Experience being in charge on a yacht, taking credit when all goes well and being responsible when it doesn't. Learn to skipper a short passage with the instructor on hand to give advice and encouragement and ensure your safety.

The RYA Practical Day Skipper Course lasts for five days and like the Competent Crew Course it can be carried out over two weekends (a short and a long) or five consecutive days.

You sleep and eat on board.

Having already done some sailing you will know how good sailing can be for having a break from things. It is a holiday. Expect to finish this RYA Day Skipper course having had lungfuls of freshair, pleasantly tired but at the same time reinvigorated!

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Minimum Pre Course Experience: 5 days, 100 miles, 4 night cruising hours.

Recommended Knowledge: There is not time on the RYA Day Skipper Practical Course to cover all the navigation skills required to skipper a yacht, so you need to know these or have done the Shorebased Day Skipper Course in advance.

You also need to have a good basic sailing and yacht handling ability. It will be assumed that you know how to sail to the level of Competent Crew standard.

Course Content: Basic Pilotage, boat handling, seamanship and navigation

Ability after the Course: You will be able to Skipper a yacht in familiar waters by day. Or charter a boat in somewhere like the Med.

The RYA Day Skipper Practical qualification can be used to obtain an International Certificate of Competence (ICC) by sending the certificate to the RYA with an application form.

What To Expect

When you learn with First Class Sailing, you’ll have a friendly instructor who’s keen to teach you everything you want to know. You can expect like-minded people and tasty fresh food, and students always learn lots and go home at the end of the course feeling happy and pleasantly tired.

During the course you can expect to be manoeuvring the boat under engine on and off pontoons to improve your yacht handling. You can also expect to have a go at planning and conducting a short passage, and you’ll be the one calling the shots before you know it.

Each day of the practical RYA Day Skipper course is packed with activity. Breakfast is usually at 8am or earlier, depending on the wind and tide. At the end of the day, you will normally be in a marina ready for a hot shower, supper on board, and maybe a quick pint/glass of wine. Sometimes you may drop anchor for the night, other times you may tie onto a buoy. On one evening of the Solent Day Skipper course, we typically go sailing in the dark, which is great fun.

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Where Will You Sail?

You will sail mainly in the Solent. There are plenty of places to go visit within the Solent without going to the same place twice in a week.

The Solent is a great place to learn to sail and get qualified. There are numerous harbours, bays, creeks and rivers, like the River Beaulieu (pictured), marinas and anchorages making it ideal to practice a whole range of yachting skills. Because of the large volume of other boats and busy shipping activity, the Solent is always fun and interesting.

The Isle of Wight provides some protection from the worst of the Channel weather, meaning the sea within the Solent can stay relatively flat compared with conditions in the open sea. But at the same time the tides in the Solent provide Day Skipper students with an excellent challenge to their seamanship and navigational skills.

Accommodation

During your sailing course you’ll sleep on board the yacht. There’s typically three double cabins and two single berths which provide accommodation for eight people.

However, there’s only ever a maximum of 2, 3, 4 or 5 students on board plus the instructor depending on the course ratio option that you book.

You will get your own sleeping space be this a cabin or the saloon. You will not have to share a sleeping space with anyone else unless you have booked as a group of friends/family.

Showers/Facilities

Whilst we do have showers on board the yacht, most nights you can use the hot showers and facilities in a marina.

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.

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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, be it vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, gluten free, or allergies, we can normally accommodate these. Just let us know when you fill out your booking form.

Location

Shamrock Quay is easily accessible by train or car.

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 in. 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

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.