How the RYA Yachtmaster Exam Is Examined - Examiner's Day & Standards

Prerequisites

This lesson looks at the Yachtmaster exam from the examiner's side: how examiners are appointed, how an exam day is structured, what is assessed and how pass and fail decisions are made. Before starting you should:

• Have passed, or be preparing for, a Yachtmaster Coastal or Offshore exam and know the candidate's experience of it.
• Have read the lessons on the instructor ladder and on coaching Yachtmaster candidates.
• Know the exam prerequisites and the G158 syllabus well enough to say which syllabus item any exam task is testing.
• Understand the Yachtmaster Ocean exam format (oral and written) from the Ocean course.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson you will be able to:

• Explain how Yachtmaster Examiners are identified, trained, appointed and kept current.
• Describe the examiner's responsibilities before, during and after an exam, including independence, candidate eligibility checks and paperwork.
• Set out a typical Coastal or Offshore exam day and explain how the examiner samples the syllabus in the time available.
• State what is assessed in each of the main areas and the standard expected.
• Explain how examiners reach a pass or fail decision, what a partial result or a resit involves, and how a debrief is given.
• Describe the Yachtmaster Ocean oral and written exam from the examiner's side.
• Apply the examiner's perspective to your own preparation or to the candidates you coach.

Why Examiners Are Separate From Instructors

The RYA Cruising Scheme certifies competence with a Certificate of Competence awarded by exam, not a course completion certificate. The value of the certificate depends on the exam being independent of the training, so the examiner is never the candidate's instructor and usually not from the candidate's centre. Examiners are appointed, trained and monitored by the RYA, and the MCA recognises the Yachtmaster certificates for commercial use on that basis.

Becoming an Examiner

Selection

There is no application form. Examiners are selected from the pool of experienced Yachtmaster Instructors (and Powerboat Trainers in the powerboat scheme). During the five-yearly instructor revalidation courses, the Instructor Trainers identify YMIs who might make examiners: consistently high personal standards, sound judgement, experience across a range of boats and waters, and the temperament to assess a stranger fairly for twelve hours. Each year the RYA reviews the recommendations and draws up a shortlist, taking into account both the individuals and the needs of the scheme, including where examiners are needed geographically.

The Examiner course and appointment

Shortlisted candidates are invited to an Examiner course, which covers the conduct of exams, standardisation of judgement, the paperwork and the handling of difficult situations. Those who complete it successfully are appointed as RYA Examiners. The route is shown below.

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Staying current

Examiners attend an update every five years. An examiner who still holds a current YMI endorsement or a Trainer appointment need only attend an examiners' oral update, because their practical standard is checked through the instructor revalidation. Every examiner has been assessed and trained afloat and demonstrates their skills every five years. The RYA also monitors exam results and candidate feedback, and examiners whose results are out of line with the scheme are looked at.

Before the Exam

The candidate books the exam through the RYA, which allocates an examiner. The examiner's responsibilities before the day include:

• Independence. The examiner must not have trained the candidate and should have no connection that could compromise the result.
• Eligibility. Checking the candidate's logbook and paperwork against the prerequisites before the exam begins. The diagram below summarises them. A candidate who does not meet them cannot be examined, however good they are, and the examiner records why.
• The vessel. The exam is conducted on a vessel supplied by the candidate or the centre. It must be seaworthy, between 7 m and 18 m for Coastal (and of a suitable size for Offshore), equipped to the RYA cruising yacht standard, and the candidate should be familiar with it. The examiner checks the safety equipment before leaving the berth.
• The crew. Crew of a reasonable standard are provided. The examiner is not crew, although they may be used as one for a manoeuvre; the candidate must be able to skipper with the people available.
• The plan. The examiner designs a day that samples the syllabus in the time available and suits the tides, weather and area.

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The Shape of the Day

A Coastal exam is six to ten hours for one candidate, eight to fourteen for two. An Offshore exam is eight to twelve hours for one candidate, ten to eighteen for two, with at most two candidates in 24 hours and four in a two-day session. An Offshore exam includes night work. The timeline below shows a typical Offshore day with two candidates.

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The examiner cannot test every syllabus item; there is not time. Instead the day is built from a small number of skippered passages during which most of the syllabus is observed in context, with set-piece manoeuvres (man overboard under sail and power, berthing, picking up a mooring, anchoring, blind navigation) and questioning woven in. A candidate who skippers a passage well demonstrates planning, pilotage, boat handling, crew management, collision regulations and decision making all at once.

With two candidates, each skippers alternate passages while the other acts as crew; the examiner watches both, because how a candidate behaves as crew (lookout, communication, attitude) is evidence too.

What Is Assessed

The RYA states that the exam assesses skippering skills, boat handling, general seamanship, navigation, safety awareness and knowledge of the collision regulations, meteorology and signals, to the level of the G158 syllabus. The wheel below groups the main areas.

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In practice the examiner is asking one question throughout: would I be happy for this person to take my family to sea as skipper in the conditions and area the certificate covers? The detailed areas are evidence towards that answer.

The standard

The standard is competence, not brilliance. The examiner expects a Coastal candidate to skipper a yacht safely on coastal passages by day and night, and an Offshore candidate to skipper on passages up to 150 miles from harbour in any conditions. The examiner is also looking for consistency: a candidate who berths well once and badly twice has not demonstrated the skill. A candidate who makes an error, recognises it and corrects it has demonstrated something important: the judgement to know when things are going wrong.

Reaching a Decision

The examiner keeps notes throughout the day against the syllabus areas. At the end, the decision is one of:

• Pass. The candidate has demonstrated the standard across the syllabus. A Yachtmaster Coastal candidate who exceeds the Coastal standard does not get an Offshore pass; the exam booked is the exam taken.
• Fail. The candidate has fallen short in one or more areas in a way that means they are not yet a safe skipper at that level. One serious safety lapse (an uncontrolled gybe with crew in the way, running the boat aground through poor pilotage, a dangerous man overboard approach) can fail a candidate on its own; so can a pattern of weakness across several areas.
• Partial resit. Where a candidate has shown the standard in most of the syllabus but one area was not examined or was weak, the examiner may recommend a resit of that part of the exam only, within a set period. The examiner records what must be re-examined.
• Coastal pass on an Offshore exam. Where a candidate booked for Offshore does not reach the Offshore standard but clearly meets the Coastal standard, the examiner may award Yachtmaster Coastal. The candidate must still meet the Coastal prerequisites.

Decisions are standardised by the Examiner course, by the updates and by the RYA's review of results. An examiner who is unsure discusses the case with the RYA Chief Examiner's office before finalising it.

The debrief

Every candidate is debriefed at the end of the exam, pass or fail. A good debrief is specific: what was strong, what was weak, what to do about it. A failed candidate should leave knowing exactly what was missing and how to prepare for the next attempt. The paperwork (the exam report, the pass certificate application or the fail report) is completed by the examiner and sent to the RYA, which issues the certificate.

The Ocean Exam

The Yachtmaster Ocean exam is different in form. It is an oral examination of about one and a half to two hours, with a written paper on sights and sight reduction and worldwide meteorology unless the candidate is exempt. The candidate submits, at least 48 hours before the exam, a narrative account of the planning and execution of the qualifying passage with copies of the log, and the navigational records showing that the yacht was navigated by astro: at a minimum the planning, reduction and plotting of a sun-run-meridian altitude sight and a compass check by a celestial body.

From the examiner's side:

• The paperwork is read before the exam and forms the basis of the oral. Thin or inconsistent paperwork is the commonest reason for a poor oral.
• The oral covers all aspects of ocean passage making: planning, navigation, worldwide meteorology, crew management, yacht preparation, maintenance and repairs. The examiner tests whether the candidate actually did the planning and the sights rather than a navigator aboard.
• The sight workings are checked line by line; an examiner can tell a sight worked at sea from one worked at a desk afterwards.
• Candidates holding an RYA/MCA Yachtmaster Ocean shorebased certificate whose final exam was invigilated at an RTC, or an MCA deck officer (unlimited) certificate, are exempt from the written paper.
• Only holders of the Yachtmaster Offshore Certificate of Competence (or the MCA OOW Yachts certificate) receive the full Ocean certificate on passing.

Worked Example: An Examiner's Notes

An Offshore exam, one candidate, a 36-foot sloop, Force 4 to 5 south-westerly, spring tides. The examiner's notes, condensed:

• 0900. Paperwork checked: 54 days, 3,100 miles, 6 passages over 60 M (3 overnight, 2 as skipper), SRC, first aid in date. Eligible. Safety equipment checked with candidate; candidate knew the location of everything and gave a good safety brief to crew.
• 0930. Departure from a finger berth, cross-tide. Plan stated: springs off on the stern line, then ahead. Executed cleanly. Good.
• 1000 to 1300. Skippered passage, 14 M, with a tidal gate at a headland. Plan showed the gate correctly and a contingency port. Pilotage out by eye and hand-bearing compass; fixes every 30 minutes. Crew briefed before each sail change. Two crossing situations with motor vessels handled correctly with reasons given. Collision regulation questioning: lights and shapes fluent; sound signals in restricted visibility slightly hesitant.
• 1315. Man overboard under sail, unannounced. Immediate action good (hove-to, danbuoy over, MOB button). Return by tack, final approach on a close reach, stopped with the dummy at the shrouds in three and a half minutes. Recovery method explained. Good. Under power: engine checks for lines in the water, approach to windward, neutral before recovery. Good.
• 1400. Blind navigation, 2.5 M into a bay using the 10 m contour. Arrived within 150 m of the target. Candidate kept the deck informed and had sound signals going. Good.
• 1530. Anchoring: scope correct for depth and tide, transit taken to check for dragging. Questions on weather: synoptic chart read correctly, explained what the next 24 hours would do and what that meant for the planned night passage.
• 1700. Berthing in a marina, cross-wind: first approach aborted when the bow blew off, second approach good with midships line first. The abort was the right call.
• 1900 to 2300. Night passage, 12 M, pilotage into an unfamiliar harbour using a prepared plan. Lights identified correctly against background lighting. Crew clipped on; skipper kept a lookout while using the plan. Good.
• 2330. Emergencies by question: fire in the engine bay, steering failure, taking a tow. Answers ordered and sensible. Debrief given.

Decision: Pass. Noted weakness: sound signals in restricted visibility; candidate advised to revise before skippering in fog.

Common Mistakes (Candidates and Examiners)

• Candidates who arrive ineligible. An examiner cannot examine a candidate who does not meet the prerequisites, and the exam fee is lost.
• Candidates who do everything themselves. The examiner is assessing a skipper, not a deckhand.
• Candidates who hide problems. An examiner sees the error anyway; what they want to see next is the correction.
• Thin Ocean paperwork. The oral is built on it; the sights must be the candidate's own.
• Examiners who over-test. A day packed with set pieces and little skippered passage gives a worse picture than three good passages with manoeuvres woven in.
• Examiners who examine in isolation. The scheme depends on standardisation; unusual cases are discussed with the RYA.
• Vague debriefs. "Not quite there" helps nobody; "your pilotage plan had no clearing bearings and you were set onto the bank" does.

Summary

• Examiners are independent of the training and appointed by the RYA from experienced YMIs identified at revalidation, shortlisted annually, trained on an Examiner course and updated every five years.
• Before the exam the examiner checks eligibility, the vessel and its equipment, and plans a day that samples the syllabus in the tides and weather available.
• Coastal: 6 to 10 hours (8 to 14 for two); Offshore: 8 to 12 hours (10 to 18 for two), including night work; at most two candidates per 24 hours.
• The day is built from skippered passages with set-piece manoeuvres and questioning; the standard is safe, consistent competence at the level of the certificate.
• Decisions are pass, fail, partial resit or a Coastal award on an Offshore exam, standardised through training and review; every candidate gets a specific debrief.
• The Ocean exam is an oral of 1.5 to 2 hours built on the candidate's passage narrative and astro records, plus a written paper unless exempt.

Check Your Understanding

1. Why must the examiner not be the candidate's instructor?

Answer: Because the Yachtmaster is a Certificate of Competence awarded by exam, and its value, including its recognition by the MCA for commercial use, depends on the assessment being independent of the training.

1. How does a Yachtmaster Instructor become an examiner?

Answer: By being identified as a potential examiner by Instructor Trainers at a five-yearly revalidation, being shortlisted by the RYA in its annual review according to the needs of the scheme, attending an Examiner course and completing it successfully, after which the RYA appoints them.

1. What must an examiner check before the exam begins, and what happens if the candidate does not meet the prerequisites?

Answer: The candidate's logbook and certificates against the prerequisites (age, days, miles, passages, night hours, tidal waters, SRC and first aid), the suitability and safety equipment of the vessel, and the crew. A candidate who does not meet the prerequisites cannot be examined.

1. How long is a Yachtmaster Coastal exam for one candidate, and for two?

Answer: Six to ten hours for one candidate and eight to fourteen hours for two.

1. Why is most of an exam day spent on skippered passages rather than set-piece drills?

Answer: Because a skippered passage lets the examiner observe planning, pilotage, boat handling, crew management, collision regulations and decision making together and in context, which is what the certificate is about; drills test isolated skills.

1. A candidate booked for Yachtmaster Offshore performs well but their night pilotage and blind navigation are clearly below the standard. What options does the examiner have?

Answer: A fail; a partial resit limited to the weak areas within a set period; or, if the candidate clearly meets the Coastal standard and prerequisites, the award of Yachtmaster Coastal instead.

1. What single question underlies the examiner's judgement throughout the day?

Answer: Whether they would be happy for this candidate to take their family to sea as skipper in the conditions and area the certificate covers.

1. What must a Yachtmaster Ocean candidate submit before the oral, and when?

Answer: At least 48 hours beforehand: a narrative account of the planning and execution of the qualifying passage with copies of the relevant log pages, and the navigational records showing astro navigation, including at least a sun-run-meridian altitude sight planned, reduced and plotted, and a compass check by a celestial body.

1. Who is exempt from the Ocean written paper?

Answer: Holders of an RYA/MCA Yachtmaster Ocean shorebased course completion certificate whose final exam was invigilated at an RYA Recognised Training Centre, and holders of an MCA-issued full STCW deck officer Certificate of Competence (unlimited).

1. A candidate aborts a berthing approach and succeeds on the second attempt. How does the examiner view this?

Answer: Favourably. Recognising that an approach is failing and going round demonstrates judgement; what would count against the candidate is pressing on with a failing approach or failing to recognise the problem.

Sources and Further Reading

• RYA Examiners: selection, Examiner course, five-year updates.
• RYA Yachtmaster Offshore exam: prerequisites, duration, candidate limits, assessment areas.
• RYA Yachtmaster Coastal exam: prerequisites, duration, vessel size.
• RYA Yachtmaster Ocean exam: oral and written format, documents, exemptions.
• RYA: arranging your exam: booking and allocation of examiners.
• James Stevens on the Yachtmaster exam: an examiner's account of what is assessed and why candidates fail.