RYA Course - Day Skipper
RYA Day Skipper Practical Courses in Falmouth, Cornwall.
The RYA Day Skipper Practical Course is conducted on board a cruising yacht to teach navigation and pilotage, boat handling, seamanship and safety. Successful candidates will be deemed qualified to Skipper a small cruising yacht safely by day in tidal waters with which they are familiar.
The entry level for the ‘Day Skipper’ qualification has a minimum age limit of 16 years and takes those with at least 100 sea miles and Day Skipper Theory certificate or relevant navigational experience.
It is run from the historic Port of Falmouth and normally starts at 1600hrs Sunday and finishes around 1300hrs on the following Friday. We can also organise courses around your specific dates if you wish to book an exclusive course.
The RYA stipulates a maximum instructor ratio of 1:5 for Sail Training. At Trysail we work on 4 students to one instructor as we believe this gives the optimum ratio for student learning and makes life on board more comfortable.
Accommodation is provided on board the yacht during the week and all meals are included in the cost. All our instructors are experience cooks and enjoy entertaining at the end of a hard day. We cater for all tastes and we are also more than happy to cater for Vegetarians and Vegans with exciting, local, home-cooked meals.
The course will commence with a full safety brief that our instructors will make fun and interesting. Depending on the time of year and weather conditions you will then make a gentle voyage to the first overnight anchorage, mooring buoy or pontoon.
Your instructor will cook you a lovely meal, assess your previous experience and make a rough plan for the week. We do not set a fixed itinerary for our 5day courses as the weather plays such a large part and changes daily.
As with the Competent Crew course our aim is to help and encourage each of our candidates to complete the syllabus, set by the RYA, during the course and to award a Day Skipper Certificate of Competency. Each candidate is kept informed of their progress as they learn about the boat, its handling and the routines onboard.
The Day Skipper candidates are given the chance to build on prior experience while the instructor assesses strengths and weaknesses. Following this initial period each Day Skipper candidate will be gently encouraged to take control of the crew and the boat during navigational passages, pilotage into and out of harbour, coming alongside and handling the boat under both sail and power.
You will also learn meteorology, basic engine maintenance, how to plan a passage, victual a yacht and how to take action as a skipper in certain emergency situations including man over board. There will also be a night passage where you will gain experience of navigating, sailing and pilotage by night.
In Falmouth, Cornwall we are blessed with the sheltered waters of the Carrick Roads in which to provide sail training.
The Roseland and Pendennis peninsulas protect the area from the English channel and provide us with the 3rd deepest natural harbour in the world! Even during a week of inclement weather we are still able to operate and explore the upper reaches of the Fal estuary, Truro Rivers and make passage to the Helford River and even Fowey. Blessed with settled weather our instructors will always push to get away from it all and you may find yourself exploring the coastlines of South Devon, Mounts Bay or even the beautiful Isles of Scilly.
Whatever the weather throws at you, you’ll be guaranteed a rewarding and enjoyable week on the water and will complete a minimum of 100 sea miles and 4 night hours to add to your logbook and hopefully the confidence and ability to skipper your own boat by day.
