RYA Day Skipper Practical
The RYA Day Skipper Practical Course will advance your skills of pilotage, navigation, seamanship and boat handling up to the standard required to skipper a cruising yacht by day in tidal and non-tidal waters.
You will be learning all these skills in the busy tidal waters of the Solent. You have learned about tidal heights and tidal streams, memorised your buoys and their light characteristics so where better to put all that knowledge into practise ? The Solent has it all, you will be visiting beautiful little harbours both on the mainland and on the Isle of Wight with some great pilotage opportunities.
Nomad Sailing are committed to ensuring you will be a confident, competent and happy Skipper looking forward to your first charter or flotilla. Why not do your practical sailing course in one of the most famous sailing areas in the world with one of the best sailing schools ? Find out what to expect.
There are a number of options on booking, you can either opt to guarantee your own cabin, to share or book the whole boat for a group of you (5 max).
Free Resit Guarantee*
Our guarantee is that we won't give up on you: in the unlikely event that you fail one of our RYA courses, you can resit or rejoin another at NO EXTRA COST (includes practical courses up to Day Skipper and all theory courses less exam fees where applicable).
Course Information
We include everything you will need with your course fee:
5 days Top Notch Tuition!!
Accommodation on board
All food on board - three meals a day plus snacks and refreshments
All food on board - three meals a day plus snacks and refreshments
Home baked bread and cakes (when Lou is able!)
All mooring fees and marina costs
Use of waterproof clothing
Use of personal safety equipment
Any incurred fuel costs
Free extra days if you do not reach the required standard (see Free Re-Sit Guarantee)
Topics for this course include the following (review the full syllabus)
Preparation for sea
Deck work
Navigation and pilotage
Meteorology
Rules of the road - IRPCS
Maintenance and repair work including engines
Emergency situations
Yacht handling under power
Yacht handling under sail
Passage making and night cruising
Skippering!
The course will start and end at Gosport Marina - PO12 1AH
We typically visit some of these ports and harbours
Cowes
Hamble
Southampton
Beaulieu
Yarmouth
Lymington
Chichester
Poole
Before attending the Day Skipper Practical, and in order to take advantage of our Free Re-Sit Guarantee, you should already be at a 'Competent Crew' standard and hold the Day Skipper Shorebased certificate.
Although we appreciate you may need a refresher, you should already be able to:
Prepare Mooring lines, secure to cleats and tie the requisite knots
Hoist, lower and trim sails using associated winches
Steer a compass course under power and sail
Helm on all points of sail - preferably around a triangular course
he minimum age required to attend this course is 16 years.
How do I Book?
Check out the available course dates and then contact us or book online.
If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact us for more information.
| Course Name | Dates | Cost | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day Skipper Practical | 6th - 10th May 2026 (Weds - Sun) | FULL | ||
| Day Skipper Practical | 3rd - 7th June 2026 (Weds - Sun) | FULL | ||
| Day Skipper Practical | 15th - 19th June 2026 (Mon - Fri) | FULL | ||
| Day Skipper Practical | 22nd - 26th June 2026 (Mon - Fri) | FULL | ||
Client review
Our customers are saying lots of good things about us:
The Nomad sailing team run a very professional RYA Day Skipper training course. The instructor (Paul) informed, demonstrated and tested a wide range of practical skills as well as being a great cook! Highly recommend Nomad for all RYA courses.
Took the day skipper practical course with Nomad. Instructors Jim and Lou are both excellent - knowledgable, friendly, patient, passionate about sailing and very encouraging. I learned an enormous amount in five days and feel much more confident and excited about future sailing.
Best of the best, outstanding tuition, expert teachers, down to earth people, no hesitation in recommending this brother and sister duo who have clearly found their calling and practice what they preach...
