The RYA Coastal Skipper requirements are 15 days at sea, 2 of those days as skipper, 300 logged nautical miles and 8 night hours, with a minimum age of 17. The course itself runs over 5 days on the water. You are also expected to arrive with boat handling ability to RYA Day Skipper practical standard and navigation knowledge to Coastal Skipper theory level.
Those are the numbers the RYA publishes. What they do not tell you is whether you are ready, and that is a different question. I have taught students who met every line of the entry criteria and still had a hard week, and I have sailed with people who scraped in on miles and skippered beautifully.
This guide covers what the RYA asks for, what the five days actually involve, what the certificate lets you do afterwards, and the one thing about Coastal Skipper that most people only discover later: it halves the sea time you need for the Yachtmaster™ Coastal exam.
The RYA Coastal Skipper requirements at a glance
The RYA sets four experience minimums plus an age limit for the Coastal Skipper practical course.
| Requirement | RYA Coastal Skipper Practical |
|---|---|
| Days at sea | 15 |
| Days as skipper | 2 |
| Logged miles | 300 nautical miles |
| Night hours | 8 |
| Minimum age | 17 |
| Course length | 5 days |
| Assumed boat handling | RYA Day Skipper practical standard |
| Assumed knowledge | Coastal Skipper / Yachtmaster™ Offshore theory |
| Assessment | Continuous, by your instructor |
| Certificate | RYA Coastal Skipper Practical Course Completion Certificate |
Source: RYA Course Finder, RYA Coastal Skipper Practical Sailing Course, accessed 13 July 2026.
Treat these as a floor rather than a target. A candidate arriving with 300 miles and 8 night hours has met the criteria and will still be working hard. Most people who enjoy the week turn up with rather more than that.
Do you need RYA Day Skipper before Coastal Skipper?
You do not formally need the Day Skipper certificate in hand, but you do need to sail to that standard, and in practice almost everyone who joins a Coastal Skipper course has done it.
The RYA states that candidates are expected to have prior boat handling expertise to the standard of the RYA Day Skipper practical qualification. That wording matters. It is a standard, not a certificate, so an experienced yacht owner with plenty of miles and no paperwork can be perfectly well placed to join the course.
What you cannot do is arrive without the underlying skills. Coastal Skipper assumes you can already berth the yacht, take a fix, reef in a rising wind and run a watch. The week is about extending that into longer passages, unfamiliar harbours and darkness, and there is no time built in to teach the basics again.
If you are earlier in the pathway, our guide to the RYA Day Skipper requirements sets out what that course asks for. Our colleagues at Sailing Course Online have also written a full comparison of Day Skipper and Coastal Skipper if you are weighing up which one you should be booking.
Do you need the theory course first?
Coastal Skipper theory is not listed as a mandatory prerequisite, but the practical course assumes you have it, and this is where candidates most often struggle.
The shorebased course is shared with Yachtmaster™ Offshore. It goes well beyond Day Skipper theory into offshore meteorology, the full collision regulations, advanced passage planning, and tidal work that involves rather more than reading a curve. On the practical course you will be asked to plan a passage across the Channel or down to the West Country, brief your crew, and then execute it while the tide does its best to move you sideways in the dark.
Doing that for the first time, while also learning what a secondary port calculation is, makes for a long week. My advice, after a good many of these courses, is to finish the theory and join the practical while it is still fresh in your head.
You can study the Coastal Skipper and Yachtmaster™ theory syllabus online at your own pace, with support from the same instructors who run our practical courses.
What the Coastal Skipper practical week actually involves
The Coastal Skipper practical is five days aboard, living on the yacht, with several night sails and some genuinely long days.
The RYA syllabus covers eight areas:
- Passage planning
- Preparation for sea
- Pilotage
- Passage making and ability as skipper
- Yacht handling under power
- Yacht handling under sail
- Adverse weather conditions
- Emergency situations
Source: RYA Course Finder, accessed 13 July 2026.
The difference from Day Skipper is not the list of topics but the level of independence. On Day Skipper your instructor is at your shoulder. On Coastal Skipper you are handed a destination and expected to produce the plan, the weather picture, the pilotage, the watch system and the crew briefing, then deliver it. Your instructor steps back and watches, interjects with coaching suggestions, has an eye to safety and assesses your progress throughout the week.
Running from Hamble Point Marina, we use the Solent for what it is good for and then leave it. Cross-Channel passages, the Channel Islands and the West Country all sit within range of a five-day course, and the busy shipping in the approaches to Southampton gives you collision regulations practice you cannot manufacture on a quiet coast. Night pilotage into an unfamiliar harbour is the part most people remember.
If you are short of the 300 miles, building the miles on an offshore passage is usually a more enjoyable way to get there than day sailing in circles and often runs alongside students doing the Coastal Skipper course.
How the Coastal Skipper certificate halves your Yachtmaster™ Coastal sea time
Holding an RYA Coastal Skipper Practical course completion certificate cuts the sea time you need to sit the Yachtmaster™ Coastal exam from 30 days to 12, and the mileage from 800 to 400.
This is the part that surprises people, and it is set out plainly in the RYA's own exam pre-requisites.
| Yachtmaster™ Coastal exam | Without Coastal Skipper certificate | With Coastal Skipper certificate |
|---|---|---|
| Days at sea (vessel under 24m LOA) | 30 | 12 |
| Miles logged | 800 | 400 |
| Days as skipper | 2 | 2 |
| Night hours | 12 | 12 |
| Minimum age | 17 | 17 |
Source: RYA Certificates of Competence, Yachtmaster Coastal exam pre-requisites, accessed 13 July 2026.
Three further conditions apply to that sea time whichever route you take. All of it must have been gained within the 10 years before the exam, at least half of it must be in tidal waters, and it must be on the type of vessel matching the exam you are sitting, so sail time for a sail exam.
You also need two certificates in hand before the RYA will let you sit the exam: a GMDSS compliant radio operator's certificate, which for most people means the Short Range Certificate, and a valid first aid certificate.
If your ambitions run further than coastal work, the same principle applies further up the scheme, and our guide to what the Yachtmaster™ Offshore exam involves explains the sea time and qualifying passages at that level.
RYA Coastal Skipper limitations: what the certificate does and does not do
The Coastal Skipper practical certificate is a course completion certificate, not a certificate of competence, and that distinction shapes everything it can be used for.
A course completion certificate says you attended the course and reached the required standard in the eyes of your instructor. A certificate of competence, which is what Yachtmaster™ Coastal and Yachtmaster™ Offshore are, confirms that you have passed an independent examination with an RYA examiner who had never met you before.
In practical terms:
- Chartering: most charter companies accept Coastal Skipper happily, and many will accept Day Skipper plus an ICC. Coastal Skipper opens up more demanding areas and larger yachts with some operators.
- Working commercially: a course completion certificate cannot be commercially endorsed. If you want to work professionally, you need a certificate of competence, which means sitting a Yachtmaster™ exam.
- Range: the syllabus prepares you for coastal and offshore passages by day and night, but the RYA is explicit that a Yachtmaster™ Coastal holder does not necessarily have the experience for longer passages. The same caution applies to Coastal Skipper.
Are you ready? An examiner's view
Sea time accumulates quite happily while somebody else skippers. What the Coastal Skipper week asks for is a person who will look at a forecast, a tide and a tired crew and choose, then explain why. The two days as skipper in the entry requirements exist for exactly that reason, and they are the requirement people are most inclined to fudge.
Before you book, ask yourself whether you have ever planned a passage from a blank chart, taken a yacht into a harbour you had never seen, or turned back. If the answer to all three is no, another season of mile building will make the course a great deal more rewarding, and it will cost you less in the long run than repeating it.
Frequently asked questions
How many miles do I need for RYA Coastal Skipper?
300 logged nautical miles, alongside 15 days at sea, 2 days as skipper and 8 night hours.
Can I do Coastal Skipper without Day Skipper?
Yes, if you already sail to Day Skipper practical standard. The certificate itself is not a formal prerequisite, but the ability is assumed and the course does not revisit it.
Is Coastal Skipper the same as Yachtmaster™ Coastal?
No. Coastal Skipper is a five-day training course assessed by your instructor. Yachtmaster™ Coastal is a certificate of competence awarded after an independent exam with an RYA examiner. Holding the Coastal Skipper certificate reduces the sea time needed to sit that exam.
What is the minimum age for RYA Coastal Skipper?
17, both for the practical course and for the Yachtmaster™ Coastal exam.
Do I need the theory before the practical?
It is not compulsory, but the practical course assumes Coastal Skipper theory knowledge and the week is demanding without it. We recommend completing the theory first.
How long is the Coastal Skipper practical course?
5 days minimum, lived aboard, including night sailing.
Can Coastal Skipper be commercially endorsed?
No. Commercial endorsement requires a certificate of competence, so you would need to sit a Yachtmaster™ exam.
Talk it through with us
If you are not sure whether you are ready, ring us on 01489 250 040 and tell us what you have done. We would rather point you at a mile builder for a season than take your money for a week you will not enjoy.