Frequently Asked Questions

FAQs

Got questions?
We’ve got answers.

10 reasons to learn with us

Want to find out why our students love what we do? It only takes two minutes to find out why we’re different from the rest.

Show me

We have taught the RYA Yachtmaster scheme in a classroom for over ten years, always with 5-star reviews.

We took everything we’ve learned and applied it to when building the online content for our course. Simply put, it’s as close to a classroom course as online gets!

To pass, you have to finish the course!

It’s easy to say online provides ‘flexibility’ and ‘you can do it in your own time’, but it’s harder to construct engaging course content to overcome specific digital learning challenges and keep students motivated. Through thorough testing, using our classroom students as guinea pigs*, we have structured a course to support how you learn online, building confidence in each topic, tool and skill at every stage.

* No students were harmed in the testing of our content!

Content designed to provide support at every stage

We questioned why the other providers put so much emphasis on their instructor support. Our view is simple: the better the content, the less support a student should need. We are here to support you at every step of your journey but have fed ten years and hundreds of students’ worth of understanding into building content that teaches, supports, reaffirms and checks the knowledge of a topic, tool or technique. And, above all, fun!

Everything you need is included – no hidden ‘extras’

We are the only provider that has no hidden extras. Everything you need to complete and pass the course is included.

  • No hidden extras
    Everything you need to complete the course is included.
  • No course extension fees
    Once you sign up, you control when your instructor support starts and can pause it (in fact, if we don’t see you for a while, we’ll pause it automatically so you don’t accidentally run out of time).
  • Lifetime access
    You retain access to the content for as long as you need it. You can use it for revision, particularly useful before taking the practical course or perhaps before you embark on that charter holiday.

Day Skipper theory is an RYA shore-based qualification and the required level of navigational & sailing theory for anyone intending to take the Day Skipper Practical course. It provides an excellent foundation and platform for learning how to put out to sea safely.

The course includes everything you need to earn the Day Skipper theory certificate successfully. The only thing you need to provide is your time.

Course pack

You’ll receive a course pack (dispatched the same day if ordered before 3 p.m. on weekdays) that contains everything you need to complete the course.

Instructor support

You’ll get 12 months of unlimited support from RYA-qualified instructors 365 days a year, all managed using your briefing room.

Course content

You’ll have immediate, lifetime access to over 50 hours of engaging, interactive teaching content, including practice exercises that provide debriefings and support.

Social group

You’ll have immediate access to the Day Skipper social group, where you can meet and connect with like-minded people at the same stage of their journey as you.

Downloadable & support content

You’ll have access to our downloadable & support content. We have over 50 supplementary downloads to help you learn the topics and techniques.

See the ‘What’s included?’ tab on the Day Skipper theory enrolment page for more details.

The Day Skipper theory course involves a minimum of 40 hours of teaching and two assessment papers, each lasting 1½ hours.

You can complete the online course at your own pace. Everything is stored, so you can take a break and return anytime. There isn’t a time limit, and you get 12 months of instructor support spread over any timeframe you like.

However long it takes you to complete the course, you will retain access to the content, which will allow you to revise before your practical course.

Lifetime access!

You have access to the course content for life!

12 months of instructor support on your terms

Once enrolled, you get 12 months of instructor support, but you are in control of when this starts and can pause it should you need a break.

The Day Skipper theory certificate is valid for life. However, like many things, brushing up and learning new skills is continuous. Anyone who thinks they’ve completed their learning is probably not best suited to skipper a boat!

Yes, we do! If you want to sign up with more than one person, you get a 10% discount on the total enrollment cost.

Each student requires a login, so to get the multi-person discount, add the course to your basket, then add the additional person by selecting the ‘Additional Enrollment’ option. This will automatically discount the total course price in your basket and generate a voucher code for the extra person (or people) to enrol themselves.

No! Any progress in Sailing Essentials is migrated to your Day Skipper progress, so you won’t have to do it again.

Most students ask for help when doing the navigation modules, so your 12-month instructor support time only starts once you start the ‘How to read the map!’ module of the Day Skipper theory course.

The Day Skipper practical course is operated on a continuous assessment basis. Therefore, you should receive regular debriefings, at least daily. You are not expected to circumnavigate the globe the week after completing the course. However, you should be able to put out to sea in familiar waters during daylight hours. You should complete the course successfully after completing the pre-requisite sea miles. 

Your instructor may suggest a post-course action plan to help you reach the necessary level.

Before embarking on the Day Skipper practical course, you should ensure your theory knowledge is to the level of the Day Skipper theory course. The minimum pre-course practical experience required is five days of sailing, living onboard, 100 miles logged and four hours of night sailing.

If you are in the UK, delivery is free. If you live further afield, see the ‘Where do you ship to?‘ FAQ for pricing.

We’re happy for anyone to study with us and will support you wherever you are.

  • For UK addresses, delivery is free,
  • For European addresses, there’s a £20 delivery surcharge and, 
  • Further afield, a £40 delivery surcharge is applied. 

You can start the online course immediately wherever you are based, as many lessons don’t require the course pack.

We hope you won’t, but we have a 14-day satisfaction guarantee on our courses. You can ask for a refund if you decide it’s not for you. 

You’ll need to return your unused course pack to us, but using our self-serve returns system is easy.

If you are unsatisfied with the course and want a refund, you must initiate a return process. Your course pack needs to be returned to us, complete and intact. We cannot offer a full refund for items returned damaged or missing, and replacement charges may be deducted from the course price to reflect this.

To start a return and refund process, go to your account and tap on ‘refund’. You will be issued a refund number and returns label that covers the cost of sending the course pack back to us.

Once your course pack is received, we will refund the card you placed the order with. It can take 5 & 7 days for the refund to appear on your statement. This is in the hands of the card issuer, and we cannot control this. We cannot process refunds to other cards or by other means for security reasons.