RYA Coastal Skipper Yachtmaster Offshore Theory Course in Anglesey

The aim of the RYA Yachtmaster Offshore Theory course, also known as RYA Coastal Skipper/Yachtmaster Offshore Theory, is to take your navigation and meteorology knowledge to the standard required for the RYA Yachtmaster Coastal and Offshore practical exams.

It is a comprehensive shore-based course covering everything from position fixing to interpreting weather forecasts, giving you the confidence to plan and navigate extended coastal and offshore passages.

Participants should have knowledge to the level of the RYA Day Skipper Theory course. That is the base the Yachtmaster paper builds on, so chartwork, tides and collision regulations should already feel familiar.

There is no minimum age requirement on the RYA syllabus. If your Day Skipper Theory is a few years old, revise the basics before you start so the week can stay at this standard.

This is a shore-based course that can be taken in the classroom, online or by distance learning. The syllabus is the same on each route, including position fixing, course shaping, tides, publications, electronic navigation and meteorology.

Classroom days are at 40 High Street, Menai Bridge. Online and distance learning let you work through the same exercises away from the classroom.

You cover position fixing using a range of techniques, course shaping and plotting while taking into account tide, leeway and other factors, and tidal streams and heights and their effect on passage planning.

You also use almanacs and Admiralty publications, electronic position finding equipment, and meteorology: taking and interpreting weather forecasts, plotting weather systems and making weather predictions using a barometer.

This course is a prerequisite for anyone wishing to go on to complete an RYA Yachtmaster qualification. It is suitable for those looking to build the theory knowledge needed to skipper confidently on longer, more challenging passages by sail or power.

Passing does not replace the practical exam. It is the shore-based standard the Coastal and Offshore examiners expect you to have before you take a boat on those passages.

Classroom days are at our training centre in Menai Bridge on the Isle of Anglesey. The classroom is in the town itself at 40 High Street, LL59 5EF, with Pay and Display parking across the road.

Take junction 8A onto the A5 off the A55 at Britannia Bridge. The tidal examples on the chart are the same Menai Strait streams you will meet when you go afloat.

No. The course is suitable for those looking to build the theory knowledge needed to skipper confidently on longer, more challenging passages by sail or power. The chartwork, tides and meteorology are the same whether the boat has a keel or an outboard.

Seawake is a powerboat school, so the classroom examples often sit on the North Wales coast and the Strait, but the RYA paper is the Yachtmaster Offshore Theory syllabus for both.

Yes. The shore-based course ends with the RYA Yachtmaster Offshore Theory exam, which checks the position fixing, course shaping, tides, publications and meteorology you have been working through.

Passing confirms you have the theory required for the Yachtmaster Coastal and Offshore practical exams. It does not itself qualify you as a Yachtmaster.

A notebook and pen are enough. Course materials, charts and publications are provided. Wear comfortable clothing for a full day at the chart table.

Bring lunch or money to buy it locally. The classroom is in Menai Bridge town, with shops a short walk from 40 High Street.

Day Skipper Theory is the comprehensive introduction to chartwork, navigation, meteorology and seamanship. Yachtmaster Offshore Theory takes that knowledge to the standard required for the Coastal and Offshore practical exams.

If you do not yet have knowledge to Day Skipper Theory level, start there. This course assumes that base so it can spend the hours on course shaping, publications and weather at Yachtmaster pace.