04 — The catalogue
Compare the main Australian and international sailing pathways, then open a detailed guide for prerequisites, course scope and the questions worth asking before you book. Prices are indicative only and should be confirmed directly.
Compare the essentials
Use the same questions for each option. These are course guides, not live prices or an equivalence table.
Royal Yachting Association
Australian Sailing
Royal Yachting Association
Detailed guides
Compare the official syllabus, prerequisites, duration, outcome and next step for each major sailing qualification.
Compare RYA Start Yachting courses in Australia: the two-day format, beginner skills, living aboard, booking questions and progression to Competent Crew.
Open the full guide →Australian SailingExplore Australian Sailing Start Helming: the 12-hour course, steering and trim skills, readiness checks, provider questions and progression to skippering.
Open the full guide →IYT WorldwideCompare IYT Bareboat Skipper training in Australia: logged experience, radio requirements, charter preparation, boat choice, ICC questions and school checks.
Open the full guide →Royal Yachting AssociationUnderstand RYA Day Skipper theory and practical courses in Australia: prerequisites, five-day format, skills, charter use and what to ask a school.
Open the full guide →Royal Yachting AssociationA practical Australian guide to RYA Competent Crew: course length, liveaboard format, beginner skills, assessment and the next step to Day Skipper.
Open the full guide →Australian SailingPlan an Australian Sailing Start Crewing course: official 12-hour format, prerequisites, skills, club pathway and how it compares with RYA Competent Crew.
Open the full guide →Australian SailingUnderstand Australian Sailing Start Skippering: 12-hour format, prerequisites, sheltered-water scope, course skills and questions to ask a training centre.
Open the full guide →Australian Sailing / World SailingAustralian Safety and Sea Survival course guide: 16-hour format, pool and flare drills, five-year certificate, offshore race use and booking checks.
Open the full guide →ACMA / Australian Maritime CollegeCompare Australian marine radio qualifications: AWQ, SROCP, LROCP, MSCE and GMDSS, with VHF and HF rules, age limits and course selection advice.
Open the full guide →Choose a system
They overlap, but they are designed around different kinds of sailing. RYA is strongest as a cruising-yacht progression; Australian Sailing is strongest as a doorway into local club, dinghy and keelboat participation.
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Compare the people and places behind the qualifications. School membership, contact details and training descriptions come from YouSail and refresh every six hours.
Mosman, NSW
Sydney Harbour keelboat and RYA courses from a short first sail through to Day Skipper.
Why this school appears
This school has a published YouSail directory record; this is not a course-specific match.
A description match is not verification of current availability or accreditation.
Sans Souci, NSW
Small-group IYT sailing courses on Kogarah Bay, from Try Sail to Bareboat Skipper.
Why this school appears
This school has a published YouSail directory record; this is not a course-specific match.
A description match is not verification of current availability or accreditation.
Mosman, NSW
Beginner-to-professional RYA sailing and Yachtmaster training from Sydney Harbour.
Why this school appears
This school has a published YouSail directory record; this is not a course-specific match.
A description match is not verification of current availability or accreditation.
Balmain, NSW
Small-group IYT, ICC and catamaran sailing courses from Balmain on Sydney Harbour.
Why this school appears
This school has a published YouSail directory record; this is not a course-specific match.
A description match is not verification of current availability or accreditation.
Darling Point, NSW
Sydney keelboat, RYA cruising, racing and safety courses from beginner to Yachtmaster.
Why this school appears
This school has a published YouSail directory record; this is not a course-specific match.
A description match is not verification of current availability or accreditation.
Sydney, NSW
IYT crew and skipper courses aboard cruising yachts from Sydney's Darling Harbour.
Why this school appears
This school has a published YouSail directory record; this is not a course-specific match.
A description match is not verification of current availability or accreditation.
Send the same questions to each school. Compare specific written answers, not just a course name or advertised price.
Australian Sailing
| Course | Who | Duration | Indicative | What it covers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discover Sailing Day | Anyone | A few hours | Free | Club-run taster. The single best first step in Australian sailing. |
| Little Tackers | Ages 4–6 | Varies by club | ~$150–300 | Water confidence and games rather than technique. |
| Tackers 1 — Having Fun | Ages 7–12 | Holiday block or school term | ~$250–400 | Foundational skills, deliberately non-competitive. |
| Tackers 2 — Tricks & Techniques | Ages 7–12 | As above | ~$250–400 | Intermediate handling, rigging, capsize recovery. |
| Tackers 3 — Sailing Fast! | Ages 7–12 | As above | ~$250–400 | Speed, trim, adventure sailing, early racing ideas. |
| OutThere Sailing 1–3 | Ages 12–17 | Varies | Varies | Social teen stream, dinghy-based, also runs as a school program. |
| Start Sailing 1 | Adults and teens | ~2 days | ~$250–350 | Fundamentals of dinghy sailing. |
| Start Sailing 2 | Adults and teens | ~2–3 days | ~$250–350 | Rigging and sailing independently. |
| Start Sailing 1 & 2 combined | Adults and teens | ~19 hrs over 5 sessions | ~$435 | Novice to independent dinghy sailor in one enrolment. |
| Better Sailing | Improvers | ~2 days | ~$300–400 | Stronger winds, spinnaker and trapeze introduction. |
| Start Racing / Better Racing | Improvers | ~2 days each | ~$300–400 | Rules, starts, tactics. |
Australian Sailing
| Course | Duration | Indicative | What it covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keelboat: Discover Sailing Experience | Half day | ~$80–150 | A structured first sail on a big boat. |
| Start Crewing | 12 hrs, usually two 6-hr days | ~$400–600 | Boat handling and safety as crew — winches, sail trim, terminology, moving around the boat safely. |
| Start Helming | 12 hrs | ~$400–600 | Boat control, points of sail, man-overboard recovery. Taking the tiller or wheel. |
| Start Skippering | Typically 2–4 days | ~$600–1,200 | Australian Sailing's command course — unsupervised operation of a keelboat. The closest domestic equivalent to RYA Day Skipper. |
| Spinnakers | 1–2 days | ~$300–500 | Symmetric and asymmetric handling. |
| Start Racing (Keelboat) | 2 days | ~$400–600 | Rules, tactics, crew coordination. |
| Powerboat Handling | 1–2 days | ~$250–450 | Handling, engines, basic navigation. Useful for tenders and support boats. |
| Safety Boat Operator | 12 hrs | ~$320–340 | Rescue-boat skills. Requires roughly two years' powerboat experience, a logbook and a Powerboat Handling certificate; minimum age 16. |
| Safety and Sea Survival (SSSC) | 16 hrs — usually 9 hrs eLearning plus a practical day | ~$450–550Refresher ~$250–280 | The one offshore qualification with genuine teeth. Valid five years. |
Australian Sailing also runs a full instructor and coach ladder — Assistant Instructor, Dinghy/Keelboat/Powerboat/Windsurfing Instructor (two days each), one-day endorsements to add a discipline, racing instructor streams, and Green, Intermediate and Advanced Fleet coaching. Recognition of Prior Learning is available, which matters if you arrive with an RYA or IYT background. Even if you never teach, the instructor course is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own sailing.
RYA
The RYA splits theory (shorebased, classroom or eLearning) from practical (on the water, often liveaboard). You generally need both halves. The mileage prerequisites below are the reason people spend years working up this ladder rather than buying it in a fortnight.
| Course | Type | Duration | Prerequisites | Indicative AUD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essential Navigation & Seamanship | Shorebased | Self-paced online | None | ~$295 |
| Start Yachting | Practical | 2 days | None | ~$600–800 |
| Competent Crew | Practical | 5 days, usually liveaboard | None | ~$1,300–2,000 |
| Day Skipper Theory | Shorebased | 5-day intensive, or eLearning plus live sessions | Some sailing helps | ~$1,595 |
| Day Skipper Practical | Practical | 5 days (2-day weekend format at some schools) | 5 days · 100 nm · 4 night hours | ~$1,995$795 weekend format |
| Coastal Skipper Theory | Shorebased | ~40 hrs eLearning plus sessions | Day Skipper navigation | ~$1,500–2,000 |
| Coastal Skipper Practical | Practical | 5 days | 15 days · 300 nm · 8 night hours | ~$2,000–2,500 |
| Yachtmaster Coastal/Offshore Theory | Shorebased | Online or classroom | — | ~$1,500–2,300 |
| Yachtmaster Ocean Theory | Shorebased | 6 days classroom | Offshore experience | ~$2,295 |
| Yachtmaster Coastal | Exam | Practical exam | 17+ · 30 days (20 with the course) · 2 days as skipper · 800 nm (400 with course credit) · 12 night hours | Exam ~$465plus prep |
| Yachtmaster Offshore | Exam | Practical exam | 18+ · 50 days · 5 days as skipper · 2,500 nm · 5 passages over 60 nm (2 at night, 2 as skipper) · all within 10 years | Exam ~$465plus prep |
| Yachtmaster Ocean | Exam | Practical exam plus celestial assessment | Hold Yachtmaster Offshore · a 600 nm non-stop passage, 96 hrs continuous, with 200 nm more than 50 nm offshore | Exam plus theory |
| VHF Short Range Certificate (SRC) | Shorebased | Online plus assessment | None | ~$320 all in |
| Diesel Engines | Shorebased | 1 day | None | ~$395 |
| Marine Electrics Essentials | Online | 6–8 hrs | None | ~$249 |
| Essential Yacht Maintenance | Mixed | 3 days plus 6 hrs online | None | ~$1,695 |
| Marine First Aid | Mixed | 1 day plus 3–4 hrs online | None | ~$395 |
| COLREGs online | Online | 6–8 hrs | None | ~$195 |
| Professional Practices & Responsibilities | Online | 1 day | For commercial endorsement | ~$195 |
Fast-track packages
IYT Worldwide
Popular in Sydney and the Whitsundays, and often faster to complete than the RYA equivalent.
Five ranks — Qualified Crew, Skipper (Small Keelboat), Skipper (Large Keelboat), Bareboat Charter Master and Captain — layered with five experience levels from 10 to 200 logged days. The headline credential is the SLC (Sailing License and Credential), which requires Bareboat Charter Master at Level III with half the logged days on boats 28 ft or larger.
Courses run roughly US$10–67 each; the Bareboat Charter Master bundle is about US$175, the Offshore Captain bundle about US$307. The in-water assessment with a local instructor is separate, typically a six-hour day at around US$100 per hour. The logbook is self-reported, which makes it accessible and also makes it less persuasive to a sceptical examiner than an RYA logbook signed by skippers.
Certificate II in Maritime Operations (Coxswain Grade 1 Near Coastal) is the standard first commercial ticket: about four weeks full-time or three to four terms part-time, with fees ranging from around $925 with a concession to roughly $4,645 full-fee depending on state and subsidy.
Entry typically requires a language, literacy and numeracy check plus water competency — swimming 50 m in a lifejacket and treading water for five minutes in work clothes. It qualifies you as Coxswain Grade 1 on commercial vessels to 12 m; you’ll also need a marine radio certificate. Sailing-specific tickets above it include Sailing Master Coastal NC and Sailing Master Offshore NC, and the Master <24 m NC stream.
The pathway picker maps six common goals onto the shortest honest route through this catalogue — including the courses you can skip entirely.