yachtmaster ocean theory exam

Yachting Monthly

• Digital edition

Tips and hints for passing your Yachtmaster theory

• Katy Stickland
• July 20, 2021

Racing turned cruising sailors Liz Rushall and her husband Mark go back to school to brush up on their Yachtmaster theory

Although accomplished sailors, Liz and Mark found their rusty knowledge was hampering their cruising enjoyment. The Yachtmaster theory course revealed a number of areas in need of a refresher. Credit: David Harding

Liz Rushall shares tips and hints for passing your Yachtmaster theory course

‘Why on earth are you guys doing your Yachtmaster ?’ was the question our friends repeatedly asked. ‘Surely, you know all that stuff?’

We’ve both sailed since childhood, competitively racing dinghies, then keelboats. Sailing is our work and life.

Liz Rushall has won national dinghy and keelboat titles, but currently cruises a 28ft classic Honeybee called Ragdoll

Mark is a British Sailing Team coach, we’ve both won championships together and with others, and raced keelboats offshore.

In between times, since 2000, we’ve cruised Ragdoll our 28ft classic Honeybee, from Emsworth, having slow adventures around Brittany, Normandy, and the West Country.

Generally, we’ve arrived on the day we had planned, if not quite always at our estimated time.

Although I did my Yachtmaster theory some 20 years ago, it’s just like I have a Maths O-Level. It’s still a mystery to me.

Sitting the course at night-school, during an intensely busy job, with a bunch of powerboaters talking jargon knowingly, it was as if I was reliving the horror of maths at school.

Needless to say, as with my maths, I battled through the exam and unfortunately not much of it stuck.

Meanwhile, Mark learned his navigation on the hoof, cruising on friends’ boats during his student days and he is self-taught.

Good at all things involving science and numbers, he was always a bit dismissive of things like compass deviation.

We had a little hand-held GPS, a Walker trailing log, and more recently a very small detachable Garmin chartplotter and Simrad AIS. It all seemed to work – we were fine.

What could possibly go wrong?

You never stop learning

The real answer to the question ‘why do our Yachtmaster ’ was a wake-up call that came last summer.

We’d had a hectic few months, working late and trying to fit in our summer cruise around Mark’s Olympic coaching commitments.

We were both tired and needed a break.

Mark plotted our Channel crossing.

Normally I try to get involved and have a crack at the passage plan too, but it takes me ages.

Making sense of passage planning, including tidal heights and gates, is much easier once you’ve had a refresher. Credit: Liz Rushall

I helped a bit with the tidal streams (which I thought I was good at) and had a quick, over-the-shoulder look.

We decided to head for Cherbourg, to have options.

We dismissed the idea of heading straight to Saint-Vaast, as we’d anticipated a four-hour wait for the lock gates – tedious after a long crossing.

We left Chichester Harbour early, although I wanted to go even earlier.

As soon as we had popped out of the harbour, the wind clearly was not as forecast. It was more WSW than west, so not the reach we had hoped for.

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We were keen to get to France, however, so we pressed on.

It was a big spring tide, so we expected to get swept hard eastwards and then back westwards.

We reefed early, anticipating the wind against tide effect as we got towards France.

But it was a horrible sea. Our little boat was sailing beautifully but struggled to keep to our estimated speed.

We were consistently too far east of our course, even after the tide had turned, and the tide didn’t push us as hard west to Cherbourg as had been expected.

Still behind schedule, the water didn’t flatten out when the tide turned east again.

How to calculate position, estimate time of arrival and course to steer is all easily forgotten in a digital age. Knowing how to extract this information from your chartplotter is also crucial

Now very tired from hand steering, less than two hours from Cherbourg we had to concede that we simply could not punch upwind, with or without the engine.

The whole day had been a domino effect of one little thing after another.

So, as the sun faded, a quick change of plan.

We altered course for St Vaast, rocketing down on the tide, arriving just as the lock gates opened at 2300.

In the end, it was a good result, landing in our favourite spot, although it had been a very long day on a little boat with no self-steering.

After two days’ sleeping, having a sailing coach on board and racing in our blood meant, of course, a thorough debrief.

Naturally, over some lovely seafood and French wine.

We realised that our brains were not getting younger, and clearly there had been some ‘gaps’ in our navigational planning.

For a long time, I’ve felt aware that I didn’t have a complete handle on chartwork, despite owning a certificate that says I do.

The decision was made. Let’s have a crack at our RYA Yachtmaster and find out what we do and don’t know.

A course in ‘Johart’s Window’

Stage one of our plan was enrolling on an Intensive RYA Yachtmaster Theory course with the Emsworth School of Navigation – six days completed over two weekends.

Using dividers to transfer a position line from a scale is easier on a small boat than lining up a plotter or parallel rules. Credit: David Harding

Compared to my memories of scary night-school, the experience was a refreshing change.

Karen Dorontic, the principal, turned out to be an amazing teacher, with astounding levels of patience and a gift for not making you feel stupid, despite most of us coming up with some bizarre calculations and answers.

Her empathy with our learning process, the pitfalls and the mistakes we would make as we progressed through the topics and papers, was clearly based on her own experiences.

We had an interesting, mixed group on the course; a couple refurbishing their yacht to cruise around the world, two people who take people sailing on club-owned yachts, a Solent based cruiser, and my brothers.

One who, like me, did his Yachtmaster theory exam many years ago, the other a confirmed dinghy sailor now doing a bit more yacht racing.

Straight into the first session, and many of us were picking up some great tips.

Frequently things that sounded obvious, although only once you had been told.

For us, it was time-saving things, such as using the dividers to transfer positions from the side of the chart rather than struggling with parallel rules, and unlocking the delights of a Portland plotter.

Both were far more useful for our tiny navigation table. Then, there were the really useful ways of remembering things.

Who knew the cones on cardinal marks point to the black section? Easy.

Bizarrely, one of the most entertaining sessions was learning the Colregs (collision regulations).

We were in hoots visualising all those bells and gongs going off in poor visibility.

Yet once again, Karen gave us really helpful tips for working out lights, especially for towing vessels, which initially felt like a sea of colour we’d never remember.

The intensive nature of the course means there is a vast amount of information to process but without the luxury of a few days to absorb and reread what you are learning.

Almost inevitably, that meant some of us ‘hitting the wall’.

By day two of plotting estimated positions and courses to steer, I could no longer figure out Variation and Deviation.

The phrase ‘Error East Compass Least’ rapidly became another maths maze. Plus or minus?

The more I tried to think about it, the more it went wrong.

One candidate put his dividers down saying: ‘I’ve completely forgotten what it is I’m trying to achieve’.

I began to wonder how we’d ever got our boats anywhere around the Solent, let alone to St Malo, Chausey, and Tréguier.

Homework humiliations

With a lot of exercises to practise before the second weekend, it was hard to cram our homework into a busy fortnight.

Somehow we did, although mealtime conversation got down to the level of ‘what do two red lights mean?’ Riveting stuff!

The family WhatsApp was busy that week with shrieks of frustration as we all made chartwork errors.

Back in the classroom, we all compared notes. Everyone had struggled with their homework.

Mark didn’t get a single question right first time.

Liz found it useful to identify areas of weakness ahead of her Yachtmaster Theory course. Credit: David Harding

Number blindness set in as we all plotted the wrong information, dates and data and tried to use the tidal height tables to calculate tidal stream rates. We’d done it all.

One man owned up to plotting the date as a position on his chart.

At least we were all suffering in the same boat.

Undoubtedly, it was a painful process to go through, as we all fell into the pitfalls and traps deliberately set in the exercise questions.

However, it was true that practice makes perfect.

Through comparing our random attempts with the answers, we were all learning from our errors.

The fog is clearing

With homework horrors behind us, our practice paid off as we went through our exam papers.

Everyone passing the Colregs paper was a confidence boost. Bang the gong!

While we waited to hear our results, the bemused conversation went along the lines of, ‘Were those yellow and red lights a Hovercraft that was fishing?

Or an air-cushioned, displacement fishing vessel?

Details of the RYA Yachtmaster Theory course

Officially speaking, the RYA Yachtmaster Theory course builds on that which is taught in the shore-based Day skipper course.

However, for most people who have sailed regularly, then jumping straight to Yachtmaster theory is unlikely to be a major problem.

The course covers advanced navigation techniques including: position fixing; course shaping and plotting; tidal knowledge including secondary port calculations; navigation in restricted visibility; Admiralty publications and electronic position-finding equipment.

Much of this will be familiar to even the most casual cruiser, but as Liz discovered, some of the specifics might well need a bit of study.

The meteorology tuition includes the taking and interpretation of forecasts, plotting of weather systems as well as weather prediction.

Further courses

Many people who jump straight into Yachtmaster Theory may find that it turns up a weakness or gap in their knowledge.

It can often be helpful to identify areas of weakness and consider a training course that might help raise your level ahead of a Yachtmaster practical exam.

Several schools offer courses on many of the subjects in a Yachtmaster exam and they can help you to improve your knowledge.

On the other hand, it might just be an area you devote more time to in the lead up to Yachtmaster Practical.

Know your COLREGS

The one area where there are no shortcuts are Colregs; you just need to know your stuff – and finding the time to learn isn’t difficult.

So far as the MCA is concerned, this is the crunch.

Examiners are encouraged to demand high standards in this subject, and there’s no reason for a candidate, knowing full well they are going to be grilled extensively on this, not to have the regulations solidly in their mind.

The best way to be exam-proof is to invest in A Seaman’s Guide to the Rule of the Road (Morgans Technical Books Limited (£12.50), available for modest money online or in any chandlery.

Place it prominently in the heads some months before the exam and devote five minutes of each day to digesting its contents.

The book makes it easy and should leave you with no excuse for not having a thorough working knowledge.

Aside from the certificate, we both got a lot out of the course. Mark felt that it reminded him what he did know and reinforced what he didn’t.

Liz found she had forgotten some useful shortcuts during her Yachtmaster Theory course and put these into practice during her Yachtmaster Practical assessment. Credit: David Harding

Learning the processes and the ways to remember them, was so helpful.

For me, cracking the tidal stream rates was a revelation, and fears of secondary ports and tidal height calculations are mostly gone.

It will definitely help us explore places we never felt confident to visit because we have a long keel.

Karen’s many wise tips such as not trusting the electronics unquestioningly, and rapid plotting techniques will be invaluable.

Pilotage plans for new ports will now be a joy rather than a scrabble around through the pilot books.

We love our little boat, we sail her well, yet she will never be anything like the quickest boat on the water.

She needs all the help we can give her, which includes accurate navigation to arrive on time.

Having returned to the Yachtmaster theory I now feel that my confidence is up.

Mark and I now can’t wait for our next big voyage, to see what we’ve really learned.

Now there’s the small matter of our practical exams on the horizon.

5 key points to take away from our Yachtmaster Theory course

• Quick Plotting Techniques: Karen’s quick plotting technique really helps if, like us, you have a very small chart table. Simply plot your latitude using your Portland plotter or ruler. Then measure off your longitude along the top line of the chart from the nearest major longitude line eg 002°. Move the dividers down to in-line with your latitude plot and draw an arc on your first line
• Deviation and Variation: In the end, I solved this by learning to literally translate ‘error east/compass least’ and ‘error west/compass best’ into plain English! In other words: Compass error West – compass will be bigger than True; Compass error East –compass will be less than True. Learning how to use a pencil mark on the error scale on the Portland plotter to avoid the mental arithmetic entirely was another gem.
• Extrapolating tidal streams : One particular ‘lightbulb moment’ was calculating tidal streams. We’d only ever interpolated the tidal streams, estimating the rate between the mean spring and neap rates shown in the tidal atlas. The exercises highlighted that a big spring tide will be higher than the mean rate, and extrapolating this accurately makes a big impact on your course to steer.
• Remembering lights: Learning the lights felt really complex, but Karen taught us to look for the patterns. Remember a clock face for the number of flashes of the N, E, S and West cardinals (E is three flashes, South six, West nine and North continuous) is a great tip. For remembering the lights for towing vessels, adding an extra masthead light to represent the vessel it is towing, plus another for boat length over 50m, and another for tow length.
• Templates for secondary port and tidal stream calcs:  Rather than working it out from scratch each time, Karen encouraged us to develop our own, or use standard templates for calculating tidal information. It helps reduce errors, speeding up the planning process and saving brain cells for other tasks.

Key information on the Yachtmaster practical and theory courses

Why yachtmaster.

Although a Yachtmaster qualification is required for anyone planning to become a professional, thanks to the continuing efforts of the RYA, Brits who sail for leisure still don’t have to carry any proof of competence in home waters.

The certificate certainly remains the logical target of many a self-motivated sailor, though.

It also represents the icing on the cake for those looking for the reassurance of an external assessment.

Theory and Practical

Yachtmaster training can take place on a boat or in a classroom.

A shore-based course, either at desks in a school or via the popular Internet distance learning programmes, ends with a theory exam.

Success in this will help a student in later qualification upgrades, but it is not officially recognised.

The only certificates accepted by the authorities are those issued after an at-sea examination. To become a fully-fledged Yachtmaster, this practical test is the one that counts.

Coastal or offshore

In recent years, the old Coastal Skipper has been superseded by the new Yachtmaster Coastal certificate.

The qualifying mileage for this MCA-recognised qualification is 800 miles, with passage and night-hour requirements being regarded as fairly relaxed in comparison with Yachtmaster Offshore, which keeps its 2,500-mile entry level.

Either will serve as a proper Yachtmaster qualification and can be described as such.

Only the often-dropped suffix distinguishes the two.

Apply for ‘coastal’ and the examiner, recognising that you have less sea-time, will be more inclined to cut you a bit of slack.

The RYA has noted that most candidates are really only making ‘coastal-status’ passages.

In real terms this includes an annual trip across the Irish Sea, the North Sea or the Channel in a calculated weather window.

RYA Certificates of Competence, Part 5 - Yachtmaster Ocean

Sailing qualification recognised around the world as a clear mark of your sailing ability.

By Marcin Wojtyczka

In this article in series about RYA certifications we reveal how to pass the RYA Yachtmaster® Ocean Certificate of Competence.

The RYA Yachtmaster Ocean Certificate of Competence is proof that you have the knowledge and experience needed to skipper a yacht on passages of any length in all parts of the world. The RYA Yachtmaster Ocean is the highest certification level at RYA.

The holder of a Yachtmaster Ocean qualification should be competent to skipper a yacht of up to 24 metres LOA (up to 200gt) anywhere in the World (Category 0 waters - unlimited).

The assessment is done by oral interrogation (~1.5 hours). You also need to pass the written (~1.5 hours) exam if you did not complete the Ocean Theory course, complete a qualifying passage, and prepare narrative account and navigational records. You have to stand to attention before seasoned RYA-appointed examiner and convince him that you sailed as skipper or first mate and that you know the job. To be honest, there is probably no better way of doing it.

Don’t treat the examination just as an exam. This is a great opportunity to get feedback on your skills and become a better sailor.

Requirements

You can find the official requirements here .

• Hold an RYA Yachtmaster Offshore Certificate of Competence
• Have completed a qualifying passage which meets the following criteria: You were fully involved with the planning of the passage, including a selection of the route, the navigational plan, checking the material condition of the yacht and her equipment, spare gear, victuals and organising the watch-keeping routine. Throughout the passage you must have acted in a responsible capacity either in sole charge of a watch or as a skipper. Qualifying passage should be non-stop by the shortest navigable route with no change of skipper. During the qualifying passage a minimum non-stop distance of 600 miles must have been run by the log, the yacht must have been at sea continuously for at least 96 hours and the yacht must have been more than 50 miles from land or any charted navigational object while sailing a distance of 200 miles. You can find the exact requirements of the qualifying passage here . If you have any doubts about whether your chosen route qualifies, you can always contact RYA at [email protected] During the qualifying passage you should take some sights to prove that you are actually capable of navigating out of sight of land by astro navigation. If circumstances prevent astro sights from being taken on the ocean-qualifying passage you can also take them on another shorter passage. You just have to make sure to be enough far from shore so that the sights are taken out of sight of land.

Preparation

Before taking the oral exam, it is recommended to take Yachtmaster Ocean Theory course . If you complete the course, you will be exempted from the written examination.

Please also take a look at our routes . On all our offshore passages we are navigating using celestial navigation. Some of our passages qualify for the RYA Yachtmaster Ocean certification where you can be a watch leader to meet the qualifying passage requirements. Many of our participants passed the prestigious RYA Yachtmaster Ocean exam and keep returning year after year to us in order to become yet more confident and experienced. Our practical on-the-water training builds confidence, teaching you everything from basic terminology and safety tips to how to skipper a yacht and manage its crew.

Exam Syllabus

During the oral exam, the questions should generally be related to your qualifying passage but may also refer to longer passages if needed to find out if you are capable of an ocean crossing. You may be required to answer questions on all aspects of ocean passage-making in a yacht, including passage planning, navigation, worldwide meteorology, crew management and yacht preparation, maintenance and repairs.

After booking the exam and at least 1 week before the exam date you must provide the examiner with:

• A narrative account of the planning and execution of the qualifying passage.
• Navigational records, completed on board a yacht on passage, out of sight of land, showing that you navigated the yacht without the use of electronic navigational aids. As a minimum, this should include the planning, reduction, and plotting of a sun-run-meridian altitude or sun-run-sun sight and a compass check carried out using the bearing of the sun, moon, star or planet.

The examiner will not be hard on you if you provide a good narrative account and lots of navigational records. You should show him or her that you thought about many aspects of voyage planning and execution, and that you care about the safety of the yacht and the crew. You will definitely fail if you show a cavalier altitude.

The narrative should include the following:

• Brief description of the chosen vessel and suitability for the voyage
• Crew selection
• Pre-checks on the condition of the yacht, including hull, rigging, engine, electrics and fittings checks
• Navigational passage planning: route selection, sources of information to decide on a strategy, expected and possible durations of the passage if no wind/rig failure/divert to the port of refuge etc.
• Navigational equipment: electronic and manuals
• Weather: source of information pre-departure, weather forecasting sources on passage, actual weather experienced
• Harbours planned: pilotage, reporting, berthing, customs and immigrations procedures
• Ports of refuge
• Watchkeeping rota
• Consumables provisioning: victualling (water and food) and fueling/bunkering - estimating daily usage, the amount carried, allowance for delays, calms and emergencies, preparation for what-if scenarios (e.g. contamination of water, fridge failure etc.)
• Consumables monitoring en route: fuel, gas, food, water, battery
• Methods of charging batteries, battery capacity and electrical consumption calculations
• Medical kit carried and preparation for medical emergencies (e.g. availability of suitable courses)
• Standing orders
• Safety briefing conducted
• Routine equipment checks and maintenance, precautionary replacements
• Drills practices before departure and during the passage
• Fire precautions
• VHF / HF / MF channels monitored
• Communications equipment carried
• Position reporting to shore stations
• Navigational hazards including shipping lanes and shallows
• Expected shipping traffic and other vessels encountered (e.g. fishing fleets)
• Use of courtesy ensigns and Q flag
• Emergency (contingency) plans: MOB, rig failure, hull breach, steering failure, port/hatch failure, engine failure, abandon ship, divert to the port of refuge, heavy weather preparation and tactics, emergency repairs (e.g. jury-rigging, repairing damage to the hull, jury-steering)
• Spare gear and tools required, carried and used
• Deck safety: clipping on and numbers of the crew on deck
• Charts and publications used
• Copy of ship’s log and charts
• Navigation by sextant: all written sight reduction, compass check and plotting sheets completed at sea (not tidied up ashore)
• Procedure for cleaning and securing the yacht at the end of the passage

Example of RYA Yachtmaster Ocean narrative.

The written exam will include questions on celestial navigation (sights and sight reduction) and worldwide meteorology.

If you hold the RYA Yachtmaster Ocean shorebased course completion certificate you will be exempted from the written examination.

Learning materials

• Celestial Navigation in practice - Astro navigation primer.
• Celestial Navigation - With the Sight Reduction Tables with Pub. No 249 - This book gives the clearest explanation of how celestial navigation works and how to use it without bogging down in theory.
• How to use sextant (PDF) , Video
• RYA Certificates of Competence
• Certificates

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Neptune Maritime Training Sail & Power

Unravel the mysteries of astro navigation, using a sextant, ocean passage making, worldwide meteorology and electronic navigation aids.

This course is for those aspiring to blue water cruising and is ideal for holders of theYachtmaster Offshore certificate who are preparing for their first ocean passage.

Topics covered include:

• The earth and the celestial sphere
• Practical guide to use and care of sextant at sea
• Meridian altitudes
• Sun, star and other sights
• Ocean passage planning

Prior to the course your navigation skills should be at the standard of the Coastal Skipper/Yachtmaster Offshore shorebased course.

If you are working towards your Yachtmaster Ocean Certificate of Competence, completion of this shorebased course exempts you from the written exam.

The course is taught over 40 hours with one exam paper. It can be covered as a series of short sessions, as an intensive week-long course.

Ocean Yachtmaster Practical

We regularly organise practical experience in taking sights and plotting positions on board. We can also help you achive your quallifing passage.

We will work with you through the process and review your documentation before submitting for assessment.

you are welcome to borrow one of our sextants and almanacs to help you develop your skills before the practical passage.

A person holding a Yachtmaster Ocean qualification is experienced and competent to skipper a yacht on passages of any length in all parts of the world.

Details of Courses and Prices

The Yachtmaster Ocean exam is an oral and written test of your knowledge of ocean passage making including planning, navigation, worldwide meteorology, crew management, yacht preparation, maintenance and repairs. You will also be questioned on your sights taken at sea during an ocean passage.

We hold regular Yachtmaster ocean theory courses . these cover the essencial knowledge as well as practice in taking sights and plotting positions while sailing.

Course costs

• RYA yachtmaster ocean course 790e
• practical trip for celestial sights 450e (2 days)
• RYA exam fees for ocean oral 250e (£200 direct to RYA)

What is include

• Course material
• use of a sextant during the course
• RYA course completion certificates
• teas, coffee soft drinks

What is not included

• flights and travel to course
• accomodation ashore
• meals and drinks ashore
• personal travel insurance
• any RYA examination fees for certification

The candidate must provide the examiner with:

• A narrative account of the planning and execution of the qualifying passage
• Navigational records, completed on board a yacht on passages, out of sight of land showing that the candidate has navigated the yacht without the use of electronic navigational aids.

The records must include as a minimum: planning, reduction and plotting of a sun run meridian altitude sight and a compass check carried out using the bearing of the sun, moon, a star or planet.

During the oral test the candidate may be required to answer questions on all aspects of ocean passage making in a yacht, including passage planning, astro navigation, worldwide meteorology, crew management and yacht preparation, maintenance and repairs.

The written exam will include questions on star sight planning and reduction and worldwide meteorology. Candidates who hold the RYA Yachtmaster Ocean Shorebased certificate, Royal Navy Ocean Navigation Certificate or a DoT Certificate of Competence as a Deck Officer will be exempt from the written examination.

Before you book your exam please check that you:

• have completed the required mileage and experience as skipper
• hold a VHF Radio Operators License or Short Range Certificate
• hold a valid first aid certificate
• have read the syllabus in RYA publications: G15 (sail) or G18 (power)
• have read and comply with the pre-requisites above.

If you need a Yachtmaster Ocean Certificate of Competence in order to work on board a commercial craft subject to the MCA’s codes of practice, you will need to get it commercially endorsed – see left. You can then work worldwide as a Master of commercial vessels of up to 200gt.

The Yachtmaster Ocean Certificate of Competence can be used commercially in its own right. It is also a pre-requisite for the MCA’s Chief Mate, Master 500 and Master 3000 qualifications.

Contact details

• Certificates of Competence
• RYA Yachtmaster

What is an RYA Yachtmaster?

The RYA Yachtmaster® Certificate of Competence is often the ultimate aim of aspiring skippers. It is a well known, highly respected qualification worldwide, proving your experience and competence as a skipper. Unlike other qualifications in the cruising programme, there is no formal training course to become an RYA Yachtmaster. Instead, provided you have sufficient experience, certification and seatime, you can put yourself forward for an exam to test your skills and knowledge. There are a number of RYA navigation courses that will help you prepare for your exam. Many RYA Yachtmaster candidates also choose to book themselves into an RYA training centre for some specialised exam preparation training, but this is not compulsory.

You are capable of coastal passages

You are competent to undertake passages up to 150 miles offshore

You have the knowledge and experience to sail worldwide

• Arranging your exam

The Coastal and Offshore exams are practical tests afloat, and the Ocean is an oral exam. Find out more about qualifying passages, exam fees and how to book. 

With an RYA Yachtmaster Coastal, Offshore or Ocean Certificate of Competence you can start a career at sea.

You'll need to have the appropriate qualification for the vessel and area of operation.

If you want to work commercially, you'll need a commercial endorsement.

Find out more about other RYA professional qualifications.

• Getting the most from a Yachtmaster Fast Track course

Can you really become an RYA Yachtmaster in as little as 14 weeks? Check out our top tips for getting the most from a Yachtmaster Fast Track course...

RYA Yachtmaster Ocean Theory

Rya yachtmaster ocean theory & oral exam.

Ondeck provide a comprehensive, professional training curriculum, covering all aspects of Ocean Sailing from the RYA Yachtmaster Ocean Theory course to the qualifying Ocean Passage and Oral Exam.

The Yachtmaster Ocean Theory course is run over 5 days and covers astro-navigation and worldwide meteorology. You will learn the art of using a sextant as well as what to do in heavy weather and hurricane situations. Passage planning is also covered as part of this course and you will be ask to consider everything from your choice of yacht to victualling and fuel management and much much more. The usual sequence is to complete the theory and exam papers; follow this with a 650 nm qualifying passage during which you should take sights and then arrange for the oral exam. There are some allowed variations to this so please call for more information.

We have prepared some notes which cover the Ocean exam pre-requisites , including certification required, minimum seatime and more. Please click here for the qualifying passage RYA requirements.

Students wanting to complete the Yachtmaster Ocean Exam will need to hold a  Yachtmaster Offshore  Certificate of Competence.

Please click here to see the progression and recommended path for RYA theory courses.

Classroom $1250usd pp - Oral exam only $150usd pp. Please click on the ' Training Dates & Booking ' button on the right to check available dates.

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Yachtmaster Ocean Theory

Unlock the magic of Celestial navigation with the RYA Yachtmaster Ocean Theory course!

Our expert instructor will teach you what to do step by step so that you understand “why” you’re doing it, and can then confidently put it into practice when on board.

You will look at  at passage planning, astro-navigation and worldwide meteorology, as well as exploring and solving the mysteries of the use of a sextant!

The RYA Yachtmaster Ocean certificate is also a pre-requisite for the MCA’s Chief Mate, Master 500 and Master 3000 qualifications.

899  €

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Find your way in any situation:  Even the best GPS equipment may break down or malfunction. If your boat’s GPS fails while you are out on the open water, celestial navigation can help you find your way. Star navigation may also come in handy when boating in sight of land without a GPS onboard. When the sun goes down, and you can no longer see those once familiar landmarks, stellar navigation will point you towards the shore.

Expand your knowledge of the world:  Celestial navigation requires sufficient knowledge of stars and constellations. Mariners must be able to identify major stars and constellations and understand their movement in the sky. By learning how to navigate by stars, you expand your knowledge of the universe and learn more about how the world works.

Impress your friends:  In addition to being useful and educational, star navigation is also fun. You’ll impress your friends with your ability to navigate using stars and can even share this fascinating art with them.

Despite modern innovations that allow for highly accurate navigation, navigating using stars remains a valuable and enjoyable skill. When you know how to navigate using the stars, you can always find your way home on a starry night.

Course content

• The Earth & the celestial sphere
• The PZX triangle
• The sextant
• Measurement of time
• Meridian altitudes
• Sun, star & other sights
• Compass checking
• Satellite navigation
• Great circle sailing
• Meteorology
• Passage planning
• Passage making
• Communications

Pre-course experience / requirements

Assumes knowledge of all subjects covered in previous shorebased courses (e.g. YM Offshore shorebased)

1 review for Yachtmaster Ocean Theory

Amador N. – August 6, 2019

Recommended!!

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RYA Online Courses

Rya yachtmaster ocean online.

£ 275.00

Description

The RYA Yachtmaster Ocean online theory course is the first stage in obtaining the prestigious RYA/MCA Yachtmaster Ocean Certificate of Competence.

The RYA Online Yachtmaster Ocean course costs £275 including the course pack that contains the neseccary Sight Reduction tables, Nautical Almanac extracts, Course information booklet and your Shorebased notes publication that will act as an Aide-mémoire throughout the online course.

This online course is equally suited to those that aspire to blue water cruising, or those who just want to learn traditional navigation.

You do not need a Sextant to take the course.

The Yachtmaster Ocean theory course will equip you with the necessary theoretical skills to carry out an ocean passage as mate or skipper. The course will cover all aspects of ocean navigation, with a particular emphasis on the use of astro-navigation and worldwide meteorology.

The sessions on astro-navigation will unlock the mysteries of the sextant and allow you to confidently take sights at sea to obtain your position and carry out compass checks.

Ocean sailing is, however, about more than just using a sextant. Another important aspect of ocean sailing is worldwide meteorology, passage planning and communications at sea.

Publications that assist the ocean navigator such as routeing charts and other pilot books will be covered.

This course is suitable for those who hold a theory certificate to the level of Coastal Skipper/Yachtmaster Offshore or equivalent.

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM YOUR RYA YACHTMASTER OCEAN THEORY COURSE

Your RYA-approved Online Yachtmaster Ocean theory course is provided by Navathome, a RYA Recognised Training Centre specialising in online training, and consists of detailed, animated lessons that are heavily image-based. The lessons are all online and can be accessed from your PC or Mac.

Click here for a  Free Trial

Each section is followed by a set of questions which can be answered quickly and easily online. Once you submit your answer, you’ll be provided with instant feedback and will gain access to a detailed answer page. Some of your answers will then be forwarded on to your delegated instructor, who can provide you with help and support if necessary.

You will receive RYA Certification on satisfactory completion of the course.

Your Ocean Yachtmaster theory course costs  £275 and includes the RYA pack so wherever you are in the world, you’ll receive material that’s completely tailored to your needs.

By clicking a payment button you are agreeing to Navathome’s terms and conditions available  here .

Where ever you purchase your course, as with all courses, the quality will of the course be greatly influenced by the quality of the Instructor. By clicking the add to cart button below and only available from this web site, your course Instructor will be Peter. Peter is a very experienced RYA Ocean Yachtmaster Instructor with over 25 years’ experience in providing RYA tuition to students of all abilities.

Peter has extensively sailed the Atlantic, Caribbean, Irish sea, English Channel, North Sea, Inland waterways of Holland, Aegean and the Mediterranean and whilst Peter will happily assist the highly experienced Seafarer in obtaining top end qualifications, Peter particularly enjoys helping beginners to achieve their own personal goals.

There is an six-month initial access period. In the unlikely event that you will need an extension, there is an option to extend as many times as you like until you pass your assessment. The cost of administrating each 6-month extension, beyond the initial 6 months, is £30.

Invigilated assessments If you wish to claim exemption to the written element of the Ocean Yachtmaster practical oral exam, the RYA now require the end of course theory assessment to be invigilated at an approved RYA Training centre (of which we are one) or the candidate can take an extra paper during the oral examination.

Click here further information about Online courses

This is a course in astro-navigation and worldwide meteorology which also reveals the mysteries of the sextant. It assumes a knowledge of all subjects covered in the other shorebased courses.

1. The earth and the celestial sphere

Definition of observer’s zenith and position of a heavenly body in terms of latitude, longitude, GHA and declination Right angle relationships, latitude and co-lat, declination and polar distance Relationship between GHA, longitude and LHA Tabulation of declination in nautical almanac Rate of increase of hour angle with time

2. The PZX triangle

The tabulated components of the triangle, LHA, co-lat and polar distance The calculable components, zenith distance and azimuth Relationship between zenith distance and altitude Introduction to the tabular method of solution in the Air Navigation Tables and the basic sight form The use of calculators for the solution of the PZX triangle

3. The sextant

Practical guide to the use and care of a sextant at sea Conversion of sextant altitude to true altitude Application of dip, index error and refraction Correction of side error, perpendicularity, index error and collimation error

4. Measurement of time

Definition of, and relationship between, UT, LMT, standard time and zone time Rating of chronometers and watches

5. Meridian altitudes

Forecasting time of meridian altitude Reduction of meridian altitude sights

6. Sun, star and other sights

Reduction and plotting of sun sights using Air Navigation Tables Awareness of use of calculator for sight reduction The plotting of sun-run-sun meridian altitude Awareness of the reduction and plotting of sights obtained from stars, moon and planets

7. Compass checking

Use of amplitude and azimuth tables systems and/or calculator

8. Satellite Navigation Systems

Principles and limitations of use of all systems

9. Great circle sailing

Comparison of rhumb lines and great circles Vertices and composite tracks The computation of a series of rhumb lines approximating to a great circle by use of gnomonic and Mercator projections

10. Meteorology

General pressure distribution and prevailing winds over the oceans of the world Tropical revolving storms, seasonal occurrence and forecasting by observation

11. Passage planning

Publications available to assist with planning of long passages (routeing charts, ocean passages of the world and other publications) Preparation for ocean passage including survival equipment, victualling, water and fuel management, chafe protection, spares and maintenance

12. Passage making

Navigational routine Watchkeeping Crew management

13. Communications

Satellite and terrestrial systems Weather information Pack Shipping details Packs will be shipped for free to most destinations within the mainland United Kingdom.

We cannot deliver to a PO Box address. A physical address will be required in all circumstances.

A valid contact telephone number for the student will also need to be provided at the time of making the booking.

Packs to Russia must go to a Business address.

Sailtrain will not accept responsibility for Packs sent to Marinas, or C/O addresses. If the pack goes missing after it has been signed for, replacement packs will only be provided at the students expense.

Details of any special delivery requirements should be provided in the notes section of your Booking form.

The shipment of packs to the following destinations not shown above, will incur the below indicated additional charge:

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RYA Yachtmaster™ Ocean Theory

Price: from £485 (Finance now available)

Location: Starts from our base at Premier Gosport Marina

Duration: 5 days

The RYA Yachtmaster™ Ocean Theory Course brings students with at least the RYA Yachtmaster™ Coastal or Yachtmaster™ Offshore qualification and some sailing experience, up to Yachtmaster™ Ocean level (Theory only).

Take a look at our live course calendar  for dates for the RYA Yachtmaster™ Ocean Theory course!

Booking details

No dates currently available. Please contact us for more info.

Course Information

Joining Instructions: Please click here for course joining instructions

The RYA Yachtmaster Ocean Exam application fee isn’t included in the above cost. Please click here to print-off the RYA Yachtmaster exam application form :

Recommended Reading: RYA Day Skipper Handbook Sail (G71), RYA Yacht Sailing Techniques (G94), RYA Yachtmaster™ scheme and syllabus (G158)

Course Prerequisites:  RYA/MCA Yachtmaster™ Offshore Certificate of Competence for those intending to ultimately gain the RYA/MCA Yachtmaster™ Ocean Certificate of Competence, otherwise a knowledge of navigation to RYA Coastal Skipper/Yachtmaster™ Offshore theory level

Minimum Age: 17+

Holiday Insurance: We would advise ALL our customers to ensure they have suitable holiday insurance in-place. Yachtsman’s insurance is available from a variety of souces like Topsail Insurance and can cover things like cancellations and personal effects cover.

Who is the course for:

This is perfect for those sailors who have completed their RYA/MCA Yachtmaster™ Offshore and want to explore the world with some blue water sailing experience or major ocean-going passages.

What we cover on the course:

The course does cover all aspects of ocean navigation with particular emphasis on the use of astro-navigation and worldwide meteorology.

The lessons on astro-navigation will unlock the mysteries of the sextant and allow you to confidently take sights at sea to obtain your position and carry out compass checks.

• The earth and the celestial sphere
• Practical guide to use and care of sextant at sea
• Meridian altitudes
• Sun, star and other sights
• Ocean passage planning

Another important aspect of ocean sailing is worldwide meteorology, passage planning and communications at sea.

Publications and charts that assist the ocean navigator such as routing charts and other pilot books will be discussed and used.

The course also recognises that there has been a vast improvement in technology available to help with ocean routing and weather prediction.

Time will be spent discussing the various computer programmes, internet sites and satellite/radio broadcasts available to the modern ocean navigator.

Crew management, watch keeping, victualling, water and fuel management and emergency equipment are also covered to give a real all-round course and a vast depth of knowledge.

Upon having successfully passed this theory course you will be ready to put the theory into practice on an ocean voyage and passage.

If you return form your ocean passage and have done the required navigation and sights, you are eligible to sit the ocean master certificate of confidence exam.

This can be arranged through ourselves or direct with the RYA.

Course formats & details:

Courses run in a choice of two formats:

• 3 consecutive weekends: (Saturday to Sunday)
• 5 continuous days: (Monday to Friday)

The course includes free overnight accommodation aboard our immaculate, well-maintained yachts, and free tea and coffee, although no meals are included in the course cost (Free accommodation is during low season only and subject to yacht availability – Please check with us beforehand).

All meals are at the students own cost and are taken at any of the great local establishments in Gosport, or a short ferry hop across the harbour to Portsmouth.

Please note that during high season accommodation on-board cannot be guaranteed, so please ensure if you need to take advantage of this benefit you inform us of your requirements well in advance. Should we have no free boats available, you will need to arrange overnight accommodation at your own cost.

Fancy going VIP and having your own exclusive private course for you and your friends or family? You can book the whole yacht just for your own exclusive course from only £485 per person. Enjoy the course in style, with up to five persons on the boat being taught by one of our friendly, experienced Yachtmaster Instructors! What a way to start your sailing adventure!

Our Chief Instructor says this about the Yachtmaster™ Ocean Theory Course:

This is one of the coolest things you possibly can do as a Yachtsman.

Being able to use a sextant and navigate with confidence in the middle of the ocean is one of the pinnacles of sailing.

Being out in the middle of the ocean, stood in the cockpit taking sights and then using reduction tables to work out where you are makes some of the most amazing journeys throughout your time as a Yachtsman.

Carrying that wooden box with you onto the vessel as you move towards your passage can be an amazing feeling. With the additions of world meteorology and also ocean passage planning the course really is a good all rounder for those who want to prepare themselves for an ocean voyage of a lifetime.

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Our exciting and very popular luxury 7-day Channel Island Cruises are aimed at breaking the confines of the Solent for a relaxed and enjoyable Channel Islands adventure. They are a great way to relax, gain sea miles, enhance your sailing skills and see the beautiful Channel Islands. All under the watchful eye of our professional Skipper.

Take a look at our live course calendar  for dates for the Channel Island Cruise!

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The popular and fun Spinnaker & Downwind Sailing Weekend is a great introduction to flying the “big kite”, especially for budding racing sailors wanting a taster of the skills required. This is an essential for those wanting to do any offshore racing, including the iconic RORC Fastnet race!

Take a look at our live course calendar  for dates for the Spinnaker & Downwind Sailing Weekend!

RYA Sea Survival

The RYA Sea Survival Course is an essential for any sailor. Teaching self-help techniques and what to do when all is lost, it’s a prerequisite for longer passages and those wanting to get into racing like RORC Fastnet!

Take a look at our live course calendar  for dates for the RYA Sea Survival course!

Customer reviews

Positive: Value After last summer me and my family definitely want to go back to Croatia. And will definitely get a Prestige 46 again! Nice boat! Brac and Hvar were great, and then Mljet and Lastovo...another level! Thanks Commodore yachting team, we felt like home.

Excellent RYA First Aid course. The instructor, Tom, certainly knew his stuff. The course was a positive learning experience made interesting by detailed explanation and hands on practice sessions. If you want to learn an extremely useful skill I thoroughly recommend this course.

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RYA Yachtmaster Ocean

Find out About the Yachtmaster Ocean Theory & Practical Training, (both Online & Shorebased)

Use the global Yachtmaster Ocean Directory to Find a Course Near me (Select any Location)

Quick Links

• RYA Yachtmaster Ocean Overview
• RYA Yachtmaster Ocean Theory Overview
• RYA Yachtmaster Ocean Theory Online Course
• RYA Yachtmaster Ocean Prerequisites
• RYA Yachtmaster Ocean Exam
• Find a Yachtmaster Ocean Course Provider

An RYA Ocean certifies an individual as competent to captain a vessel up to 24m in length on passages unlimited by distance. With the addition of the STCW basic training modules, the RYA Yachtmaster Ocean (practical and theory certificates required) may be endorsed as a commercial MCA Master of Yachts 200GT / Officer of the Yachts (500GT) Unlimted. The RYA Yachtmaster Ocean or IYT Master of Yachts Unlimted certificates are also requirements for the Chief Mate (Yachts 3000), Master of Yachts 3000 or Master of Yachts 500 Certificates of Competency.

RYA Yachtmaster Ocean Theory

The theory component of the Yachtmaster Ocean course assumes candidates either hold a Yachtmaster Offshore or the knowledge of such shore-based courses. Although a Yachtmaster Offshore is not a prerequisite to enroll in the Theory course, candidates must hold a Yachtmaster Offshore in order to attain an RYA Yachtmaster Ocean CoC by passing the final exam.

Completion of the theory course will result in exemption from the written component of the final exam (only the oral exam will remain) provided the theory exam is written under invigilated conditions at an RYA-approved training center.

RYA Yachtmaster Ocean Theory Topics

• PZX Triangle
• Star Sight Planning
• Merpass / Meridian Altitudes
• The Sextant
• Time Zone / Measurement of time
• Planet Sights
• Star Sights
• Latitude by Polaris
• Compass Checking
• Satelite Navigation Systems
• Passage Planning
• Passage Making
• Communicating at Sea

Yachtmaster Theory Online: 

If you wish to study at your own pace, the Yachtmaster Theory can be studied as an online course. At the end of the Yachtmaster online theory course, an exam can be written online or in a classroom environment. If you wish to take the Yachtmaster Ocean final exam in order to gain your certificate of competence, you will have to write an additional theory exam unless your exam was invigilated (at an RYA-approved Centre) at the end of your online course.

Yachtmaster Ocean Exam Requirements / Prerequisites:

In addition to holding an RYA Yachtmaster Certificate of Competence (or an MCA OOW Yachts less than 3000gt) the candidate must complete a qualifying passage on board a sailing or motor yacht up to 500gt.

*Candidates must hold an OOW (Yachts less than 3000gt) in order to claim qualifying passages on vessels greater than 24m LOA.*

Yachtmaster Ocean Qualifying Passage:

In addition to the above requirements the RYA Yachtmaster Ocean qualifying passage must meet the following requirements:

• 600M including at least 200M more than 50 miles from land or charted objects capable of being used for navigation;
• Duration of at least 96 hours;
• The candidate must have taken a full part in the planning and preparation of the passage, including a navigational plan, checking the material condition of the yacht and her equipment; storing with spare gear, fuel, water, and victuals.
• Throughout the passage, the candidate must have acted in a responsible capacity, either in sole charge of a watch or as a skipper.
• Candidates must have successfully navigated a yacht at sea by Astro navigation. As a minimum, this should include the planning, reduction, and plotting of a sun-run-meridian altitude or sun-run-sun sight and a compass check carried out using the bearing of the sun, moon, star, or planet.

The minimum qualifying passage must have been accrued within 10 years of the examination date.

*If passages were done on a vessel greater than 500gt, the RYA should be contacted.*

RYA Yachtmaster Ocean Exam:

The Yachtmaster Ocean examination is a combination of oral and written assessments which take approximately 1.5 hours. If candidates have completed and passed the RYA Yachtmaster Ocean Theory course, they are exempt from the written component of the exam. It is essential that the Theory exam is invigilated at an RYA Training center in order for this written component to be exempt from the final exam.

The exam is an assessment of the sights taken at sea during an ocean passage as well as other areas of ocean passages.

This includes:

• Worldwide meteorology
• Crew management
• Yacht preparation
• Maintenance, and repairs

RYA Yachtmaster Ocean Training School Locations

Brazil Sao Paulo

Croatia Split

Greece Corfu

South Africa Cape Town Langebaan

Spain Barcelona

Turkey Marmaris

United Kingdom England

West Indies Antigua

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RYA Yachtmaster Ocean

• 6th November 2023
• by Pete Green

Part 1 Theory

Is it still relevant for today?

RYA Yachtmaster Ocean is the RYA’s highest shore-based theory qualification. With multiple sources of GPS on a boat, why is it still relevant to learn an instrument based on 800-year-old technology and look up data from volumes of paper tables?

For centuries sailors have navigated oceans by fixing a position with a sextant observing the sun, moon, stars, and planets. Today, it is not only a fascinating art, but an essential alternative to GPS and electronic plotters when redundancy and reliability are essential for crossing oceans.

Electronics and the power to supply them can and do fail.  Salt water is an enemy and there is plenty of it in the middle of an ocean.  You may have redundancy with multiple GPS devices but that doesn’t help if none of them are receiving because of jamming, interference, or atmospheric conditions.

If you know the sun rises in the East and the North star is in the North, you already have some astronavigation knowledge.  With the reliability of just paper & pencil and a simple mechanical instrument, you can find out where you are on the planet to within a few nautical miles.

Many sailors will embark on learning celestial navigation for their own satisfaction, knowledge and dare I say pleasure.  For others, it is a required vocational qualification and revered standard.  Halcyon Yachts employs yacht delivery skippers with a minimum Yachtmaster Ocean qualification so to become a delivery skipper it is a qualification you rightly need to gain.

RYA Syllabus and Pre-Requisites

To get the RYA Yachtmaster Ocean Certificate of Competence you need to be a Yachtmaster Offshore, do a qualifying passage, take astro navigation sights and pass an exam.

The qualifying passage must be over 600 nm (and over 96 hours) where 200 nm are more than 50 nm from land or charted objects and completed within the last 10 years. You must evidence taking a full part in the planning and preparation and had a solo watch. The astro navigation requirements are a sun or noon sight transfer position fix and a celestial compass check, not necessarily on the qualifying passage.

The exam is an oral and written test.  The oral test covers all aspects of ocean passage making in a yacht, including planning, navigation, meteorology, crew management and yacht preparation, maintenance, and repairs. Candidates must send the examiner an account of the qualifying passage and evidence of taking sights 48 hours in advance.

The good news is if you pass the Yachtmaster Ocean Theory you don’t need to take the written part of the exam and that is the subject of this blog.

Ocean Theory Courses

The two main routes to learning RYA Ocean theory are classroom and online.  Courses are typically a weeklong or online with 40 hours estimated study and cost from under £300.

There are many providers of online theory courses, I used www.skipperson line.net which has a modern interactive interface, worked on all my devices, and allowed learning at my own pace. The exam can be done at home if just for personal development but if commercial endorsement is required then the exam must be invigilated by any RYA Instructor using only the student tables and sight proforma templates provided.

What is Astronavigation?

I won’t pretend to explain astronavigation in a blog but can give a flavour of the content and principles. It was only on the last course module covering the North Star (Polaris) that I had the eureka moment and things clicked into place, so I’ll start there to give a layman’s guide to the theory.

The North Star is always in the North so it’s bearing (or Azimuth) is always north.  It is almost directly above the North Pole (89° 16’ N) so is in the same place every day!  If you were stood at the North Pole, it would be right above you, on your Zenith (an imaginary point directly above a location). If you were close to the equator, it would be very low in the sky, almost on the horizon (90° from your Zenith).  Some basic trigonometry then proves your latitude (in the Northern hemisphere) is always equal to the height of the North Star above the horizon.

Let’s say you measure Polaris as having an altitude of 50°, then your latitude is also 50°.  This doesn’t tell you where you are, but it does confirm your latitude as one position line.  At 50° latitude you could be anywhere west of the Isles of Scilly, East of New Foundland or in the North Pacific but hopefully you’ll be able to narrow that down!

The principal is then the same as Day Skipper, getting position lines from more than one source (or the same one transferred over time) then plotting where they cross to get a fix. If you get stuck an excellent additional resource is “The Practical Guide to Celestial Navigation” by Phil Somerville.  A copy of which is now on the bookshelf of my boat along with some generic proformas and plotting sheets.

Using a Sextant

The shore-based course teaches how to use a sextant but unless you construct an artificial horizon with a bowl of water you’ll have to wait until on passage to try it out.

It is called sextant because its arc is 1/6 th of a circle i.e., 60° but it can measure angles up to 120° using a principle of double reflection. The mechanics are to adjust the sextant arm whilst using telescope, mirrors, and shades to bring the celestial body being measured down (or up) to meet the horizon.  You should take a series of readings over a minute or two and average them on a chart ignoring outliers to select a reading you will use.

There are then some adjustments to make including “index error” of the instrument, “dip” from curvature of the earth based on your height of eye and various potential altitude corrections such as the semi-diameter of the celestial body, terrestrial refraction, and parallax.

The final corrected result is the True Altitude (Ho).  After looking up in tables what the Calculated Altitude (Hc) should be, the difference is then how far away you are on the earth’s surface from an assumed position giving a position line.

We have produced a series of videos that will also help you to learn and master the sextant:

What Sights Can You Take?

To take a sight both horizon and celestial body must be visible, and you need more than one sight for a fix.  One method is to take a sun sight, update your approximate position to be on the sun sight position line then apply dead reckoning and take another sun sight as a running fix.  This is known as a “sun run sun”, one of the position lines could be a simple latitude derived from a “noon sight”, the sun at local noon (Meridian Passage).

Other options may be available at twilight if the moon and planets are visible along with the horizon. Possibly easier are stars.  Of the 2 x 10 23 stars in the visible universe and the 4,500 visible by eye, the positions of 57 most useful stars are recorded in non-perpetual volumes valid for a few years (epoch). To simplify things, altitude and azimuth are given relative to a hypothetic point in the sky (Aries) and don’t require sight reduction calculations.

Meridians and Hour Angles

The Earth is mapped by an imaginary grid of latitude and longitude lines. Latitudes run from 0° at the equator to 90° North and South at the poles.  Latitudes are measured in degrees of declination, the angle north or south from the celestial equator. The declination of the sun changes seasonally from the tropic of Cancer 23.4°N (northern hemisphere summer) to the tropic of Capricorn 23.4°S (northern hemisphere winter) as the Earth orbits the sun.

Longitudes are vertical meridians like segments of a chocolate orange running East to West from a prime meridian. Greenwich meridian was voted by 22 countries as the global prime meridian in 1884, although France continued using the Paris meridian until 1911.

Each minute of longitude is a nautical mile at the surface, and hence a degree of longitude is 60nm. In Astro navigation, the longitude position of a heavenly body is measured by Greenwich Hour Angle (GHA) running west from 0° Greenwich Meridian.  A longitude of 90° East is thus GHA 270°. The earth rotates every 24 hours, hence 15° per hour or 1° every 4 minutes. As you sail west, noon becomes later.

A Local Hour Angle (LHA) is the angle from your position to the heavenly body and is GHA minus your longitude if west or GHA plus longitude if East. For stars we use a Siderial Hour Angle (SHA) which is the angle between GHA and “Aries”, a hypothetical point in where the sun crosses the celestial equator on the northern spring equinox.

Because the earth spins, to measure any hour angle from celestial bodies you need to know the exact time to the second. The British Parliament passed the Longitude Act in 1714 with a reward of £20,000 (£3.35m in 2023) for solving longitude at sea to within half a degree, eventually won by John Harrison, carpenter and clockmaker who invented the marine chronometer.

Today a cheap digital watch set to GMT will work but may still need correcting as can vary 15-30 seconds per month.  In preparation for taking sights, I set three cheap digital watches to the exact time using www.time.is and plan to measure their variation before leaving.

5 Top Tips for Tables

The theory course is full of opportunities to make errors and it can be hugely frustrating having to trace your steps back to the start to try and find the error.  Here are some things that tripped me up when referring to the student tables provided:

Read the headings for columns and rows very carefully.  Column headings can change down the page for blocks of rows (e.g., data for stars) so may it not be the heading at the very top.

Check carefully whether data is positive or negative. In some cases, refer to prior rows where this is given.

The typeface is old and sometimes tricky to read.  Look at the trend for the previous and subsequent periods as a check.

Note how data trends to check if you should add or subtract.  Is declination for example increasing or decreasing and apply that when using data for corrections.

Get used to mental arithmetic in base 60.  A simple technique for subtraction is to re-write degrees and minutes with one less degree (e.g., convert 90° 00’ to 89° 60’) to make base 60 subtraction easier.

Proformas and Spreadsheets

For each type of sight (sun, planets, moon, and stars) there is a separate proforma to use in calculations.  I made my own spreadsheet versions as calculators for backup and for notes to remind me of the process.  Other versions can be found online with various formats, but these worked for me.  They are free to download and whilst I believe they are stress tested they come with no warranty and are no substitute for paper and pen!

Example Sun Sight from Excel Templates – Free Download: Astro Nav Templates

More than just Astro

The theory course is not just astronavigation but includes ocean passage planning, communications, global meteorology and how to check your compass.  You may find some parts of passage planning common sense and communications is a rapidly changing subject with advances in satellite internet access.  You will however need to dust off your Yachtmaster Offshore meteorology and learn about great circle passages, tropical cyclones, trade winds and ocean currents.

Taking the Exam

The exam is two hours long and you will have some sight reductions, plotting and non-astro navigation questions to answer.  For an online course, you’ll need a computer, internet connection and venue with any RYA instructor to invigilate.

Take your time to get settled with coloured pens, 2b pencils, plotter, dividers, student tables and some plain A4 paper. Unlike previous theory courses, plotting is not done on charts but on self-made plotting sheets.  You can buy generic plotting sheets, but the course will teach you to make your own based on your approximate latitude to get the relative scale right.  The student tables are all based on 50° latitude so I made a plotting sheet for that and (with permission) printed half a dozen off to take into the exam which I was very glad of.

You start the exam in your own time, then move forwards or backwards through the questions to complete as you wish. When the time is up, you’ll be asked to upload scans or photos of your work, a camera phone is useful for this.

Getting the Result

Once uploaded, a system message said results would come through in 2 or 3 working days’ time, however I had an email that evening confirming I had passed along with detailed feedback and model answers. Shortly after, an electronic copy of the certification was emailed with a hard copy in the post.

If you are a member of Halcyon Yachts, then please update us with any new RYA qualifications by email to [email protected] . To become a yacht delivery skipper with Halcyon Yachts you will need RYA Yachtmaster Ocean Commercially Endorsed, at least 10,000 NM experience as skipper, a trial sail, good references, and skippers’ third-party liability insurance.

Our continued outstanding reputation is based on the skills and dedication of our skippers. We have the highest standards in the industry, as such our Skippers are qualified to RYA Yachtmaster Ocean as a minimum.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the course and have learned a new skill that will be used.  For nearly a decade I carried a Mark 25 Davis sextant on my 32ft yacht with an equally unopened astronavigation book. Not much use without the sight reduction tables, proformas, plotting sheets and knowledge to use it. Our next long passage I’m going to enjoy impressing the crew by plotting a few sights to update our dead reckoning with a fix.  We will of course still use GPS, but the Mark 25 will no longer be hidden at the bottom of a locker.

Author: Richard Payne, Sales and Operations Manager – Halcyon Yachts. 

With highly qualified and experienced crew, Halcyon Yachts Ltd offers a dedicated international yacht delivery service. For more information or to see details of their recent deliveries please visit: https://halcyonyachts.com/

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5-Months Fast Track to RYA Yachtmaster Ocean C.O.C

A robust theory and practical programme, including a 2-month mileage trip..

The Odyssey is a comprehensive 5-month programme that takes candidates from an entry-level Competent Crew status all the way to Yachtmaster Ocean – 200-ton unlimited commercial license. 

Structured to suit novices and experienced sailors alike, the first 5 weeks of the programme is a foundation phase comprising alternating weeks of shore-based theory and a week of practical sailing. 

The Foundation Phase consists of RYA Competent Crew, RYA Day Skipper Theory, RYA Day Skipper Practical, RYA Yachtmaster Theory, RYA Yachtmaster Practical and RYA Yachtmaster Ocean Theory, RYA Short Range Radio Certificate and Power Boat Level II.

This is followed by preparation and an approximately 2-month mileage trip either to Rio (in January) or Madagascar (in June), returning to Cape Town.

The Odyssey not only gives candidates sufficient confidence and experience to sit the RYA/MCA Yachtmaster Offshore assessment, and the RYA Ocean Oral exam, it also offers incredible offshore sailing and is a truly life-changing experience.

Please note: STCW courses are not included in our course fees and accommodation during theory week is for your own cost.

Contact us about 5-Months Fast Track to RYA Yachtmaster Ocean C.O.C

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ATLANTIC OCEAN ODYSSEY

Leg 1: ROUTE: CAPE TOWN – ST HELENA – RIO East to West Crossing – inspired by the Clipper ship trade routes, the Adventure routing will follow the trade winds making for stunning downwind sailing: sunny skies, warm breezes and big spinnakers.

Leg 2: RIO – TRISTAN DA CUNHA – CAPE TOWN. West to East Crossing – inspired by the Whitbread/Volvo Ocean race which sails around the bottom of the South Atlantic High (renowned as a 24 hour record breaking route). This route makes for challenging but fast and exhilarating sailing. Not for the fainthearted.

INDIAN OCEAN ODYSSEY

The Indian Ocean Odyssey adventure consist of 2 routes. The Cape Town to Madagascar route explores the Southern African East Coast, famous for its challenging sailing conditions. On the return route you’ll be enjoying the trade winds of the Mozambique Channel, and then routing back to Cape Town along the Wild Coast.

Leg 1: CAPE TOWN – RICHARDS BAY – NOSEY BE, MADAGASCAR Leg 2: NOSEY BE, MADAGASCAR – BASSAS DAS INDIA – RICHARDS BAY – CAPE TOWN

RYA Yachtmaster Ocean Career Training

The RYA Yachtmaster Ocean Certificate of Competency is one of the most prestigious and sought-after qualifications in the sailing industry. It is an essential certification for individuals looking to pursue a career in sailing and take on leading positions such as captain. The 5-month fast track program to Yachtmaster Ocean C.O.C offered by 2 Oceans Maritime Academy provides aspiring sailors with the perfect opportunity to achieve their goals.

The Odyssey adventure is a comprehensive 5-month program that takes candidates from entry-level Competent Crew status to Yachtmaster Ocean. The program is structured to cater to both novices and experienced sailors and is designed to provide a strong foundation of knowledge and practical experience. The first 5 weeks of the program is a foundation phase that consists of alternating weeks of shore-based theory and practical sailing. This phase covers RYA Competent Crew, RYA Day Skipper Theory, RYA Day Skipper Practical, RYA Yachtmaster Theory, RYA Yachtmaster Practical and RYA Yachtmaster Ocean Theory.

After the foundation phase, candidates embark on an approximately 2-month mileage trip either to Rio or Madagascar, returning to Cape Town. This adventure not only provides candidates with the confidence and experience to sit the RYA/MCA Yachtmaster Offshore assessment and the RYA Ocean Oral exam, but also offers an incredible offshore sailing experience that is life-changing.

Hout Bay Yacht Club Marina Harbour Road, Hout Bay Cape Town, South Africa, 7806

+27  (82) 854-9789 [email protected] All images on this site are of our boats and students while training

RYA Yachtmaster™ Exams

An rya yachtmaster™ certificate of competence is often the ultimate aim of aspiring skippers., rya yachtmaster™ certificate of competence exams.

The RYA Yachtmaster™ Certificate of Competence is well known and highly respected worldwide, proving your experience as a skipper. Unlike the other courses in the RYA Sail Training Scheme, there is no formal syllabus to complete in order to attain an RYA Yachtmaster™ Certificate of Competence.

We highly recommend attending our RYA Yachtmaster™ preparation course to fine tune your sailing skills and focus your knowledge base before the exam.

RYA Yachtmaster™ Certificate of Competence – Coastal or Offshore?

The RYA Yachtmaster™ Coastal means that you have knowledge needed to skipper a yacht on coastal cruises. You do not necessarily have the experience needed to undertake longer passages. The exam will include an assessment of your skippering skills, boat handling, general seamanship, navigation, safety awareness and knowledge of the IRPCS (collision regulations), meteorology and signals. You will be set tasks to demonstrate your ability and may also be asked questions on any part of the syllabus for all practical and theory courses up to Yachtmaster™ Coastal level.

The RYA Yachtmaster™ Offshore deems you competent to skipper a cruising yacht on any passage during which the yacht is no more than 150 miles from harbour. The exam will include an assessment of your skippering skills, boat handling, general seamanship, navigation, safety awareness and knowledge of the IRPCS, meteorology and signals. You will be set tasks to demonstrate your ability and may also be asked questions on any part of the syllabus for all practical and theory courses up to Yachtmaster™ Offshore level.

RYA Yachtmaster™ Certificate of Competence Commercial Endorsement

RYA Yachtmaster™ Certificates of Competence can be commercially endorsed in order to work on board British flagged vessels, subject to the MCA’s codes of practice for small commercial vessels. A number of additional training courses and medical fitness certificates are required to be eligible for a commercial endorsement . We offer the online RYA Personal Practices and Responsibilities course – email us to book .

RYA Yachtmaster™ Mile/Experience Building Charters

If you do not have the required experience and sea time, we recommend booking on our Bluewater Sailing mile/experience building cruises . We offer these adventurous training trips throughout the year in the Caribbean.

RYA Yachtmaster™ Preparation Course

Many RYA Yachtmaster™ candidates choose to complete our Yachtmaster™ preparation course for the benefit of tailor-made sailing tuition prior to the examination. Provided that you have sufficient experience and sea time, you are then put forward immediately as a candidate for the Yachtmaster™ exam. Click here for helpful information from the RYA on passing your exam.

Working with a Yachtmaster™ Coastal Certificate

A commercially endorsed Yachtmaster™ Coastal Certificate of Competence will enable you to skipper vessels up to 24 metres in length, operating in category 3,4,5, and 6 waters – up to 20 miles from a safe haven.

Working with a Yachtmaster™ Offshore Certificate

A commercially endorsed Yachtmaster™ Offshore Certificate of Competence will enable you to work as a Master of commercial vessels of up to 200gt in category 1 to 6 waters – that is up to 150 miles from a safe haven. This Certificate of Competence can used commercially in its own right, or as a prerequisite for the MCA’s Officer of the Watch qualification, which enables you to work worldwide on vessels of up to 3000gt.

Working with a Yachtmaster™ Ocean Certificate

A commercially endorsed Yachtmaster Ocean Certificate of Competence will enable you to work worldwide as a Master of commercial vessels of up to 200gt. This Certificate of Competence can be used commercially in its own right. It is also a prerequisite for the MCA’s Chief Mate, Master 500 and Master 3000 qualifications.

RYA Yachtmaster™ Exam Prerequisites

Rya yachtmaster™ exam details, rya yachtmaster™ ocean certificate of competence.

Holders of the Yachtmaster™ Ocean Certificate of Competence are experienced and competent to skipper a yacht on passages of any length in all parts of the world.

Full details of the exam syllabus and requirements are shown in the RYA Yachtmaster™ Scheme Syllabus and Logbook (G158). The exam consists of an oral and written test.

The candidate must provide the examiner with the following information 48 hours prior to the exam:

•  A narrative account of the planning and execution of the qualifying passage providing all relevant details.
• Navigational records, completed on board a yacht on passage, out of sight of land showing that the candidate has navigated the yacht without the use of electronic navigational aids. The records must include as a minimum, planning, reduction and plotting of a sun run meridian altitude sight and a compass check carried out using the bearing of the sun, moon, a star or planet. 

During the oral test the candidate will be required to answer questions on all aspects of ocean passage making in a yacht, including passage planning, navigation, worldwide meteorology, crew management and yacht preparation, maintenance and repairs.

The written exam will include questions on sights and sight reduction and worldwide meteorology.

Candidates who hold the RYA/MCA Yachtmaster™ Ocean Theory Course Completion Certificate (final exam must have been invigilated at an RYA RTC), or a MCA issued full STCW Certificate of Competence as a Deck Officer (Unlimited) will be exempt from the written examination.

Before you book your exam please check that you:

• have completed the required mileage and experience as skipper
• have read the syllabus in RYA Logbook (G158)
• have read and comply with the pre-requisites above.

If you need your Certificate of Competence in order to work on board a commercial craft subject the MCA’s codes of practice, you will need to get it commercially endorsed .

Please note: Only those who hold the RYA Yachtmaster™ Offshore Certificate of Competence are eligible to receive the Yachtmaster™ Ocean Certificate of Competence on passing the oral exam. Those holding OOW (Yacht 3000gt) will receive a pass confirmation certificate.

RYA Yachtmaster™ Ocean Exam Prerequisites

Register today and get £50 off

Enter voucher code HOME STUDY in the booking form

Test your theory knowledge

Try our RYA theory quiz to test your knowledge and see whether our  Day Skipper  or  Yachtmaster  theory course is best for you.

For aspiring skippers

RYA Day Skipper

Online Theory Course

Coastal / Offshore

RYA Yachtmaster

Free student resouces

Links to study aids, additional resources and downloadable files to assist your studies.