Commercial
The Small Commercial Vessel Code (SCV) - mgn 280, for vessels up to 24m & carrying up to 12 passengers can be accessed on the MCA website - www.mcga.gov.uk. Waters & required skippers’ qualifications as follows -
CATEGORY |
AREA |
RYA SKIPPER QUALIFICATION |
0 |
worldwide |
Yachtmaster Ocean |
1 |
to 150m from safe haven |
Yachtmaster Offshore |
2 |
to 60m from safe haven |
Yachtmaster Offshore |
3 |
to 20m from safe haven |
Coastal Skipper or Advanced Powerboat with 2 years experience |
4 |
as 3 in daylight & fair weather |
Coastal Skipper or Advanced Powerboat with 1 year experience |
5 |
20m from nominated port in daylight & fair weather |
Day Skipper practical & theory courses |
6 |
3m from nominated port |
Day Skipper practical course or Level 2 |
For Yachtmaster & Coastal Skipper examination, it is necessary to hold a radio operators licence & to have attended a recent basic 1st Aid course.
The following qualifying experience in the last 10 years is also required –
Advanced Powerboat Certificate
At least 2 years relevant experience with night pilotage. As a guide – 30 days, 2 days as skipper, 800 miles, 12 night hours.
Coastal Skipper Certificate
At least 30 days, 2 as skipper, 800 miles,
12 night hours - reducing If a practical course has been completed
Yachtmaster Offshore Certificate
50 days, 5 as skipper, 2500 miles,
5 passages over 60 miles including 2 overnight and 2 as skipper.
A certificate of competence also needs a commercial endorsement.
This involves attending a one day Sea Survival course , having either a ML5 or Eng1 medical certificate & paying the £20 fee.
Examination fees for Coastal Skipper & Advanced Powerboat will increase from £130 to £135 from April 2008, and Yachtmaster from £147 to £155.
The exam would expect to take approx 6 hours.
If necessary, Coastwise’s shorebased and practical courses cover all aspects of the syllabus required to gain certification. Attending Day Skipper shorebased & practical courses can get a less experienced skipper a cert for cat 5 waters without having to take an examination.
It is often found during examination, that candidates already in seagoing employment are more competent with the hands-on boat handling tasks, but are sometimes less up to speed with the underpinning theory knowledge, such as collision regs, basic navigation from paper charts, meteorology etc.
In this case, an alternative to a 5 day shorebased course is a refresher offered as a distance learning package. This 9 unit fully supported course gives the motor vessel skipper the flexibility to prepare in their own time and at their own pace with concentration on weaker subjects.
Price of the distance learning package is £135.
Contact Coastwise for any further information.
