Build your Yachtmaster miles as crew
By Global Crew Finder. Published 4 October 2026.
Many people who want a Yachtmaster certificate buy a course or a mile building trip. Crewing on a captain's passage is another route: you sail real passages, you learn from a working skipper and you ask them to sign your logbook.
This guide says what the sources report about qualifying miles and how to go about it. It makes no claim about what the RYA will accept. For that, ask the RYA.
Mile building without a course: crewing on a passage
Mile building means sailing the passages and days at sea that an exam asks for. Paid trips sell them in a package. A captain who needs crew offers the same sailing on a real route, with the cost terms stated on the passage.
How qualifying miles work
- Reported Delivery miles can count as qualifying miles when they are logged and signed by the skipper. The RYA counts a qualifying passage as 60 nautical miles or more, continuous, from one port to a different port.Source: RYA Personal Logbook guide (logbook.co.uk) (commercial source), seen 1 October 2026. Check with Royal Yachting Association (RYA) before you rely on it.
For what the RYA counts, ask the RYA:
What Yachtmaster Offshore asks for
- Reported RYA Yachtmaster Offshore asks for a minimum age of 18, 50 days at sea, 2,500 nautical miles, five passages of over 60 nautical miles (two overnight and two as skipper), five days as skipper, and at least half of the miles and passages in tidal waters, all within the last ten years, with a valid VHF certificate and first aid, and the theory to the standard.Source: RYA (organiser or official source), seen 1 October 2026. Check with RYA: Yachtmaster Offshore exam before you rely on it.
The exam, from the RYA:
Join a yacht delivery as crew to log miles
- A yacht delivery moves a boat from one port to another for its owner. The skipper is often paid, and deck crew are often unpaid or have only their expenses covered.Source: Crewseekers (crew-matching service), seen 1 October 2026.
- Reported Crewseekers says deck crew on a delivery often expect only their travel costs to be reimbursed, and that paid roles vary by company.Source: Crewseekers (crew-matching service), seen 1 October 2026.
Ask the skipper to sign your logbook
- Ask before you apply, or in your first message, whether the skipper will sign your logbook for the miles.
- Check that the skipper holds the qualification you need them to sign with, and ask what they sign.
- Keep your own record as you go: dates, ports, miles, hours at sea and what you did on watch.
- Ask for the signature at the end of the passage, while it is fresh.
- Keep your entries clear and legible, so you can show them to an examiner.
Yacht delivery crew wanted: what to have ready
Skippers choosing crew for a passage will want to see:
- a sailing CV with your boats and passages
- your logbook and any certificates
- the dates you are free and how far you can travel
- a short message that says what you can do on watch
- Reported Delivery companies and skippers often ask for Day Skipper before they let someone stand a night watch. Delivery agencies may charge a list fee and want a sailing CV.Source: Ardent Training (sailing school blog) (commercial source), seen 1 October 2026.
Last checked 1 October 2026. The facts above come from the sources linked beside each one. We have not opened every source page ourselves; check with the organiser before you rely on it. Dates, fees, deadlines and entry rules change, and only the organiser or the authority can state them.