RYA Day Skipper Theory & Practical 2-in-1 Combined Course

"This course gives you the chance to take charge on short passages under instruction. You will concentrate on pilotage, boat handling, seamanship, and navigation."

 

The RYA Day Skipper qualification represents the first significant step towards taking charge of a cruising yacht at sea within the RYA Yachtmaster Cruising Scheme. A Day Skipper licence is a requirement to be a First Mate for CUYC and it is also typically the minimum level of certification required to charter a yacht on your own. The Day Skipper licence is usually obtained after completing two courses – the Day Skipper Theory classroom course, followed by the Day Skipper Practical course on the water at a later date. The Day Skipper Combined Course achieves both qualifications in one course. 

The practical course is taught over five days and includes practical skills under power and sail – berthing/unberthing, approaching/slipping a mooring, setting/weighing anchor, recovering a Man-Over-Board casualty from the water and more. You must successfully complete the Day Skipper Theory qualification before undertaking the practical course, and this is normally taught in the classroom over five days.

We are very pleased to offer a ‘combined’ course through which you will obtain both certificates in one intensive course! Per RYA regulations, this also allows us to reduce the length of the theory course to four days, meaning the overall length of the Day Skipper Combined course is nine days, delivered both on and off the water across two weekends including the week in between.

 

Benefits of the combined course

• Save a day. The total course length is nine days instead of ten as when the practical and theory courses are taken separately.
• Fresh knowledge. With both courses run back-to-back, you get to immediately put your new theory skills into action on the water, connecting the dots straight away and increasing learning retention.
• Maximum instructor rapport. Both theory and practical elements are taught by the same instructor, with the same group of students. This means there is lots of time to build rapport and get comfortable with the group. This makes for a really encouraging training environment on the water and it is also a whole load of fun to do it in one group together! 

 

Course content

The course covers a huge range of skills and knowledge from theory to weather, rules-of-the-road to engine maintenance, and all manner of practical theory skills. Please refer to the full syllabi of both the practical and theory courses, which are listed at the respective pages above.

 

Day Skipper Combined Course Format/Dates

The course is taught back-to-back across nine days. The theory part of the course is taught first and is delivered in-person, in Cambridge over four days:

9am – 6pm Saturday 23^rd May

9am – 6pm Sunday 24^th May

9am – 6pm Saturday 30^th May

9am – 6pm Sunday 31^st May 

The practical part of the course begins the following morning and is taught on-the-water aboard CUYC’s very own Yacht Skylark, starting and ending either in Ipswich or Hamble (TBC). The practical course is residential – you will need to travel to the marina by Monday morning. You will then sleep and eat aboard Skylark across the five remaining days:

9am Monday 25^th May – 5pm Friday 29^th May.

 

What’s Included

Sign-up fees include the following:

• 4 days of theory instruction in the classroom
• 5 days of practical instruction on the water
• Use of Yacht Skylark during the practical teaching
• Hire of wet weather gear, boots and life jackets during the practical teaching
• Portland Plotter & Dividers (navigation instruments for the theory course)
• RYA Training Charts 3 & 4 (for the theory course)
• RYA Training Almanac
• Course Workbooks
• RYA Day Skipper Shorebased Notes book
• All assessments and certificates from the RYA

What is not included:

• Food and diesel on the yacht during the practical teaching
• Marina stays on board the yacht during the practical training
• Any meals out at pubs/restaurants during the practical training
• Accommodation during the theory course
• Food during the theory course (you will need to bring a packed lunch each day)
• Any re-sits or additional instruction time if needed (see ‘Course Outcomes’)

You would usually expect to spend 2 – 3 nights in a marina away from Skylark’s home berth during the practical training. These are typically £20 – 40 / night and the costs of this are split between the crew. Please budget additional moneys for this.

 

Course Pre-Requisites

You are expected to have spent some time at sea before attending this course – it is generally not suitable for complete beginners. The recommended ‘sea time’ is as follows:

Recommended pre-course experience:

Days at sea:   5

Miles:              100

Night Hours:   4

Examples of suitable prior experience:

• Attending a week-long CUYC Summer Programme trip
• Attending a couple of CUYC cruising or adventurous weekend trips
• Any sort of extended history of family sailing or sailing holidays in which you participated as crew
• History of dinghy sailing and perhaps a daysail or weekend on board a yacht

The main thing is that the course is inherently quite intense and you need to have gone out sailing to confirm that you really like it before committing to this course! You should have a little bit of experience, be comfortable on board and familiar with your way around.

If you are not confident following commands from the skipper, and think you would need assistance stepping off the boat to help with lines when docking, for example, an RYA Competent Crew course or attending a CUYC weekend cruising trip might be a more appropriate next step for you.

 

Assessment

The theory elements of the course culminate in two written assessments in the classroom, each 1.5-hours. The first is a General Assessment paper covering general theory knowledge as well as the ‘ColRegs’ (International Regulations for Preventing Collisions At Sea). The second is a Chartwork Assessment paper covering technical plotting and navigating skills using special training charts.

The practical element of the course does not incorporate a specific assessment; however, your instructor will continually assess your ability throughout the five days of practical training on the water. Your instructor will explain and demonstrate skills, before giving you a chance to try, and then continue to practice those skills yourself throughout the week. The course generally begins with technical practical skills in the first few days before moving towards extended time with each student as ‘acting skipper’ towards the last few days, where you put it all together!

 

Course Outcomes

Both courses have three possible outcomes as follows:

Pass               Successful completion of all elements of the course, certificate issued

Action Plan    Successful completion of most elements of the course, but one or two areas need a little more work before a certificate can be issued.

Re-take          Significant portions of the course unsuccessful and best course of action is to re-take the course

If you are not successful with the theory course, you will still be able to attend the practical teaching, however we will not be able to offer you a certificate until you have successfully passed all elements of the theory. In any Action Plan case, we will help make arrangements with you to cover the revision material and complete your course as soon as possible. Please note that any additional instruction may incur extra costs pro-rata to cover operational costs for CUYC. These will be kept to an absolute minimum.

Questions?

Contact the course instructor, Callum Henderson (profile) or Vice-Commodore Training, Annabelle Wurmser - aamw4@cam.ac.uk