Professional Yachtmaster Training

Once you are a qualified Yachtmaster it does not expire as such, but you will need to renew your paper licence with a new photo every few years. If however you are commercially endorsed, or you have also the STCW endorsement, then these additional endorsements do neeD renewing every 5 years, and your medical will need renewing every 1 to 2 years depending on the type.

A yachtmaster offshore is qualified to skipper vessels up to 200 tons, this can be commercially endorsed if required so the skipper can work commercially as a yacht captain on vessels up to 24m in length, or as yacht crew on vessels of any length.

It takes a serious commitment to achieve yachtmaster offshore, so you will need to focus all your attention to the course every day. If you follow the process then it is achievable in 90 days, but it is not a holiday, there are theory and practical training sessions by day, and self study in the evenings. So yes it is hard work, but amazing fun too. 

This depends how well you have been trained. The yachtmaster exam places you in situations that allow you to demonstrate general seamanship and specific tasks both practical and theoretical.  if you do have all these skills then the exam is straightforward, albeit still a challenge. Note that it is not a simple case of just learning skills, they will need to be drilled repeatedly in various weather conditions. You achieve face these fresh challenges daily during the course.

The highest RYA qualification ultimately is the instructor training level, but if you exclude that option then Yachtmaster Ocean is the highest level. Once you have your Yachtmaster Offshore you can build your experience and complete your ocean theory, and exam to become Yachtmaster Ocean.

The yachtmaster offshore course is the higher level and enables you to work commercially in the industry with the additional endorsements. Yachtmaster coastal is a lower level, and requires far less practical experience, sea time and miles. 

We achieve a consistently high Yachtmaster offshore pass rate by choosing the very best FULL Yachtmaster Instructors and making sure our fast track team spend every week with a FULL Yachtmaster Instructor (YMI) at a low training ratio.   There is no substitute for experienced Full Yachtmaster Instruction and smaller group sizes.

We are Gibraltar based but most, if not all, your Yachtmaster passage making will be in the waters of Portugal and Spain. The tides and shipping traffic of the Gibraltar Straits are comparable to the UK, and the Bay of Gibraltar is a 24 hour service station of the seas with one of the worlds busiest container ports in Algeciras; the constant bunkering makes for a great place to practice challenging night drills. 

Fast Track Yachtmaster is about 75% hands on training so if there are too many people on each yacht you will not get the experience you need to get to grips with sailing a yacht.  We keep our sailing days to never more than five students to one Instructor on board one yacht, with a good majority of time at sea less than this ratio. You will be actively navigating and taking responsibly for the yacht from day one.