Home / RYA / RYA Youth Sailing Stage 1
RYA Youth Sailing Stage 1
The first stage of the youth scheme: the boat, the water and how not to be frightened of either.
The RYA Youth Sailing Scheme runs in four stages for sailors under 16, in place of the adult Levels 1 to 3.
Stage 1 introduces:
Stages are usually delivered over a holiday week or a run of weekend mornings rather than as a two-day block. In Australia the equivalent ground is more often covered by Australian Sailing Tackers, which is far more widely available.
- Who it suits
- Young sailors, typically from around eight years old, with no previous experience.
- What it is not
- Not the adult Level 1 under another name — the youth stages are paced and assessed differently.
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.