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RYA Keelboat Basic Skills
From crewing to helming, on a boat that stays upright while you learn.
Basic Skills is the second course in the keelboat scheme, matching Dinghy Level 2 in intent.
It covers:
For many sailors this is the natural jumping-off point into the cruising scheme, whether through Competent Crew or straight into Day Skipper if they already have the sea time.
- Who it suits
- Keelboat Start Sailing holders, and dinghy sailors crossing over.
- What it is not
- Not a skipper qualification, and not a charter certificate.
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 Day Skipper Practical Sailing
Five days in which you stop being crew and start being the person responsible for the boat.
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.
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.