Why it matters on deck
Job adverts for deckhands regularly ask for Yachtmaster Offshore, or list it as a bonus, especially on smaller yachts where deck crew drive tenders and stand watches. More importantly, a commercially endorsed Yachtmaster Offshore is the starting point for the MCA's Officer of the Watch (Yachts) route, the path towards mate and captain. Each step after that has its own sea service and course requirements, so check the MCA's current guidance when you plan it.
The usual route in
- Entry: STCW basic safety training and an ENG1 medical get you your first deckhand job.
- Build skills and sea time: tender driving (many yachts ask for Powerboat Level 2), watchkeeping, and logging your days and miles from day one.
- Yachtmaster Offshore: either as an intensive “zero to hero” programme at a sea school, or by logging the sea time yourself and booking prep and the exam.
- Commercial endorsement: so you can use the certificate professionally.
- Officer of the Watch (Yachts) and beyond.
How superyacht sea time counts
The pre-exam requirement is 50 days at sea, 5 days as skipper, 2,500 miles, and five passages over 60 miles including two overnight and two as skipper, all logged within the last 10 years. Days and miles on yachts up to 500gt count, which helps if you've done a season or two.
Your sea time has to match the exam's discipline. Time on motor yachts counts towards a power exam, and time under sail towards a sail exam. Check your own numbers with the sea time checker.
Commercial endorsement
To work professionally on your Yachtmaster Offshore, the RYA asks for:
- an ML5 medical (or an ENG1, which you'll already have as crew)
- RYA Basic Sea Survival, or STCW Personal Survival Techniques, which is part of STCW basic training
- an SRC or other GMDSS radio certificate
- the online Professional Practices and Responsibilities (PPR) course
If you came in through STCW and an ENG1, you may already have two of the four. The endorsement lasts up to five years.
Getting the theory done around the season
The exam is practical, but the examiner tests theory throughout: collision regulations, lights and shapes, buoyage, tides, passage planning, weather, safety and engines. That's hard to cram in a week ashore, and easy to chip away at in five-minute sessions between jobs, on a night watch or on the crew bus.
- Start with the rules of the road and lights. They come up constantly, and you see them every day at work.
- Use your day job: when you're on watch, name every light, mark and shape you see, and say what you'd do.
- Leave tides and chartwork for when you can sit at a table, and practise them properly.
- Read up on the questions examiners ask most in the last few weeks.