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RYA Sailing Pathway
The whole RYA cruising route in order, and where you are allowed to skip a step.
For someone whose goal is cruising yachts, a common path is:
RYA currently lists navigation courses from Essential Navigation and Seamanship through Yachtmaster Ocean Theory, while the practical sail-cruising pathway includes introductory cruising, Competent Crew, Day Skipper and Coastal Skipper.
- Who it suits
- Anyone trying to work out which RYA course to book next.
- What it is not
- It is not a ladder you must climb rung by rung. Most people start partway up.
Other RYA courses
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.
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.