11 October – Saloon berth: £800 25 October – Saloon berth: £800 or single-occupancy cabin: £1,400
Availability weekly from 28 March 2027 to 24 October 2027
If you would like to book, or none of the above dates work for you, please contact us at info@sailionian.com with your preferred dates, and we can check whether it’s possible to start a new course.
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RYA Day Skipper with Sail Ionian is an intermediate level, practical course that teaches you to safely skipper a cruising yacht in daylight in familiar waters and is the key qualification needed to charter bareboat in Greece and beyond. It runs as a one-week live-aboard holiday, combining intensive hands-on training with island hopping in the beautiful Ionian.
RYA Day Skipper is designed for sailors who already have basic crewing experience and want to take charge of a yacht as skipper. It is not suitable for beginners; those with little or no yacht experience should first complete RYA Competent Crew or gain equivalent miles and crewing practice.
Students should have Competent Crew level skills (around 5 days or 100 sea miles) plus have completed RYA Day Skipper Theory (approx. 40 hours work) before joining the course. Students should be comfortable with basic sailing skills, including helming, tacking, gybing and an understanding of wind awareness. Day Skipper teaches you how to manage a yacht and its crew; it is not a beginner's course. Previous experience makes the week far more enjoyable and maximises your chances of passing.
This course is a big step up from Competent Crew; it qualifies you as a skipper and enables you to apply for an ICC.
RYA Competent Crew is not compulsory, but students should have equivalent practical crewing experience and Day Skipper theory knowledge before joining the Day Skipper Practical course.
Pass rates are high for those meeting minimum/recommended requirements, but it can be challenging if underprepared.
There’s no time during the course to teach the full shore-based syllabus— you must do theory beforehand. This can take weeks or months of prep depending on how much free time you dedicate to it. Don’t leave it too late.
On arrival, you’ll be assessed by your instructor and if they think that you are not ready, you will take Competent Crew or a skill-building week instead.
If you do fail the RYA Day Skipper course, you will get a detailed action plan to ensure you are clear about which aspects need attention and have a structured route to passing the course in the future.
If you are unsure if you are at the correct level, then please contact rya@sailionian.com or contact the Sail Ionian office for advice, we're happy to help.
Across the week you develop the skills to plan and execute short coastal passages and manage the yacht and crew safely by day. Key areas include pilotage and navigation, mooring and close-quarters handling, passage planning, rules of the road, basic meteorology, safety and emergency procedures, and practical skippering skills such as briefing the crew and making decisions under pressure.
You join your training yacht on Sunday at Sail Ionian’s base on Lefkada, meeting your RYA Cruising Instructor, and the other students and settling in on board. From Monday to Friday, you sail around the surrounding islands (Lefkada, Kefalonia, Ithaca, Meganisi, Kastos & Kalamos), typically visiting a different harbour each night and including at least one night passage to practice navigation and pilotage after dark.
Certificates are issued on return to base on Friday for those who meet the RYA Day Skipper standard and after spending the night at base students normally take the yacht out for the day on Saturday without the instructor, as newly-qualified skippers! Accommodation is included on board for the whole week, and students vacate the yacht by 9am the final Sunday.
Expect busy but fun days – we have a large syllabus to get through so setting off by 9am is key, that means getting up early to have breakfast and preparing the boat for sea.
Limited swim stops – although there will be times for a quick dip, you must remember you are on a course and we have limited time to get you through the syllabus. We don’t allow kayaks or paddleboards on courses as they get in the way when training.
Day Skipper students are often taught in combination with Competent Crew students, the courses work well together, and the crew dynamics help Day Skipper students learn to oversee the yacht with less experienced crew on board.
Day Skipper can be taken as a scheduled joint shared group course sharing the yacht with other students, or as a private course where you charter the yacht and have an instructor exclusively for your family or friends. Private courses give you more flexibility over pace, daily routine and destinations, and are ideal for couples, small groups or families who prefer not to share with other students.
For all RYA courses, everyone on board must be taking part in training; “passengers” are not accepted because the boat spends much of the time practising manoeuvres and navigation exercises.
Courses run from 28 March until the end of October each year and operate from Sunday to Sunday.
We recommend students start a kitty between themselves at the beginning of the week, Students are responsible for providing food and water for the instructor during the course. We recommend provisioning the boat between you all eating breakfast and a quick lunch onboard, then plan on heading to a taverna in the evenings, with one evening meal being cooked aboard if desired. You are welcome to cook on board any evening if you do not wish to go out.
With an RYA Day Skipper Practical certificate, sailors are eligible to apply to the RYA for an ICC and charter bareboat in Greece and many other countries. Many Sail Ionian students choose to follow their course with a bareboat or flotilla holiday in the Ionian to consolidate their new skills and build miles as skipper in the same familiar cruising ground. We offer discounts for returning guests who attended our RYA courses.
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