We receive countless enquiries from charterers who have been sailing all their life, own a yacht, or have many years of experience, but they have never qualified, why would they need to?
Over the years more and more countries are making it a requirement that the charter skipper has a sailing licence, or sailing certificate. It is neither the broker, nor the charter company that stipulate this, but the local authorities, and as time goes on it is becoming more strictly enforced and regulated. We already share your frustration on this, for those of you with vast sailing experience it can be a tedious process.
So what do you need to do? You need to contact the RYA to establish where your nearest sailing school is located, and take it from there. It does not need to be time consuming, you can complete an RYA ICC assessment course in just one day for approx. £120; a RYA Day Skipper course would take longer (usually 5 days minimum, or a long weekend for the practical). You may even decide to go all the way and become a Yacht Master.
If you prefer to undertake this in sunnier climes, there are many sailing schools overseas that we work with and could recommend.
Once completed, not only will you be proud of your achievement, you will have the freedom to charter anywhere in European waters.
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