What does RYA Day Skipper allow you to do? Limits and the ICC

What does RYA Day Skipper allow you to do? The RYA says a Day Skipper Practical graduate can “safely take charge of a 30–45ft sail cruising yacht and its crew on day trips in familiar waters”. That describes what the course trains you for. It sets no legal limit, and in UK waters the skipper of a pleasure vessel under 24m load line length or under 80GT needs no certificate of competence.

The only “20 miles” and “daylight” figures on the RYA’s Day Skipper pages apply to commercially endorsed work. Abroad, the RYA says the certificate shows charter companies you can take their boats out safely, and it qualifies you to apply for an ICC. What the certificate shows and what the law or a charter firm asks of you are separate questions.

What RYA Day Skipper allows you to do

The RYA’s overview says Day Skipper teaches pilotage, navigation, seamanship and boat handling “up to the standard required to skipper a sail or motor cruiser safely by day in familiar waters”, with an introduction to night cruising. It is the first course in the scheme aimed at skippering a cruising yacht by day.

You can take the practical on a sail or a motor yacht, and the certificate is endorsed to match. The motor version is a four-day course aimed at skippering a motor cruiser by day in familiar waters.

The RYA gives no distance or number for “familiar waters”, so be wary of any site that puts a figure on it.

The limitations of Day Skipper

For pleasure sailing, Day Skipper is limited by the scope of its training and by whatever a charter company or a foreign country asks of you. The RYA’s Day Skipper pages put figures on distance and daylight only for commercially endorsed work.

Is Day Skipper a legal licence in the UK?

No, Day Skipper is not a legal licence for pleasure sailing in UK waters. If your boat is used as a pleasure vessel and is under 24m load line length or under 80GT, UK law requires no certificate of competence for its skipper. The Merchant Shipping (STCW) Regulations 2015 do not apply to pleasure vessels below those sizes. No ICC is required for a UK-flagged pleasure vessel in UK territorial waters or on the high seas.

A pleasure vessel is one used only for the sport or pleasure of the owner or their immediate family or friends, with no payment beyond contributions to direct expenses. Anything outside that definition is commercial use.

If you’re paid to skipper: commercial endorsement

To use Day Skipper for work on a commercial craft under the MCA’s codes of practice, the certificate must be commercially endorsed. You can then work on commercial vessels up to 24m in category 5 and 6 waters, which the RYA describes as up to 20 miles from a nominated departure point in fine weather and daylight. Endorsement needs both the Shorebased course with an invigilated exam and the practical. The ICC cannot be commercially endorsed.

How far offshore can a Day Skipper go?

The RYA sets no distance-offshore limit for a Day Skipper sailing for pleasure. UK law requires no certificate at all for the skipper of a pleasure vessel under 24m or 80GT. The only 20-mile figure on the RYA’s Day Skipper pages is the commercial scope above.

One charter agency’s FAQ says the Day Skipper Practical certifies navigation “up to 20 nautical miles from a safe haven by daylight”. That wording does not appear on the RYA’s Day Skipper pages. Abroad, the country you visit can restrict how far offshore you go.

The scope the RYA describes is day trips in familiar waters. Coastal Skipper and Yachtmaster Offshore are aimed at longer passages.

What size of boat can a Day Skipper skipper?

The RYA trains a sail Day Skipper to take charge of a 30–45ft cruising yacht. That is what the course covers, and UK law sets no size limit on the skipper of a pleasure vessel under 24m load line length or 80GT.

Some sites give 24m as the Day Skipper limit. That figure belongs to other rules: it is the cap for commercially endorsed work and the UK threshold below which pleasure vessels need no certificate. An ICC states no maximum boat size, except where power is restricted to 10m length overall. The visited country can limit the type of boat you use.

Can a Day Skipper sail at night?

None of the RYA’s Day Skipper course pages bars a Day Skipper from sailing at night on a pleasure boat. UK law needs no certificate for a pleasure vessel under 24m or 80GT. The RYA describes the standard as skippering “safely by day”, and the course includes night cruising. The sail practical asks for 4 night hours aboard before you start.

On the RYA’s Day Skipper pages, daylight appears only as a condition of commercially endorsed work. Coastal Skipper is aimed at coastal passages by day and night, and each trainee plans and skippers longer passages with a significant number of night hours.

Day Skipper and the ICC

A Day Skipper certificate qualifies you to apply for an ICC. The ICC, or International Certificate for Operators of Pleasure Craft, is evidence of competence you can show when officials in foreign countries ask for it. The UK Government has authorised the RYA to issue the UK ICC on its behalf.

Is Day Skipper enough for an ICC?

Yes, the Day Skipper practical is enough for an ICC on its own, and the theory certificate alone is not. An ICC needs evidence for a type of boat (power, sail or PWC) and a type of water (coastal or inland).

The 10m power entry on a sail ICC lets you drive a tender with an outboard. A shorebased certificate on its own is not enough, and you don’t need one alongside the practical. The ICC does not distinguish between tidal and non-tidal coastal waters.

Inland waters need the CEVNI test

For the inland category you must first pass the ICC CEVNI test, in any country you plan to boat in. No RYA course covers CEVNI. The test is multiple choice, and its cost varies between providers.

Cost, validity and how to apply

An ICC is free to RYA members, costs £75.00 for non-members and is valid for 5 years from the date of issue. These fees are as of April 2026, taken from the RYA’s ICC-1 application form, version 01/04/2026:

Adult RYA membership is £62 a year. If you join when you apply, the ICC is issued free, and the RYA says this may work out cheaper. You don’t have to be a member.

You can renew up to 3 months before expiry, and the new ICC runs 5 years from the old expiry date. You must be 16 or over and physically and mentally fit to operate a pleasure craft.

Apply through your MyRYA account or on the paper form. Turnaround is approximately 21 working days, so leave a margin before a charter.

Can I charter a yacht abroad with Day Skipper?

Usually, yes: the RYA says the qualification shows charter companies you have enough knowledge and practical experience to take their boats out safely. Acceptance is still up to the company and the country. The ICC itself is not a boating equivalent of the EU driving licence, which all EU member states must accept.

The RYA generally recommends an ICC for Europe’s inland waterways and for the inland and coastal waters of Mediterranean countries. It says an ICC is generally not required in the coastal waters of Northern Europe. Spain, Greece and Portugal are likely to ask visitors for one.

A chartered boat is unlikely to be UK flagged, so ask the charter company what evidence of competence it accepts. The RYA advises getting this in writing and checking your insurance.

The charter agency Filovent says Greek port authorities require an ICC or equivalent for bareboat charters and may refuse a Day Skipper Practical alone. The same agency lists a VHF certificate as legally required in Croatia. Confirm claims like these with your charter company.

To use the VHF, you need a maritime radio operator certificate, or to be supervised by someone who holds one. For UK recreational boaters using a DSC-equipped VHF, that is normally the RYA SRC.

Theory, practical, tidal or non-tidal: which certificate counts

For the ICC, the Day Skipper certificate that counts is the practical, as theory on its own validates only the coastal category.

Theory and practical

The RYA recommends taking theory before the practical, and the sail practical expects theory knowledge to Day Skipper Shorebased level. Commercial endorsement needs both. A charter company may have its own list of what it accepts, so check.

Tidal and non-tidal certificates

Older non-tidal Day Skipper certificates still exist, and the RYA’s course page covers them for commercial work. Practical Boat Owner reported in 2016 that from 2017 there would be a single Day Skipper Practical certificate. The ICC does not distinguish tidal from non-tidal coastal waters.

What Coastal Skipper and Yachtmaster add

Coastal Skipper adds coastal passages by day and night, and Yachtmaster Offshore is the first RYA scope with a distance figure: passages up to 150 miles from harbour.

Some Yachtmaster figures drop if you already hold certain certificates. For example, Yachtmaster Coastal’s 30 days at sea can be reduced to 12 with a Coastal Skipper Practical certificate. For the detail, see the sea time you need for Coastal Skipper and the Yachtmaster exams.

Logging your first passages as skipper

Your days as skipper, night hours and miles count towards the experience Coastal Skipper and the Yachtmaster exams ask for. At least half the qualifying Yachtmaster sea time should be in tidal waters. See how to fill in an RYA logbook entry.

The Nautis sailing logbook records the GPS track and works out distance, night hours and days on board from each trip [P3, P4]. It exports a Voyage Record in RYA G73 format and a tally towards Yachtmaster Coastal and Offshore, but can’t add passages from before you started using it [P5, P6, P7]. Nautis is in testing on iOS and Android and isn’t available yet [P2].

The Voyage Record export asks for crew role, water type and skipper, with night hours and days on board worked out from the trip. Nautis app screenshot