If you are considering getting a qualification to demonstrate your sailing or motor cruising ability, the Royal Yachting Association Yachtmaster Offshore qualification is without doubt the most respected Yachting and Motor Cruising qualification in the world.  The Yachtmaster Scheme is administered by the RYA on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. Yachtmaster Examiners are independent assessors and cannot be involved in the training of candidates.  They are therefore able to be completely objective when assessing candidates.
 
The examination is a one-day practical test at sea to assess the candidates’ ability to skipper a yacht or motor cruiser.
The exam fee for for the Yachtmaster Offshore for 2010 is 170 pounds and the Yachtmaster Coastal 149 pounds which should be paid by cheque or credit card to the RYA at the beginning of the exam.
 
Pre Exam Requirements.
A specific amount of experience is required prior to taking a Yachtmaster exam. A candidate is expected to have spent 50 days at sea, for 5 days of which he or she should have been skipper.  The minimum mileage requirement is 2,500 miles and five passages of over 60 miles should have been completed, two of which should have been overnight and two as skipper. Half of these requirements may have been done in non-tidal waters.  The requirements and syllabi for the exam are covered in ‘The RYA Sail Cruising Log Book (G15) and The RYA Motor Cruising Log Book (G18). Whilst it is not a requirement that candidates should have completed the Coastal Skipper / Yachtmaster theory course, the chances of passing the practical exam without having done this or had equivalent training are very unlikely.
Prior to taking the exam candidates should have VHF or SRC radio operators certificate and a First-Aid certificate, both of these can be obtained by attending a one-day course for each.
 
The examination is essentially a test of the candidates ability to take charge of a yacht and crew, it is vital therefore that candidates should have had experience of skippering in a variety of weather conditions in and out of harbours by day and night.
 
Eligibility of yacht or motor cruiser
Exams can be taken in your own boat which must be between 24ft and 78ft 7”.  The vessel must be in a sound condition and well equipped with safety equipment. Alternatively you can take your exam on a sailing school or motor cruising school boat.  Either way exams in Portugal can only be arranged through an RYA Training Centre.  Candidates for the exam must be 18 or over and experience prior to the exam should have been gained over the age of 15.
 
The Exam
The exam will take place over a minimum of eight hours for the Yachtmaster Offshore and six hours for the Yachtmaster Coastal; it is bound to be a nerve-racking experience even for very experienced skippers.  The examiner will do his best to relax the candidate, I often explain to candidates that my main criteria is as to whether at the end of the exam I feel that I would trust the candidate to take my children out for a days sailing. I do however expect the candidate to know collision regulations, sound signals and lights and shapes.  An ability to work out tidal heights quickly and effectively is essential as is accurate navigation with and without the help of GPS.
 
Using all the equipment
Whilst it is important that candidates should be familiar with all the functions of a GPS, during the exam I would expect the candidate to demonstrate his or her abilities as skipper by being ‘on deck’ as much as possible and where necessary to keep out of shallow water to make use of ‘clearing bearings’ and the echo sounder rather than the GPS.
On the basis that it is often more important to know where you are not, than where you are, a navigational tool often overlooked in daylight and good visibility is radar, which is extremely useful in giving a ‘distance off’.
 
Non British candidates.
Candidates can be of any nationality, however non British candidates should be aware that getting the Yachtmaster qualification is not just a question of paying your money, and getting the ‘license’. if a candidate is not up to the standard required he or she will not pass. 
 
I examined a Spanish candidate recently who told me that he had the Spanish equivalent of Yachtmaster Ocean. By his own admission during his de-brief, he wasn’t anywhere near the standard required by the RYA for the Yachtmaster. He put the yacht aground twice during the exam, and was prevented by me from doing it on a further two occasions.
 
I asked him to prepare a passage plan to take a yacht from Southampton to St Peter Port; I gave him an hour to complete this plan, an hour and a half later he demonstrated to me that he knew nothing of tidal gates, ports of refuge, traffic separation schemes, tidal heights and tidal streams.
His knowledge of collision regulations, sound signals, lights and shapes was abysmal and he informed me that in Spain skippers do not ever make a pilotage plan, when I asked him as to how in Spain people navigate their vessels in and out of harbours he replied ‘very carefully!’
His knowledge of knots would not have earned him an RYA competent crew certificate, when asked as to why he did not know some of the required knots, he replied that in Spain an ability to tie knots was a requirement for the crew not the skipper! 
 
Needless to say I did not find myself able to recommend to the RYA that he be awarded the Yachtmaster qualification. 
 
Man Overboard
The exam will always involve a man overboard simulated recovery.  The examiner will always make it clear as to whether or not he would like this exercise to be done under engine or sail, obviously with a motor cruiser there is no alternative choice!  Usually the examiner will tie a coiled rope to a fender, throw it overboard followed with a shout of ‘man overboard’, my female readers will be pleased to read that in these simulated exercises it is always a man who has been stupid enough to fall overboard!  The examiner will expect the candidate to take over the controls of the boat and bring the boat to a halt alongside the fender and rope so that a crewmember can retrieve them with a boat hook. There are many different methods of achieving this, the only criteria is that it should be done quickly, with the boat under control at all times and without running over the fender and rope.
 
Marina Boat Handling
The candidate will be asked to turn the vessel round in a confined space and take the boat out of and into a marina berth in ahead or astern.  Bringing the boat alongside a pontoon is also required as is leaving a pontoon with the use of a ‘spring’ if necessary.
 
Meteorology
Candidates will be expected to have heard or read a weather forecast or looked at a synoptic chart before the exam and should be able to discuss with the examiner the existing weather situation and its implications.
 
Pre-exam training
Even if a candidate has completed all the relevant RYA courses it is a very good idea to go to a school and complete a Yachtmaster preparation course, this would usually be over 5 days with the exam on the last day.  Not only will your skills be improved but you will also become familiar with the ‘examination area’.
 
The Yachtmaster exam sounds daunting, but it is well worth the effort.  Once you have passed you will be in possession of the most highly respected sailing or motor cruising qualification in the world.
 
For more information on Yachtmaster Offshore and Yachtmaster Coastal  examinations please go to one of my 'RYA Yachtmaster Training' pages, for sail cruising click here and for motor cruising click here.