the RYA Asks For The Entry Requirements
- 2 Your Theory Chartwork, Tides and the Rules of the Road
- 3 Your Sailing Could You Do the Crew's Jobs Unprompted?
- 4 Your Sea Time Five Days, 100 Miles, Four Night Hours
- 5 What the Week Asks of You The Practical Syllabus
- 6 After Day Skipper Chartering on Your Own Ticket
Day Skipper Practical at a Glance
| What the RYA Asks | |
|---|---|
| Sailing ability | Basic sailing ability |
| Sea time | Five days, 100 miles and four night hours on board a sailing yacht |
| Theory | Navigation and theory knowledge to Day Skipper Shorebased level |
| Minimum age | 16 |
| Course length | Five days, three weekends, or three days plus two days |
| What it qualifies you for | Taking charge of a 30-45ft sailing yacht and its crew on day trips in familiar waters; you can then apply for an ICC |
Source: the RYA's Day Skipper Practical Sailing course page, checked 9 October 2026.
1.What the RYA Asks For
The Entry Requirements
The RYA's course page sets out four things before you start the practical. You need basic sailing ability. You need five days, 100 miles and four night hours on board a sailing yacht. Your navigation and theory should be at Day Skipper Shorebased level. And you must be 16 or over.
The course runs for five days, either straight through, over three weekends, or as three days plus two. You live aboard with your crewmates and an RYA instructor, so expect to spend the week doing the jobs yourself.
None of this asks you to have skippered anything already. The course exists to take you from crew to skipper. What it assumes is that the crew part is settled.
2.Your Theory
Chartwork, Tides and the Rules of the Road
The RYA recommends taking the Day Skipper Theory course before the practical, and asks for theory knowledge to that level either way. The theory course is about 40 hours plus the exam, taken in a classroom, online or by distance learning. It covers chartwork, position fixing, plotting a course to steer, tides, weather forecasting and the collision regulations.
Take a chart of somewhere you have never sailed and plan a short passage across it. Work out the tide for the time you leave, the course to steer, and what the forecast means for the plan. If you can do that slowly but correctly, you are there. Speed comes on the water.
If you have not started, our guide to the best online RYA theory course compares the options.
3.Your Sailing
Could You Do the Crew's Jobs Unprompted?
"Basic sailing ability" is the RYA's phrase. The Competent Crew course covers steering, sail handling, reefing, ropework, man overboard and the safety equipment. You do not need the certificate to book Day Skipper. You do need the skills.
Ask yourself whether you could, without anyone telling you, put in a reef, tack and gybe cleanly, rig lines and fenders before coming alongside, and tie a bowline in the dark. On the Day Skipper week you will be asking other people to do these jobs, so you need to know what good looks like.
If you hesitated on more than one, a Competent Crew week or a few more days as crew will make the practical a great deal easier.
4.Your Sea Time
Five Days, 100 Miles, Four Night Hours
Sea time is the one requirement you can count, so count it. Keep a logbook as you go, with dates, distances and night hours for every trip.
Holiday sailing rarely leaves harbour after dark, so plan for your night hours: an evening passage with a friend who skippers, or a club cruise that includes one. Night cruising is on the practical syllabus, and four hours of reading lights at sea beforehand makes that part of the week far less of a shock.
Recent time counts for more than old time. Five days last summer will leave you sharper than twenty days a decade ago.
5.What the Week Asks of You
The Practical Syllabus
The RYA's syllabus for the practical covers preparation for sea, deck work, navigation, pilotage, meteorology, the rules of the road, maintenance and repair, engines, victualling, emergency situations, handling under power and under sail, passage-making and night cruising.
The course includes handling under power and pilotage. Handling under power means berthing and leaving a pontoon, in whatever wind the day brings, with your crew on the lines, until it works. Pilotage means bringing the boat into a harbour you have planned on paper. Learning those is what the week is for.
What you can do is arrive with the theory and the crew skills already settled, so your five days go on the new things.
6.After Day Skipper
Chartering on Your Own Ticket
The RYA says Day Skipper shows charter companies you have the knowledge and experience to take their boats out safely, and it qualifies you to apply for the ICC, the International Certificate for Operators of Pleasure Craft, for cruising abroad. Which countries accept what is a separate question, covered in what qualifications you need to charter a yacht and, for Greece, whether RYA Day Skipper is accepted there.
Keep in mind what the certificate says: day trips, in familiar waters. A first bareboat week somewhere sheltered, or a flotilla in Croatia with a lead boat nearby, is a sensible way to put it to work.
Not ready yet? A skippered charter puts you in the same waters with a professional on board.
Planning a first charter on your new ticket? We have advised on charters since 2011, we are tied to no operator, and we will tell you what a base and a boat are really like before you book. The Art of Charter.
Christopher Lait
Chris founded Drake Academy, a sailing company that provides leadership training to businesses. Now the CEO of SailChecker.com you will find him handling many of your enquiries as he attempts to drive SailChecker.com forward as the company of choice for yacht charter and sailing by focusing on quality advice and great customer service.
