Prepare and Practice for the RYA/MCA Yachtmaster Coastal Certificate of Competence exams.

The instructor will help you to ensure you are as prepared as possible by focusing on the areas you need most improvement and ironing out any bad habits you may have. You will be pushed hard. You will enter and leave as many ports/harbours as possible. You will practice night sailing and blind navigation. You will go over all the lights, shapes, sound signals and collision regulations. It is not a requirement to do such a course before the exam however it is well worth doing it if only to find out your strengths and weaknesses.

A Yachtmaster Coastal has the knowledge needed to skipper a yacht on coastal cruises but does not necessarily have the experience needed to undertake longer passages.

You will sail mainly in the Solent and will visit as many places as possible so that you are familiar with them before the exam.

The Solent is a great place to do you Yachtmaster Coastal. The mix of interesting tides, plenty of varied traffic and number of ports and harbours means you know you will be tested thoroughly in these waters.

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Minimum Pre exam experience for the Yachtmaster Coastal

Sea time: To be eligible for this exam you must have at least 30 days' sea time (two as skipper), logged 800 nautical miles and 12 night hours - all within the last ten years on a vessel less than 24m LOA.

However, if you have completed the RYA Coastal Skipper Practical Course, you only need 12 days at sea (two as skipper), logged 400 nautical miles and 12 night hours.

Half the qualifying sea time must have been conducted in tidal waters & on a sailing vessel 24M or under. For information on what constitutes tidal miles have a look at this blog.

Certificates required:

• A VHF radio licence,
• First aid certificate 
• Sound knowledge of using a Radar with plotting sheets. These can each be obtained on a one-day course.

If you are intending to do the Officer of the Watch 3000 or Master 200 then you will need to have done the Coastal/Yachtmaster Theory shore-based course with an invigilated exam.

Minimum age: 18

The Exam

The Yachtmaster Coastal exam will take about 6 to 10 hours for one candidate and 8 to 14 hours for two. Candidates will be set tasks to demonstrate their ability and may also be asked questions on any part of the syllabus for all practical and shore based courses up to Coastal Skipper.

Examiners are independent assessors not involved in training candidates and are therefore objective when assessing ability. The RYA examines candidates on behalf of the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

The RYA examiner will meet you onboard and talk through the plan. Examiners understand you could be nervous and will do their best to allay your fears and make sure you are clear about what they want you to do. They are there to find out what you can do, not to pick holes.

You will be asked to undertake a short passage, but you may have to plan a longer one. In general you should skipper the yacht in your normal style.

You must know your position reasonably accurately throughout the exam, but don't make the mistake of being so busy plotting fixes that you forget to look around. Often a quick glance on deck will confirm your position from a buoy or transit.

Make sure you know how to use a GPS and chart plotter, but don't over navigate with it.

You will usually be given practical problems involving tidal stream and heights. You can make life easy for yourself by looking them up beforehand - it's not cheating.

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You need to know how the boat will react, it's turning circle and any predictable quirks to its handling. There will be some close quarters manoeuvring, usually in harbour, to demonstrate your skills at berthing and leaving pontoons, piles or moorings.

Your examiner isn't looking for first time every time success, but you will need to demonstrate competence and a good understanding of how the boat reacts at slow speeds.

Exams always include a Man Over Board recovery exercise. You must end up with the yacht stopped next to the man in the water.

Listen to the forecast before your exam and be prepared for questions about the current weather and how this might affect a passage plan. Understand how weather systems influence sea conditions and how to plan based on this knowledge. The type of boat and strengths of your crew can have a bearing on decisions based on the weather, so your examiner may ask you to consider various possibilities. There is rarely a definitive answer, so it is your informed opinions that are required.

Whether you are fully in command of the yacht is the most important assessment that the examiner will make.

Please note that the exam fee is paid directly to the RYA (we will send you details of how to pay) and is not included in the course fee.

Higher up this page are some excellent podcasts, 2 of which are with an examiner who talks about what he looks for when examining candidates.

RYA Certificates of Competence

A good skipper leads the crew and communicates with them, making sure they understand what is going on and listening to them when they have something to say. They do not shout a stream of commands, leaving their crew in a quivering mess. Quiet competence instills confidence, helping your crew feel safe in the knowledge that the right decisions are being made.

There are three RYA Certificates of Competence:

Yachtmaster Coastal Certificate of Competence

Yachtmaster Offshore Certificate of Competence

Yachtmaster Ocean Certificate of Competence

The theory is the same for Yachtmaster Coastal and Yachtmaster Offshore. The difference is that less practical experience is required for the Coastal exam. The Yachtmaster Ocean involves astronavigation. See the details for the shorebased course Here.

Certificates of competence are some of the most useful and credible of yachting qualifications. They thoroughly test the skipper's ability, and can therefore appear daunting to potential candidates. But well prepared skippers with the right experience needn't worry. With the practice and preparation you get from doing the prep course, you should be able to relax sufficiently to let your skills shine through any exam nerves.

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Accommodation

Accommodation during a sailing course is on board the yacht. There are almost always three double cabins and two single berths in the saloon which provide accommodation for eight people. However, there would only ever be a maximum of three students on board for a Yachtmaster Coastal prep week, plus the instructor.

Showers/Facilities

Whilst we do have showers on board the yacht, most nights you will be in a marina with good hot showers and shoreside facilities.

The only thing not included in the price are mooring fees. It depends on where you end up each night but they are usually about £40 per person for 5 days.

Food

Except for supper on the evening you join the boat, we cater on board for all meals. We provide food that is healthy and nutritious, including salads, vegetables, white and wholemeal bread, chicken, lean minced beef, salmon, muesli and cereal. In fact, just the kind of food that you might buy yourself. For snacks there is plenty of fruit, but also a supply of chocolate and biscuits.

If you have any special dietary requirements, we can normally accommodate these. Just let us know when you fill out your booking form.

Location

Courses run from Shamrock Quay in Southampton.

Getting to Shamrock Quay:

Shamrock Quay is about an 8 minute taxi ride from Southampton Central Station, or 15 minutes from Southampton Airport if you’re flying. If you are arriving by car you can park in Shamrock Quay Marina, with 24/7 security.

Occasionally a course may start on one of our boats when it is not at Shamrock Quay. It may be very close to Shamrock Quay or in Hamble. We will give you plenty of notice when this is the case.

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Start/Finish Times

There is plenty to cover on a Yachtmaster Prep week and we find it is better if you arrive the evening before your course starts (arrive for 8pm). This way you can start getting to know the yacht, the skipper and your crew mates before the course really gets under way. If this is not possible then you need to be at the boat by 8.00am on the first day of the Sailing Course.

You can expect to get away by 3/3.30pm on the final day of your course. If you are catching a train we recommend you do not book a ticket in advance as we can’t guarantee you will get away at 3pm on the dot. It could be earlier or a little later.