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RYA Day Skipper Practical Sailing
Five days in which you stop being crew and start being the person responsible for the boat.
Day Skipper Practical marks the transition from crew to skipper.
Students learn to:
This course should not be marketed as "become an expert skipper in five days".
It is an important stage in skipper development.
Experience still matters.
- Who it suits
- Crew with some miles who want to skipper their own or a chartered yacht in familiar waters by day.
- What it is not
- It is not a licence, and it should never be sold as "become an expert skipper in five days". It is one stage in skipper development.
Before and after
Other RYA courses
RYA Sailing Pathway
The whole RYA cruising route in order, and where you are allowed to skip a step.
RYA Cruising Level 1: Start Sailing
A short introduction aboard a small cruising yacht — the shortest way to find out whether yachting suits you.
RYA Cruising Level 2: Basic Skills
The follow-on from Level 1, adding real boat handling on a small cruising yacht.
RYA Start Yachting
Two days aboard a cruising yacht, for complete beginners who want a genuine taste of yachting.
RYA Day Skipper Theory
The classroom half of Day Skipper: charts, tides, buoyage, collision regulations and passage planning.
RYA Coastal Skipper Practical
Skippering beyond familiar water and beyond daylight — longer passages, night pilotage, heavier weather.
RYA Coastal Skipper and Yachtmaster Offshore Theory
The advanced shorebased course: tidal work, passage planning, meteorology and collision regulations at Yachtmaster depth.
RYA Yachtmaster Guide
Not a course. An examination against a published standard, taken after qualifying sea time.
Which course should you actually book?
Three questions — your experience, the boat you want to sail, and your goal — give you a starting course and the schools that teach it near you.