Speedbird Offshore Yacht Club has been an RYA recognised training centre since 2009. You can learn with us from your very first day on the water and keep going all the way to Yachtmaster, taught throughout by experienced club instructors on the same well-found yachts you'll go on to sail. There's no need to own a boat or find your own crew.
The courses
A clear progression from complete beginner to skipper, with practical top-ups to keep you sharp along the way.
RYA courses, the pathway
Competent Crew
Takes a complete beginner to a safe, confident and useful member of the crew. Often run alongside Day Skipper students.
Day Skipper
The core skippering course: handle and navigate the boat and take charge of short passages by day.
Coastal Skipper
Skippering more demanding passages, by day and night, along the coast and across the Channel.
Yachtmaster Coastal & Offshore
Prepare for, and sit, the RYA Yachtmaster practical exam, the benchmark qualification for the leisure sailor.
Our own SOYC courses
Short, practical sessions we run in-house, to top up a skill or keep current, at any level.
One-Day Skill Byte
A focused practical top-up, boat handling, sail trim, mooring, to sharpen a specific skill in a single day.
Improve Your Skills
A refresher to build confidence and keep your skills current, and the two-yearly check for club skippers.
What it costs
Practical courses, on our boats. Two seasonal rates.
| Course | Length | 1 April–Oct | Nov–Mar |
|---|---|---|---|
| Competent Crew | 5 days | £650 | £600 |
| Day Skipper | 5 days | £650 | £600 |
| Coastal Skipper | 5 days | £720 | £660 |
| Yachtmaster, prep & exam | 7 days | £840 | £780 |
| Yachtmaster, prep only | 5 days | £720 | £660 |
| SOYC Skill Byte, sail trim / boat handling | 1 day | £86 | £71 |
| SOYC Improve Your Skills | 2 days | £172 | £142 |
The course fee covers the boat for the days you are on it, so you do not pay the daily sailing fee on top. It also includes the RYA course completion certificate (Competent Crew and above). It does not include food, shared meals ashore, or mooring fees away from base. The RYA Yachtmaster exam fee is paid separately to the RYA (£241 Offshore, £208 Coastal). Courses are open to members, and are charged on top of your membership rather than included in it. Rates are correct until 31 March 2027.
There's a place for you at the helm
Our skippers are club members who took their sailing further and now take our boats and crews to sea. It is the best sailing the club offers, and we are always looking for more.
We are always looking for new club skippers, and there's a real place for you at the helm.
Club Day Skipper
The Solent, from Hurst to the forts. Where every club skipper starts, and where most of the club's sailing happens.
Club Coastal Skipper
Anvil Point to Selsey Bill, and right around the Isle of Wight. The whole of the club's local coast.
Club Yachtmaster Coastal
Up to 20 nautical miles from a safe haven. Longer coastal passages, by day and by night.
Club Yachtmaster Offshore
Up to 60 nautical miles from a safe haven. Cross-Channel and beyond, with a crew who trust you.
They're all club skippers, the level simply sets how far you can take a boat. We help you build the miles and the tickets to get there. Every new club skipper sails their first two trips in Area 1, whatever their level.
How you get there
Most club skippers start as a Club Day Skipper, already holding the RYA Day Skipper certificate, and work up the levels as the miles and the tickets accumulate. You need the endorsement of two existing club skippers, and you take a practical Skipper Check with one of our instructors.
After that, moving up is usually about qualifications rather than more assessments. Reaching Yachtmaster level needs no further check with us: pass the RYA practical exam, send us the certificate within six months, and your club status follows. Going from Club Day Skipper to Club Coastal Skipper means either taking our own RYA Coastal Skipper course or sitting a further Skipper Check. Your Skipper Check also signs you off on the boat you took it on, usually Concorde, so skippering Speedbird needs familiarisation and a technical exam on top.
What a club skipper needs
The qualifications, tickets and logged experience for each level. Worth a look long before you are ready, because the sea time and the night hours are the parts that take time to build, and every club trip you sail counts towards them. If you already hold a ticket and just need the miles, start here.
Skipper qualification requirements, in full
| Requirement | Day Skipper | Coastal Skipper | YM Coastal | YM Offshore |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Endorsement of two club skippers | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| RYA Day Skipper shorebased completion certificate (or CS/YM shorebased) | Yes | No | No | No |
| RYA Coastal Skipper / Yachtmaster shorebased completion certificate | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| RYA Day Skipper or Coastal Skipper practical completion certificate | Yes | No | No | No |
| RYA Coastal Skipper certificate | No | Yes | No | No |
| RYA/MCA Yachtmaster Coastal certificate | No | No | Yes | No |
| RYA/MCA Yachtmaster Offshore certificate | No | No | No | Yes |
| Maritime radio operator, Short Range Certificate | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Radar qualification | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Valid first aid certificate, within the preceding three years | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SOYC Improve Your Skills | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sea survival course completion certificate | No | No | No | Yes |
| Minimum logged sea time | 400 nm | 400 nm | 800 nm | 2,500 nm |
| Days on board / days on club boats / days as skipper on a club boat | 12 / 8 / 0 | 12 / 8 / 6 | 30 / 5 / 0 | 50 / 5 / 0 |
| Night hours | 4 | 12 | 12 | 12 |
| Passages | None | None | 2 × 40+ nm | None |
Days on club boats must be sailed with three or more different skippers, on trips that are not training courses. The Club’s Sailing Orders are the definitive statement of these requirements; if anything here and the Sailing Orders disagree, the Sailing Orders win.