Professional Yachtmaster Training

These Certificates of Competency (CoC’s) are required in order to command a vessels up to 500 gross tons or 3000 gross tons respectively. Although the entry requirements for the two qualifications differ, they both require pass certificates for the same MCA (Yacht) course modules.

MCA Master (Yacht) modules are:

Additional Requirements for the Issue of the Master (Yachts) <500gt Certificate of Competency (CoC)

  • A minimum of 12 months onboard yacht service as a Deck Officer, including not less than 120 days watch-keeping service, in vessels of 15 m or more in load line length whilst holding an accepted OOW CoC.
  • Valid ENG1 certificate

Additional Requirements for Master (Yachts) <3000gt) Certificate of Competency (CoC)

  • A minimum of 24 months onboard yacht service as a Deck Officer, including not less than 240 days watch-keeping service whilst holding an accepted OOW Certificate of Competency (CoC). All of this service must be completed in vessels of 15 m or over in load line length and include 12 months in vessel of 24 m or over in load line length, or 6 months in vessels of 500gt or more.
  • Valid ENG1 certificate
  • Certificate of Proficiency for Person in Charge of Medical Care on Board Ship.

Although the course modules may be attended before the above requirements are met, it must be noted that exam pass certificates expire after three years (celestial navigation one year) and, before committing to the training, candidates should be reasonably sure that they will be able to achieve the qualifying experience in time.

Please Note:

  • For further particulars please refer to MSN 1858.

MCA Sea Service Definition

OOW Training

  • Onboard Yacht Service is the time spent signed on a yacht, irrespective of the vessel’s activity.
  • Actual Sea Service is time spent at sea, which may include time at anchor or river and canal transits associated with a passage.
  • Stand-by Service is time immediately following a voyage while the vessel is under preparation for a subsequent voyage. A maximum of 14 consecutive days may be counted at one time, but on no occasion may a period of standby service exceed that of the previous voyage. Therefore, under no circumstances can your total standby service exceed your actual sea service.
  • Yard Service is time when standing by a build, refit or repair.
  • Sea Service includes a combination of actual sea service, stand-by service and/or yard service
  • Watchkeeping Service is actual sea service spent as a watchkeeping officer in full charge of a navigational watch for not less than 4 out of every 24 hours while the vessel is engaged on voyage.
    Watchkeeping service may be recorded on a cumulative basis. This means that every 4 hours watchkeeping accrued may be counted as 1 day of watch keeping service and does not need to be completed in a 24 hour period. Time spent at anchor associated with a passage, whilst the Officer is engaged in a bridge watch and if this passage is part of the same 24 hour voyage, can also be accepted.Completing more than 4 hours watchkeeping within a 24 hour period cannot be counted as more than 1 day watchkeeping time, e.g. a 12 hour watch within a 24 hour period can only be counted as 1 day of watchkeeping time.
See MCA Class Structure