Being prepared for an RYA Competent Crew course is key in order to get the most out of your learning opportunity. 

What Is the RYA Competent Crew Course?

The goal of the RYA Competent Crew course is to introduce the complete beginner to sail cruising. You will learn about personal safety, seamanship and helmsmanship to the level required to be a useful member of the crew on a cruising sail yacht.

You can find more information about the course here; RYA Competent Crew Course.

Where Should I Book My RYA Competent Crew?

There are various aspects to consider when booking this course, these include where you might sail in the future, where you might want to charter, and what your end goals are in the RYA Cruising Scheme.

At Ardent Training we have various practical partners that can be found here.

You may want to pick somewhere close to home, somewhere you intend to sail afterwards, or somewhere you can call a holiday.

What Questions Should I Be Asking Before Booking?

Ideally, you want to check how many will be on your course, 3 or 4 being a good number. 5, unless on a larger boat, is generally too many. 

Will you be getting your own cabin or will you have to share? Sharing is common but of course, is not for everyone.

You will want to know what is included, food onboard being an absolute minimum. RYA logbooks should be provided on these courses. Often berthing charges are expected to be covered by clients, so it is best to check or look for places where this is included.

It is also nice to know who your instructor might be. A good training centre will have a pool of trusted instructors they work with and should be able to give you a couple of names and information about each of them such as we do with Ardent Training. At this level, you can be taught by various levels of instructor, so it can be nice to know if you have a really experienced instructor guiding you.

Finally, we want to know what the other students will be doing on the course. Ideally, it works best when all students are on the same course, but suitable mixing can take place for the RYA Competent Crew Course and mixing with RYA Day Skipper or RYA Coastal Skippers is ok.

What Will I Be Doing On My RYA Competent Crew Course?

You will want to know where you are going to be cruising to on your course. A good course will take you to various destinations each night, perhaps with a night on anchor, on a mooring, a marina and maybe even a wharf or pier. Going back to the base port each night is not suitable.

What are the timings of the course? As a 5-day course, the courses often start on Monday morning and finish on Friday afternoon, but some schools do offer different timings, such as splitting it across multiple weekends, so it can be useful to find one that suits you best.

Another point to consider is the climate you are cruising in. Courses in higher latitudes in winter can be subject to severe weather and stormbound days, while in the summer, these same schools will struggle to provide prolonged night navigation, albeit will provide some amazing evening passages. Neither is wrong, and it is more about being prepared and understanding what you might experience.

How Should I Pack for the RYA Competent Crew Course?

Again, the climate will dictate, but in general, we want to dress in layers, have suitable waterproof clothing, suitable and perhaps waterproof footwear, and of course, all of these want to be both warm and breathable. It is always colder on the water than it is on land, so always worthwhile taking that extra layer.

Warmer climates may mean taking swimming gear, sunhats and sunglasses while colder climates may need woolly hats and gloves.

Here we have made a couple of lists of extra kit than everyday clothing to help you with your packing.

Colder climate extras:

• Sailing Boots
• Thick socks
• Thermal trousers
• Thermal top
• Quick dry clothing
• Warm hoody-like top
• Buff / Neck warmer
• Woolly Hat
• Gloves
• Waterproof / Oilskins (Sometimes provided or available to rent)

Warmer climate extras:

• Breathable but safe footwear
• Swimming kit
• Peaked hat
• Sunglasses
• Sun cream
• Fingerless gloves (if you have soft hands, for handling ropes)
• Quick dry clothing

What Navigational Equipment Should I Take?

While all equipment, including charts, almanacs and pilot guides, should be provided on board during your course, there are a few extra bits of stationery that you can take to be suitably prepared.

These include a notebook or pad of paper for taking further notes on your RYA Competent Crew course, your own pencil case and post-it notes or sticky notes can be super useful too.

If the school has provided any course notes, you will want to take these too, along with your personal logbook if you have one already.

Any Other Items I Should Take on My RYA Competent Crew Course?

A battery charger for your phone is often useful as there is not always power or USB ports available. If you have one, a dedicated camera is often nice to have as you will undoubtedly see some nice sights. Ear plugs can be useful if sharing sleeping spaces, as can a head torch with a red light on it for moving around at night.

A quick-drying towel can be a great addition for numerous reasons, too. There is not a lot of space for kit, but these generally take up little room. It can be worthwhile investing a a good one of these.

While food and snacks should be provided it can also be worthwhile to take your own favourite snacks for when you need that extra energy boost. Coffee or tea lovers may also want to take their favourite brand too.

What Bag Should I Use to Pack for an RYA Competent Crew Course?

Firstly, make sure you use a collapsible bag. Rigid suitcases are not only not suitable for boats but will generally not fit anywhere to store them. A bag that is easy to stow away is what is needed onboard vessels.

Then, pack your kit in sections, perhaps even have separate dry bags for your stuff so that these can be easily found. 

Ideally, you want to be able to go down below and know exactly where that extra layer or hat is and be able to grab it quickly.

Finally, remember that you are sharing your living space with others so ensure that you are packing your kit away and it is stored safely and tidily.

How to Learn the Area I am Cruising In?

There are various resources to learn more about the area that you are going to be sailing in. One of perhaps the most available but least used is Google Maps. This can be used as a standard map, satellite map or even as google earth.

A more nautical resource to use is electronic charting apps for phones, such as Navionics and Savvynavvy. C-map also has a great free web app for using their tool, which is perfect for getting to know the cruising area you are going to visit.

Other useful ways to get to know the area you are going to be cruising in are to look for recognisable place names and even read up a little bit about local meteorological trends.

What RYA Competent Crew Admin Is There?

Ensure you have filled in any course forms for the school.

Read all the joining instructions to make sure you have understood everything about your course.

What Can I Practice or Revise Before My RYA Competent Crew?

One of the best tasks to practise before going on your RYA Day Skipper Practical Sail course is knots. These can be found here.

If you are going to use any phone apps on your voyage, then be sure to have practised with these before you go.

Checking the Weather and Tides

The day before you go on your RYA Competent Crew course is a good time to check not only the upcoming weather.

In the UK, the Met Office is the best place to get an inshore waters forecast suitable for going out on the water. Other sources are useful, too; watch our video on “Which weather forecast” to learn more.

As for tides, imray tide planner can be useful, but if in doubt then it is best to wait till you are on the boat in order to use the correct sources.

What about When I Am on the Course?

The biggest tip for students is to get involved as much as possible, be proactive, and ask questions. Becoming a core part of the team onboard and showing enthusiasm will only allow you to get more out of the course. This includes, but is not limited to, getting on with boat prep jobs, putting the boat to bed and helping to tidy away meals.

Again, note-taking is going to be key. It will be an intensive course, so having notes to remind yourself afterwards will be key in your long-term learning. The best way to be efficient with these is to note down what you did each day and any step by step instructions for tasks and boat manoeuvers.

You can also learn a lot from other students, watching their attempts at tasks, listening to their debriefs and applying the learnings in your work can help to fasttrack your skill building.

5 Top Tips for When on the RYA Competent Crew Course

• Concentrate on watching the instructor or others on “How to Crew Effectively”.
• Understand where the wind is coming from.
• Listen to the step-by-step instructions.
• Get involved in all the tasks, it is all about practice.
• Don’t be afraid to use the materials provided.

Dealing with Boat Life on Your RYA Competent Crew Course

As noted before, you will be sharing a sleeping and living space with others so it is important that all students are considerate and accommodating of others. Think about your cleanliness and hygiene, share duties both below deck and on deck and respect others.

It can not only be super nice to get off the boat but also a great chance to enjoy your own space and reset, so it is important to take these opportunities and have short breaks when the opportunity arises.

What Will Be Next After the RYA Competent Crew Course?

At the end of the course, the instructor will give you a personal debrief. In this, they will note your strengths and weaknesses while also noting the suggested next step.

You will now likely be in a position to progress your theory to the RYA Day Skipper Theory. The next practical course for you will be the RYA Day Skipper Sail, but you need to complete the theory before then.