Entry & progression
Certificate: RYA/MCA Yachtmaster Offshore — a practical certificate of competence for the skipper of a small cruising vessel on offshore passages, assessed afloat. Entry / experience: minimum 50 days, 5 days as skipper, 2500 miles including at least 5 passages over 60 miles (2 as skipper, 2 overnight); VHF/SRC and first-aid certificates. Commercial use: commercially endorsed (with RYA PPR, medical, first aid, radio) it authorises small commercial craft up to 150 miles from a safe haven; it is the principal feeder to MCA Master (Code Vessels) <200 GT. Progresses to Yachtmaster Ocean.
Planning to an offshore standard
The four-stage discipline is the same, but the appraisal is wider and the contingencies are more important. The skipper studies the whole passage — the charts, the pilot books at both ends, the tidal strategy, the traffic, and above all the weather window for the time the boat will be at sea. The plan lays a safe track with real alternatives: ports of refuge along the way, an abort point beyond which it is better to press on than turn back, and a landfall planned so it can be made safely by night. Because help may be many hours away, the plan assumes the boat and crew must be self-reliant.
- Appraise the whole passage: charts, pilot books, weather windows, tidal gates and crew capability across a sustained voyage.
- Plan a safe track with alternatives, a tidal strategy, night pilotage for the landfall, and ports of refuge.
- Prepare the boat for offshore and overnight work: rig, reefing, navigation lights, safety gear, stores and power.
- Set a watch system that keeps a rested, effective crew right across the passage, including the skipper.
Self-reliance offshore
The defining feature of offshore work is distance from help. Redundancy matters: an independent means of navigation if the electronics or power fail, spares for the likely failures, and a crew who can keep the boat going through a blow and a long night. The examiner is looking for a skipper who has thought about what happens when something breaks a long way from land, not one who assumes nothing will.
TIP — The weather window is the plan Offshore, the go/no-go decision is dominated by the forecast for the whole time at sea, not just the start. A good skipper waits for the window and has a plan for the weather actually arriving, not the weather hoped for.
WARNING — Plan the landfall for the worst case Arrive off a strange coast tired, at night, with the weather down, and a poorly planned landfall becomes dangerous. Plan a safe closing course, a clearing depth or light, and the patience to stand off until certain of your position.