From January 1st, 2017, the RYA will remove the distinction between Day Skipper Practical & Coastal Skipper Practical Non Tidal & Tidal endorsements.
This is a positive move forward that will benefit not only the many RYA Recognised Training Centres around the world that are located in Non Tidal waters, but also to the thousands of sailors who will now have a much wider choice of where they would prefer to undergo their skipper training.
At Miramar Sailing School we are located at 17 degrees, 05 minutes north, which is approximately some 240 nm north of our nearest tidal waters that begin below 13 degrees – 10 minutes north, which is just south of St. Vincent & The Grenadines. We will still enjoy sailing down there with our Yachtmaster “Xpress” candidates, and we look forward to welcoming more Day Skipper & Coastal Skipper trainees here in Antigua.
For all sailors with aspirations to skippering and the International Certificate of Competence, Antigua in the Caribbean must be top of their list of destinations, offering, as it does, constant breeze, warm waters and a lot of sunshine!
This decision does not mean the RYA are completely disregarding tidal education, but they have realised that this knowledge is obtained in the Theory courses that are associated with the above skipper qualifications. At Miramar Sailing School our instructors will continue to teach this element of the syllabus with the same thoroughness and experience they always have.
The decision also retains the requirement for logged tidal and non tidal miles for the RYA/MCA Yachtmaster examination qualifying criteria, so be sure to keep your personal log books updated accordingly.
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