October 15, 2024

Yachtmaster Offshore Theory Online: What's Good To Know

After a couple of seasons on yachts, there comes the time when a Yachtmaster ticket becomes both desirable and imperative to advance in your yachting career. To obtain Master 200 GT or Officer of the Watch qualifications, for example, applicants must produce a Yachtmaster Offshore certificate including shorebased course.

In the era of online education, some RYA courses have become more accessible, and that includes RYA Yachtmaster Offshore Theory. The course covers advanced navigation and seamanship skills and is aimed at experienced seafarers. Often, it is the theoretical aspect of the Yachtmaster examination that is the hardest for Yachtmaster Offshore candidates, and as a crew training school, we advise students to start preparing long before their Yachtmaster using Essential Navigation and Seamanship online course materials at the least, and Day Skipper Theory online at best.

Offline, classroom-based YMO Theory course lasts 5-6 days; online, it typically takes 40-50 hours to complete, depending on individual pace. Online course is broken into several modules and features a mock exam to help prepare for the final assessment. Obviously, compared to the traditional brick-and-mortar learning, online Yachtmaster theory has a number of advantages – you can study whenever and anywhere as long as you have access to the Internet, and online course is usually more affordable. It’s a great option for yachties who have time between busy charters or during the winter lull.

Upon completion of the online course and assessment, candidates receive Yachtmaster Shorebased Course Completion Certificate, on the back of the certificate a box will be ticked saying that the course exam was not invigilated. This certificate is usually sufficient for Yachtmaster Offshore Certificate of Competence (CoC) and commercial endorsement. If the certificate is required to apply for Master 200 or OOW, then the tick should not be there, and your exam must be invigilated.

An invigilated assessment is conducted in a formal classroom setting, with written exam papers provided by your online school to the supervising RYA Training Centre. Before you go on the exam, you need to inform your online course provider and ask them to get in touch with the RYA Training Center that will arrange invigilation. Once the exam is completed, the papers are sent back to your online school for marking by instructors, who will then provide feedback and issue a certificate if you pass. The invigilated YMO exam lasts 7 hours in total and is comprised of 4 parts:

Chartwork (2hrs)
IRPCS (90 mins / pass mark 60%)
Passage Making Part A (90mins / pass mark 60%)
Passage Making Part B (2hrs / pass mark 60%)

Inarguably, it is quite a long and an exhausting exam to sit in one day, and Seascope France YMO instructors split it in two days. The exam is held on Day 4 and Day 6 of the YMO Shorebased theory course.

Seascope France, yacht crew training school in Antibes, offers the options of both classroom-based and online YM Theory courses. If you are completing an online course and would like to sit an invigilated exam, please contact us.

Next Yachtmaster Offshore Theory (classroom) course is scheduled as follows: