The Royal Yachting Association (RYA) is the UK’s national governing body for all forms of boating—including dinghy/yacht sailing, motor cruising, windsurfing, and powerboating, seting internationally recognized standards for training, safety, and racing. RYA training courses are delivered worldwide through 2,500+ recognized training centres worldwide.
The RYA learning path provides high-standard structured, progressive training system with globally recognized certification, from beginner to professional qualifications.
The key benefits of RYA Sailing Courses:
- World-Recognized Certification: RYA/MCA Yachtmaster certificates are recognized internationally, enabling you to skipper yachts worldwide
- High-quality training standards and expert instruction: training is provided through recognized training centers exclusively by RYA qualified instructors
- Focus on safety and best practices: courses emphasize crucial seamanship skills, including navigating and handling emergency situations
- Structured Learning Path from beginner to professional levels – enabling enhanced credibility in the sailing community and opportunities for networking and building sailing skills
Key RYA Learning Pathways
The RYA offer courses in Sail cruising (Yachts), Dinghy sailing, Motor Cruising, Powerboating and maritime supporting skills like courses in Navigation and seamanship, Marine Radio (SRC) and First Aid.
Being a recognized training center for sailing we will focus on Sail cruising/Yachting courses we offer:
Competent Crew
a basic sailing course on a yacht. Intended for beginners with little or no experience. It teaches sail handling and manouvering, steering, basic sea terms, rigging and sails, meteorology basics and wind awareness, knots, safety, preparation for docking, anhchoring and buoy catching, dinghy operating and understanding the basics rules, manners and customs of life onboard a yacht.
More about RYA competent crew course
Day skipper
the intermediate level and the first course with a widely accepted certificate that enables you to charter a small sailing yacht (around 30-50ft) and manage her crew in familiar waters during daytime, up to 20-25 miles from a nominated departure port.
The course will teach you navigation and passage planning, chart plotters, weather forecasting, safety and boat and crew preparation, rules of avoiding colisions, piloting in and out of harbours and channels, emergency situations, night cruising – short: small yacht boat commanding under power and sail in varying conditions.
The RYA Day Skipper Sail certificate also allows you to apply for an International Certificate of Competence (ICC) to the RYA without need for further assessment.
Minimum requirements: experience and knowledge of competent crew course (or similar beginners sailing course on a yacht) – at least 5 days, 100 miles and 4 night hours on a sailing yacht and theoretical knowledge of the Day skipper theory level.
More about RYA day skipper course
Coastal skipper
an advanced skipper course that enables you to confidently and safely skipper a small yacht on coastal or offshore passages in unfamiliar waters by day and night and in adverse weather conditions.
It will teach you preparation of the yacht and crew for long passages, night cruising and piloting, watch-keeping system, advanced navigation, blind navigation and coastal passage planning, storm sails, safety brief, life raft use, helicopter rescue procedure, emergency situations, advanced meteorology and advanced Rules of avoiding collision at sea.
More about RYA coastal skipper courseMinimum requirements:
Sailing experience and knowledge to experienced Day Skipper level – at least 15 days, two days as skipper, 300 miles, eight night hours and theoretical knowledge to Coastal Skipper/Yachtmaster Theory course level.
The RYA Coastal Skipper Sail certificate also allows you to apply for an International Certificate of Competence (ICC) to the RYA without need for further assessment.
All the practical RYA courses allow student – instructor ratio to be maximum 5:1, meaning there will be no more then 5 students on a course.
The courses are either in shared format (you book one spot on a course) or offered as a RYA private course (you book the whole boat and instructor/programme).
In our training center we do not have a minimum number of participants required. We will proceed with the course even if you are the only applicant. We understand that you have taken a vacation, booked flights and rearranged your life to take this course and we take it seriously.
With us you can also book RYA theory online courses: RYA Day Skipper, RYA Coastal Skipper/ Yachtmaster Offshore and RYA/MCA Yachtmaster Ocean and their combinations required for the practical course as well as the VHF/SRC radio online course (which comes with a final in-person exam that can be done in our base).
To be able to charter a sailboat in Croatia (and most other EU countries) you are required to have a minimum Day skipper certificate and the VHF certificate.
