Yachtmaster Coastal and Offshore Exam Preparation

Prerequisites

RYA Day Skipper Practical and, ideally, Coastal Skipper Practical (Sail or Power). The exam is not a course: nothing is taught on the day, so you must arrive already able to skipper.
The Coastal Skipper / Yachtmaster shorebased theory knowledge (chartwork, tides, passage planning, COLREGs, meteorology, safety). See Coastal Skipper / Yachtmaster Theory Exam Preparation for how to pass those assessments.
A logbook of your sea time that you can sign, date and have countersigned by the skippers you sailed with. Documenting Qualifying Passages explains how to record it.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson you will be able to (RYA Yachtmaster Coastal and Yachtmaster Offshore Certificate of Competence, exam syllabus):

State the current RYA eligibility requirements for the Coastal and Offshore exams, and check them against your own log (RYA: exam prerequisites).
Explain how to book an exam, choose a boat and organise crew (RYA: arranging your exam).
Describe what happens on exam day, from the paperwork to the debrief.
List the areas the examiner assesses: passage planning, preparation, pilotage, navigation, boat handling, collision regulations, safety, emergencies, meteorology and skippering (RYA: Yachtmaster exam syllabus).
Recognise the common reasons candidates fail and avoid them.
Explain what is needed to commercially endorse the certificate.
Build a personal preparation plan for the 12 weeks before the exam.

RYA Syllabus Map

RYA syllabus item	Where it is covered
Exam prerequisites: sea time, miles, night hours, passages, SRC and first aid	Am I Eligible?
Arranging the exam: boat, crew, examiner, fees	Booking the Exam
Exam format and duration	What Exam Day Looks Like
Exam syllabus: International regulations, safety, boat handling, general seamanship, responsibilities of skipper, navigation, pilotage, passage planning, meteorology, emergencies	What the Examiner Assesses
Commercial endorsement	Commercial Endorsement
Personal preparation	A 12-Week Preparation Plan, Worked Example

Figures change. Every number in this lesson was checked against the RYA website in October 2026. The RYA reviews its schemes regularly, so confirm the current requirements on rya.org.uk (Certificates of Competence pages) before you book or pay for anything.

Coastal or Offshore?

Both are Certificates of Competence awarded on the result of an exam, not on attendance at a course. The difference is the scale of passage you are judged able to skipper.

	Yachtmaster Coastal	Yachtmaster Offshore
Judged competent to skipper	Coastal passages by day and night, on waters you can reasonably expect to know	Passages up to about 150 miles from a safe haven, by day and night
Minimum age	17	18
Typical exam length, one candidate	6 to 10 hours	8 to 12 hours
Typical exam length, two candidates	8 to 14 hours	10 to 18 hours
Typical candidate	Confident Coastal Skipper with a couple of seasons of skippering	Someone who already skippers offshore and could take any boat anywhere within its limits

The Offshore exam is the one most professional skippers and instructors need. Coastal is a sensible step if you sail mainly in your own area and have not yet built the offshore mileage. You cannot pass Offshore on the basis of being a very good Coastal candidate: the examiner expects the Offshore candidate to plan and run a boat with the authority of someone who has done it many times.

Am I Eligible?

All qualifying sea time must have been gained in the last 10 years, on seagoing yachts, in the discipline you are being examined in (sail time for a sail exam, power time for a power exam). At least half must be in tidal waters. A day at sea means at least four hours under way on a passage, not sitting in a marina. The definitions of a day, a skippered day and a qualifying passage are set by the RYA; read them before you add up your log.

Yachtmaster Coastal

Requirement	Standard	With a Coastal Skipper Practical certificate (or Yachtmaster Coastal in the other discipline)
Days at sea	30, on vessels under 24 m LOA	Reduced (the RYA currently quotes 12 days on vessels under 24 m)
Days as skipper	2, on vessels under 24 m LOA	2
Distance	800 miles	400 miles on vessels under 24 m LOA
Night hours	12	12
Radio	Short Range Certificate (SRC) or higher GMDSS certificate	Same
First aid	RYA First Aid or an acceptable equivalent	Same
Age	17	17

Yachtmaster Offshore

Requirement	Standard	If you already hold Yachtmaster Offshore in the other discipline
Days at sea	50, on yachts up to 500 gt	25
Days as skipper	5, on vessels under 24 m LOA	3
Distance	2,500 miles	1,250 miles
Passages over 60 miles	5, including 2 overnight and 2 as skipper	3, including 1 overnight and 1 as skipper
Radio	SRC or higher	Same
First aid	RYA First Aid or acceptable equivalent	Same
Age	18	18

There is no separate night-hours figure for Offshore because the two overnight passages already demand them.

Reading the small print

Qualifying passages. A 60 mile passage must be a genuine passage, not 60 miles of zigzagging in a bay. The RYA expects it to involve leaving one port and arriving at another (or a clear passage plan), to include a reasonable element of open water and to be logged with times and positions.
As skipper means you were in command and made the decisions, not that you helmed for the trip. A friend's boat counts if you genuinely ran it and they sign to say so.
Vessels over 24 m. Time on superyachts or large sail training ships is treated differently. If most of your time is on vessels over 24 m or over 500 gt, contact the RYA training department before booking.
Certificates must be valid on the day. First aid certificates expire (the RYA First Aid certificate is valid for three years). An out-of-date certificate is the most common avoidable reason for an exam being postponed.
Photo ID. Bring a passport or driving licence. The examiner checks it against your application.

Booking the Exam

Route 1: through a training centre

Most candidates take the exam at the end of a prep week at an RYA training centre. The centre provides a suitable boat, arranges the examiner through the RYA and usually supplies the crew (often the other candidates on the prep course). This is the easiest route and the one most first-time Offshore candidates take.

A typical package is three days of preparation followed by a two-day exam slot for up to four candidates. Use the prep days to sail the exam area, not to learn new skills.

Route 2: on your own boat

You can apply to the RYA directly and take the exam on your own boat. You then need to provide:

A boat between 7 m and 18 m LOA, seaworthy, suitable for the exam area and equipped to the standard in the RYA booklet Cruising Yacht Safety (C8).
A full, up-to-date set of charts (paper, or electronic with a backup) and publications for the area, tide tables, pilot books, plotting instruments and a GPS.
At least two crew besides the candidate. The examiner will not crew or help handle the boat.
The exam fee, paid through the RYA exam payments service, plus the examiner's travel costs where they apply.

Fees are set by the RYA and change; check the current figure on rya.org.uk.

Paperwork to send

Completed application form with a summary of your sea time.
Copies of your SRC and first aid certificates.
Your Day Skipper or Coastal Skipper Practical certificate if you are claiming reduced sea time.
Logbook or sea-time records, signed by the skippers concerned. The examiner may ask to see the originals.

What Exam Day Looks Like

There is no fixed script, but almost every exam follows this pattern.

1. Arrival and briefing (30 to 60 minutes)

The examiner checks your ID, certificates and log. They then explain how the exam will run, agree meal breaks and sleep for a two-day exam, and ask you about the boat. Expect questions such as "Talk me through the safety equipment on board" and "Show me where the seacocks and gas shut-off are."

2. Passage planning (Offshore especially)

Offshore candidates are usually sent a passage to plan before the exam, often 60 to 100 miles to a port they may never visit. Bring the plan in a form you could hand to a crew member: tidal gates, waypoints, alternative ports, weather limits and a pilotage plan for arrival. The examiner will question it hard. "Why leave at 0500 and not 0400?" is a fair question and they want a reasoned answer, not a guess.

3. Under way

The practical part is a series of tasks, each set by the examiner:

Blind pilotage or short-handed navigation into a small harbour, often at night.
Pilotage into an unfamiliar harbour using only your own pilotage plan, with the chart below.
Man overboard recoveries under sail and under power, sometimes unannounced.
Berthing and unberthing in awkward wind and tide, often with a crew member deliberately left unbriefed.
Anchoring and picking up a buoy.
Sail handling, reefing and heaving to.
Night work: identifying lights, judging risk of collision, entering harbour.
Emergency scenarios: fire, flooding, engine failure, a crew member with a head injury, a distress call.

Meanwhile you are expected to run the boat as its skipper: brief the crew, delegate, keep the log, check the weather and look after everyone.

4. Oral questioning

Expect questions throughout, and a longer session at the chart table. Typical topics are COLREGs (lights, shapes, sound signals, give-way scenarios with models or cards), weather (reading a synoptic chart, a shipping forecast and the effect on your plan), stability, engine faults, the regulations that apply to your boat, and what you would do if things went wrong.

5. Debrief

At the end the examiner tells you the result in private, explains why, and gives specific points to work on. A failed exam usually ends with a "partial pass" style list of areas to fix before you are re-examined.

What the Examiner Assesses

The examiner is asking one question: would I be happy for this person to skipper a yacht with my family on board, on the passages this certificate allows? Within that, they look for:

Area	What a pass looks like
Skippering and crew management	Clear briefs, tasks delegated, crew kept safe and informed, decisions made in good time and explained
Passage planning	A realistic plan with tidal gates, dangers, alternatives and weather limits, and evidence it was used
Navigation	Position always known to a sensible accuracy, using more than one method; EPs checked against GPS, depth and bearings
Pilotage	Simple, prepared plan (clearing lines, transits, depth contours); the skipper looks out of the boat, not at a screen
Boat handling	Controlled, planned manoeuvres using wind and tide; calm recovery when it goes wrong
COLREGs	Correct, early, obvious action; quick recognition of lights and shapes; knows the rules rather than a rough idea
Safety	Lifejackets, harness lines, gas, fire, MOB, liferaft and flares all known and briefed
Meteorology	Gets and interprets a forecast; can explain the synoptic situation and its effect on the plan
Emergencies	Sensible priorities: crew safety first, then boat, then communications

Examiners are not looking for perfection. A slightly untidy berthing that is recovered calmly is fine. A tidy berthing that relied on luck, or a skipper who never noticed the crew member without a lifejacket, is not.

Common Reasons Candidates Fail

From RYA examiner guidance and the experience of training centres, the same weaknesses come up again and again:

Not enough real skippering. The candidate has the miles, but most were as crew. They are slow to make decisions, wait to be told what to do, and do not take charge.
Weak pilotage. Heads down at the plotter, no prepared plan, and lost when asked to enter without electronics. Being unable to say where the boat is within a cable during pilotage is a frequent fail point.
COLREGs by instinct. Candidates who "know roughly" the rules hesitate on lights at night or on a crossing in a traffic separation scheme. The Offshore standard is near-instant recognition.
Poor boat handling under pressure. Typically berthing without assessing the wind and tide first, or a man overboard recovery that takes several attempts.
No crew management. The skipper does everything themselves, or gives vague instructions and then shouts.
Paperwork. An expired first aid certificate, unsigned log or miles that do not meet the definitions. This does not fail the exam, it stops it happening.
Not knowing the boat. Unable to find the seacocks, gas solenoid or bilge pump handle on the boat they have sailed for three days.

Commercial Endorsement

If you want to work on a small commercial vessel (charter, delivery, sea school or other boats coded under the MCA small vessel codes), your Yachtmaster certificate must be commercially endorsed. The details, including how coding works, are in Going Commercial: Endorsements, PPR, ENG1, STCW and Coding. In summary, the RYA currently requires:

A valid medical: the MCA ML5 (from your own GP) or an ENG1 (from an MCA-approved doctor). ENG1 is needed for most work on larger yachts.
The online RYA Professional Practices and Responsibilities (PPR) course.
A valid sea survival qualification, usually RYA Basic Sea Survival or STCW Personal Survival Techniques.
A valid SRC (or higher) and first aid certificate, as for the exam.

The endorsement lasts five years and has to be revalidated, which means renewing the medical and other certificates. Requirements vary with the code and the size of vessel, so check the current list on rya.org.uk before you apply.

A 12-Week Preparation Plan

Weeks 12 to 9: audit and paperwork

Add up your log against the tables above. Mark which days were as skipper and which passages qualify.
Check the expiry dates of your first aid certificate and SRC. Book refresher courses now if needed.
Read the RYA exam syllabus and the guidance notes for candidates. Highlight anything you have not done in the last year.
Choose your route: a training centre package or your own boat.

Weeks 8 to 5: fix the gaps on the water

Skipper at least two weekends on unfamiliar boats if possible. Practise taking charge from the first minute.
Do at least one night passage and one night harbour entry as skipper.
Practise man overboard recoveries under sail and under power until you can do them first time, in different wind strengths.
Berth in every orientation: bows to, stern to, alongside with the wind on and off, and with a cross tide.

Weeks 4 to 2: theory and drills

Learn COLREGs lights and shapes to the point of instant recall. Use flash cards for 10 minutes a day.
Practise blind pilotage at the chart table: plan, then talk through it with a friend calling out depths and bearings.
Work through two or three full passage plans to unfamiliar ports. Time how long they take.
Read the latest Cruising Yacht Safety (C8) and know the safety kit on your exam boat.

Final week

Get the exam passage plan done early and sleep properly.
Check the forecast every day and have a view on how it affects the exam area.
Pack: certificates, ID, log, plotting instruments, pencils, hand-bearing compass, head torch with red light, foul weather gear and a notebook.

Worked Example

Sara wants to take Yachtmaster Offshore (sail) next spring. Her log for the last eight years shows:

58 days at sea, 2,700 miles, 60 per cent in tidal waters.
4 days as skipper, all on a 10 m yacht.
Passages over 60 miles: six, of which three were overnight. She skippered one of them.
SRC: valid. RYA First Aid: taken 3 years and 4 months ago.

Assessment against the Offshore requirements:

Requirement	Needed	Sara	Status
Days at sea	50	58	Met
Miles	2,500	2,700	Met
Tidal waters	At least half	60 per cent	Met
Days as skipper	5	4	Short by 1
60 mile passages	5, 2 overnight, 2 as skipper	6, 3 overnight, 1 as skipper	Short by 1 skippered passage
SRC	Valid	Valid	Met
First aid	Valid	Expired (3 year validity)	Renew

Plan: Sara books a one-day first aid course for January. In April she charters for a long weekend and skippers a 75 mile overnight passage, which gives her both the missing skippered day and the second skippered qualifying passage. She asks the crew to countersign her log and books a training centre prep week and exam for late May, leaving time to rebook if the weather intervenes.

Had she booked without the audit, the examiner would have had to stop at the paperwork check.

Common Mistakes

Counting delivery crew time as skipper time. Only days when you were genuinely in command count.
Leaving certificates to the last minute. First aid and SRC courses fill up in spring.
Over-relying on the plotter. The examiner may switch it off. Practise without it.
Treating the prep week as a course. It is a rehearsal. Arrive able to skipper.
Silent skippering. If you do not say what you are thinking, the examiner cannot credit it. Brief out loud.
Arguing with the debrief. Write down the points, ask questions to understand them, and use them.

Summary

Yachtmaster Coastal and Offshore are Certificates of Competence awarded by exam alone.
Coastal needs 30 days, 2 as skipper, 800 miles and 12 night hours (reduced days and miles if you hold Coastal Skipper Practical). Offshore needs 50 days, 5 as skipper, 2,500 miles and five 60 mile passages with 2 overnight and 2 as skipper. Both need SRC and first aid, and all time must be within 10 years with half in tidal waters.
Coastal takes about 6 to 10 hours for one candidate, Offshore about 8 to 12 hours; two candidates take longer.
The examiner looks for a safe, decisive skipper who plans, navigates without depending on one source, handles the boat and manages the crew.
Most failures come from too little real skippering, weak pilotage, uncertain COLREGs and poor crew management.
Commercial endorsement needs a medical (ML5 or ENG1), PPR, sea survival, SRC and first aid.
Figures change: always check rya.org.uk before booking.

Check Your Understanding

What is the minimum number of days at sea and miles for Yachtmaster Offshore, and how many qualifying passages are needed?

Answer: 50 days and 2,500 miles, with five passages over 60 miles including two overnight and two as skipper.

How many night hours does the Yachtmaster Coastal exam require?

Answer: 12 night hours.

Within what period must qualifying sea time be gained, and what proportion must be in tidal waters?

Answer: Within the last 10 years, with at least half in tidal waters.

What two certificates must every candidate hold on the day?

Answer: A Short Range Certificate (or higher GMDSS radio certificate) and a valid first aid certificate such as RYA First Aid.

What size of boat is acceptable for the exam and how many crew must be on board besides the candidate?

Answer: 7 m to 18 m LOA, with at least two crew in addition to the candidate. The examiner does not crew.

Give three common reasons candidates fail.

Answer: Any three of: not enough real skippering experience, weak pilotage, uncertain COLREGs, poor boat handling under pressure, poor crew management, not knowing the boat.

What do you need to commercially endorse a Yachtmaster certificate?

Answer: A medical (ML5 or ENG1), the online PPR course, a sea survival qualification, plus valid SRC and first aid. Check rya.org.uk for current details.

Why is it worth auditing your log three months before the exam?

Answer: It finds gaps (skippered days, passages, expired certificates) while there is still time to fill them, so the exam is not stopped at the paperwork check.