How to become a yacht delivery captain: licences, sea miles and your first paid job

Short answer: to become a yacht delivery captain you build sea miles as crew, pass the RYA Yachtmaster Offshore (or an equivalent national ticket), have it commercially endorsed with an ENG1 medical, safety training and the PPR course, add STCW Basic Safety Training, a VHF licence and first aid, and then win your first paid delivery with a strong profile and a clear quote. Ocean crossings call for Yachtmaster Ocean, and yachts over 24 metres for MCA Master tickets. How long it takes depends mostly on how much you sail.

What does a yacht delivery captain do?#

A delivery captain, or delivery skipper, is hired to move a yacht from one port to another, usually without the owner on board. The passage is only part of the job:

• Checking the boat before departure: engine, rigging, sails, safety gear and electronics
• Planning the passage and choosing the weather window
• Finding and briefing crew
• Skippering the passage and keeping the owner updated
• Handing the boat over at the destination, with a note of anything that needs attention

It is one-off, usually self-employed work. You pick the passages that fit your tickets and your calendar, and agree the fee with the owner. See Delivery Skipper in the glossary.

Step 1: build real sea miles#

Every ticket rests on logged experience. The quickest way to build it is to crew on deliveries: you stand watches, sail through the night and offshore, and see how professionals prepare a boat. Keep a logbook of every passage with dates, miles, night hours and your role on board. Deliveries that take on crew are posted on yacht delivery crew jobs.

Step 2: pass the RYA Yachtmaster Offshore#

Yachtmaster Offshore is the ticket most owners and insurers look for on a paid offshore delivery. To take the exam, the RYA asks for 50 days at sea and 2,500 nautical miles, including at least 5 days as skipper and 5 passages of over 60 miles, 2 of them overnight and 2 as skipper. You also need a VHF radio licence (SRC) and a valid first aid certificate. Check the current requirements with the RYA before you book.

Outside the UK, many national tickets have an equivalent level. What counts in the end is what the boat's flag state and the owner's insurer accept.

Step 3: get the commercial endorsement#

A Yachtmaster certificate on its own is a recreational qualification. To be paid as skipper, it needs a commercial endorsement, which adds proof of medical fitness, safety training and professional responsibility:

• An ENG1 seafarer medical, or an accepted equivalent
• Safety training, in practice STCW Basic Safety Training
• The online Professional Practices and Responsibilities (PPR) course

What each part involves: Commercial Endorsement.

Step 4: complete your professional paperwork#

• STCW Basic Safety Training: personal survival, fire fighting, first aid and personal safety
• ENG1 medical, valid for two years
• VHF radio licence (SRC)
• A passport with plenty of validity, for crew changes and customs
• Professional indemnity insurance, so you are covered if something goes wrong
• A short delivery agreement template you can send to owners

What owners check before the boat moves: Yacht delivery insurance and contracts.

Step 5: move up to Ocean and bigger yachts#

Once you deliver regularly, two upgrades widen the work:

• Yachtmaster Ocean for transatlantic and other ocean passages
• MCA Master (Yachts) tickets for yachts over 24 metres and commercially operated vessels

The full ladder, including the US and the Caribbean, is in Yacht delivery captain licences: a quick reference.

Step 6: land your first paid delivery#

The first job is the hardest, because you have no references yet. What works:

• A complete profile: tickets, sea miles, the boats and waters you know
• Certificates uploaded, so they show as Verified badges
• Applications to routes that match your experience, each with a short, specific message
• A clear quote that says what is billed on top (see Delivery skipper rates)
• A well-documented delivery, and a request for the next one at handover

Step by step: How to find your first yacht delivery.

Licensed vs professional delivery captain: what is the difference?#

A licensed delivery captain holds a ticket that allows paid skippering: in Europe usually a commercially endorsed Yachtmaster Offshore or Ocean, in the US a USCG captain's licence. A professional delivery captain runs it as a business: licensed, insured, with a written agreement and a passage plan for every job, and clear communication with the owner. The ticket gets you considered. The professional habits get you hired again.