Courses for under 16s
The RYA's Sail Cruising Scheme
If going to sea and living on board is what you fancy, why not try the introductory courses in our sail cruising scheme?
You could take the two day Start Yachting course or the five day Competent Crew course to give you an introduction to skippering the boat and teach you how to be a useful crew member.
At 16 you can move on to our skippering courses, starting with the Day Skipper course.
Cruising courses usually involve staying on board the boat so some centres will only teach you if you are accompanied by an adult. As it can be difficult to find training centres offering these courses to under 16s, we have compiled a list of those who have told us they can do it. You can see it here.
A great way to experience life at sea without your parents is to sail on board a sail training ship. Whilst learning to sail you will live on board with people your own age and have a go at all aspects of running a boat. It's a great adventure!
The Association of Sea Training Organisations will be able to give you more details (see right).
RYA courses can be used in conjunction with the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme.