RYA Day Skipper Fast Track

RYA Day Skipper Fast Track – Course description

We created this package with our partners, recognised RYA Training Centres SkippersOnline and NCP & Mare. It consists of four RYA courses combined to get you the skills, knowledge, and certificates needed to charter a yacht and sail on your own as soon as possible. This two-week practical course with prior theory preparation is excellent for beginners who want to speed up their adventure of becoming certified skippers.

Searching for this course online, you may find you can do it in just nine days by combining the Day Skipper theory and practice. However, you must already be on the Competent Crew level to join that course. And it doesn’t include the VHF – SRC Marine Radio course and certificate you need to charter a yacht. Our combination consists of all of the mentioned.

We promise to teach you how to sail during the RYA Competent Crew course (first week) and to expertly guide you through your first – and hardest – skippering steps on the RYA Day Skipper course (second week). We included the RYA Day Skipper Theory and the RYA VHF – SRC Marine Radio online courses to prepare you for the practical part. You can do these in your own time and place before joining the course’s practical part with us.

Our partners, recognised RYA Training Centres SkippersOnline and NCP and Mare, provide online courses. You can get support directly from them while going through the lessons. We’ll also help you to organise a final written and practical one-hour VHF – SRC exam while here. It’s highly likely that our Chief Instructor Tom, whom you’ll meet during the practical part of the course, will be your VHF assessor at the VHF exam.

Our experienced and patient RYA instructors – who firmly believe that anybody can learn how to sail and become a skipper – will help you achieve your goal of becoming one. They have thousands of miles under their belt and helped hundreds of Day Skipper candidates achieve their goals.

You’ll spend ten days living on board a brand new, perfectly clean, heated, spacious and fast sailing yacht fully equipped for comfortable cruising. We’ll also anchor in stunning bays perfect for swimming in crystal clear azure – hazards free – Adriatic sea. During the RYA Day Skipper Fast Track course, we’ll visit picturesque islands and cosy Dalmatian villages with great local food and culture.

We sometimes combine students on a Competent Crew and a Day Skipper course. With that, you’ll be able to see and participate in some Day Skipper training while on the Competent Crew course and manage inexperienced crew while on the Day Skipper course!

Single-use of cabin available

You’re welcome to stay on board in between the courses

What will you learn:

• Sea terms, yacht parts, rigging and sails
• Wind awareness
• Sailing points & manoeuvres – close haul, beam reach, broad reach, run, tack, gybe
• Hoisting, lowering, reefing sail
• Knots – bowline, clove hitch, cleat hitch, figure of eight, round turn and two half hitches, reef knot, sheet bend, rolling hitch
• Safety – Man overboard, fire precaution, personal safety
• Helming – under sails and motor
• Preparation for docking, anchoring, buoy catching
• Basic meteorology
• Basic rules for avoiding collision
• General duties of living on a yacht
• Manners and customs
• How to operate a dinghy
• Preparation of the yacht and crew for sea
• Safety briefing
• Yacht handling under power and sail – docking, anchoring, buoy catching, springing off and on
• Navigation and passage planning – position fixing, heading, bearing
• Chart plotters (GPS)
• Pilotage in and out of harbours and channels
• Meteorology – interpreting weather forecasts
• Rules of avoiding collision
• Engine check
• Victualling
• Emergency situations – person overboard
• Night cruising
• Syllabus of the RYA VHF – SRC Marine Radio course
• Syllabus of the RYA Day Skipper Theory course
• Syllabus of the RYA VHF – SRC Marine Radio course

Ability after the course:

To confidently and safely sail on all points of sailing, tie knots, hoist and lower the sails, reef, and helm, covering general duties of living on a yacht and operating a dinghy. To confidently and safely skipper a small yacht in familiar waters by day and in good weather conditions. To take care of crew and yacht safety, navigation, docking and anchoring, weather, collision regulations and emergency situations. To have the confidence and qualification needed to use a marine radio in routine and emergency situations.

Certificate:

• RYA Day Skipper (for successful students)
• RYA/MCA VHF – SRC (for successful students)
• RYA Day Skipper Theory certificate (for successful students)
• At least 200 Nautical miles and 8 hours of night navigation in the RYA logbook

Location:

Jezera and surrounding islands, bays and villages

Although we’re trying to show you the most of our sailing area during the course, safety is crucial in the RYA courses. The exact route of the course will depend primarily on the instructor’s judgement of the weather conditions and the crew’s ability