Terms & Conditions
RYA Practical and Theory courses
Booking – Bookings must be made in writing on our booking form. Full payment is required to confirm a booking made within 42 days of the course or 25% deposit for bookings made more than 42 days before the course begins.. Telephone and e-mail bookings will be held for 3 days from dispatch of the booking form. The booking will be confirmed on receipt of full payment or deposit and receipt of this payment or booking form or both will indicate that our terms and conditions have been accepted. The deposit is non-refundable once the booking is accepted. All bookings will be confirmed in writing by the issue of your booking confirmation and joining instructions. The balance of fees must be paid 42 days prior to the course commencement date. If the balance of fees is not received 42 days before the course commencement date, Commodore Yachting Ltd reserves the right to cancel the booking and offer it for resale – final reminders will not be sent and the client remains liable for the balance of fees. Bookings made less than 42 days before the course commencement date must be accompanied by full payment. Payment – Payments for course fees can be made by bank transfer, credit card or debit card. (credit cards, business debit and all overseas cards will incur a 2.5% surcharge). We are unable to accept cheques.
Cancellation – A cancellation must be made in writing (email is acceptable) and is deemed to take effect on receipt. Cancellation less than 42 days prior to the course commencement date will result in forfeiture of all fees paid or due however we will do our best to try to re-sell the place and if successful the client will only forfeit the deposit. Cancellation more than 42 days prior to the course commencement date will only forfeit the depost. It is therefore strongly recommended that you take out travel insurance which will cover you should you need to cancel your booking. If a client leaves a yacht and/or abandons a course before the scheduled termination date and time for whatever reason, no refunds will be given and additional travel costs or other expenses incurred will not be reimbursed.
Cancellation by Commodore Yachting Ltd – If Commodore Yachting Ltd has to cancel because of circumstances beyond its control including sickness, accidents, travel delays, weather, strikes, war or civil disturbance, then alternative dates will be offered or a full refund of course fees already paid will be made. No liability will be accepted by Commodore Yachting Ltd for incidental expenses incurred – we recommend that your travel insurance covers holiday cancellation. In the event of the yacht being unable to return to port, or any other agreed final destination, on time, due to weather, engine breakdown or any other circumstances, clients may elect to stay with the yacht at no extra charge, or make their own arrangements to return at their own expense.
Itinerary – We reserve the right to alter a proposed itinerary based on weather and sea conditions and strength of the crew. The safety and well being of the yacht and crew is paramount and will be the first consideration when passage planning. No refund will be given if an itinerary is changed.
Insurance – The Yachts provided by Commodore Yachting Limited conform to the Department of Transport’s Code of Practice for Small Commercial Vessels. They are fully insured against accident, third party liability and personal injury arising from negligence by Commodore Yachting Limited. However Commodore Yachting accepts no liability for personal accident or loss or damage to the property of the client. Students are advised to take out the appropriate holiday insurance to cover these eventualities and cancellation charges. Topsail Insurance may be able to help you with this.
Skipper’s Authority – Decisions made by the Skipper/Instructor are final in respect of the safety of the vessel, well being of the crew and progress of the course; even to the extent of requiring a student to leave the vessel in exceptional circumstances. In the event of any complaints matters should bought to the attention of the skipper at the earliest opportunity. If the skipper cannot resolve the issue the complaint should be passed to the Principal of the school and if he is unable to resolve the matter it should be forwarded to the RYA.
Time at Sea – Every effort will be made to give students as much time at sea as possible however, if in the Skipper’s opinion weather conditions, safety or any other consideration renders it imprudent, the Skipper’s decision is final.
Should a vessel become unseaworthy or any reason whatsoever, the School will inform the Student immediately. Every attempt will be made to enable the course to continue including allocating another vessel if available. No liability shall attach itself to the School beyond the refund of the full fee paid by the student(s) or unused portions thereof.
The course fee includes 3* basic meals a day on board the yacht, hire of wet weather gear, mooring fees and all fuel used during the course . * No evening meal on 2 day weekend courses.
Disclaimer – No liability is accepted for any Student’s property or vehicle throughout the duration of the course.
Students participate in all sailing activities and shorebased courses at their own risk.
Breakages and Damage – All breakages and damage caused must be immediately notified to the Skipper or Principal for safety reasons. Students shall be liable for any loss or damage to School’s equipment up to the full replacement cost.
Certificates – All RYA courses follow the requisite syllabus and certificates will only be issued at the end of a course if, in the opinion of the School’s Instructors and Principal, the Student has reached the necessary standard. The School Principal’s decision shall be final and accepted by all Students.
Participation – Students will be expected to participate in all duties that are part of crewing a sailing yacht such as cooking, cleaning and routine maintenance as required by the Instructor. At the end of the course all Students will be expected to leave the vessel as found and will all play a part in cleaning, scrubbing decks and filling water tanks.
Students taking an exam are required to clean the boat once the examiner has left. Failure to do so will incur a cleaning charge of £100 which will be divided between all students onboard.
Special requirements – Please advise us of any special requirements you may have using a separate sheet of paper and attach to your booking form. We will do our best to accommodate any special requirements but on occasions will request that you bring foods for special diets. We cannot be held responsible of any special requirements not met but will do our utmost to assist if advised in writing at the time of booking.
Sea Time – Every attempt will be made to give pupils maximum sea time. However, if in the Skipper’s opinion weather conditions, safety or any other consideration renders it imprudent, the Skipper’s decision is final.
Disclaimer – No liability is accepted for any Student’s vehicles, possessions in the vehicle, on the pontoons or in the Schools vessels or accommodation.
No liability is accepted for Students whilst attending a course or activity or on marina property including pontoons or vessels. Students participate in any aspect of any course at their own risk.
ICC Assessments
Your responsibility – Your navigation knowledge and experience should be at the level sufficient to pass a Day Skipper theory exam. You practical boat handling, navigation and sailing ability should be at a level sufficient to pass the Day Skipper practical course. It is recommended that you read the RYA ICC handbook. We can recommend publications that will help you to revise your theory or you can take a 5 day theory course in our classroom or an on-line course through us. You will need to be aware that we will be making an assessment of your ability and will not be teaching skills during the assessment and you may be advised that training is required before an ICC is awarded. You will need to provide at least one crew member (not taking the ICC) to crew for you. We can provide crew for you if required for a fee and providing sufficient notice is given.
Our responsibility – We will provide a RYA instructor and yacht for the duration of the assessment who will ask you to demonstrate your navigation and skippering skills. If you reach the required standard we will sign the ICC form for you to send to the RYA together with a fee (free for RYA members) The RYA will send you your ICC license, please allow up to 28 days for this to arrive.
The ICC application form will be available from the RYA website www.rya.org.uk/go/iccform or in hard copy from RYA House (email certification@rya.org.uk). This form must be used by anyone applying for an ICC on or after that date, whether they are completing an ICC Assessment, CEVNI test or using existing certificates to support an application.
Eligibility – You will need to provide proof of eligibility. A copy of the photo page of your passport or a recognised national identity card must support your application unless you are eligible through British residency, in which case a copy of a utility bill, bank statement, driving licence or recognised national identity card showing British address must be sent.
Validity
An ICC allows the holder to voyage internationally but only to countries that have chosen to accept it, and subject to any prescriptions made by that country.
We CANNOT issue ICCs to nationals of these UNECE member countries:
Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia & Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Israel Italy
Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russian Federation San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Tajikistan Turkey Turkmenistan Ukraine Uzbekistan
On-line theory courses
Terms and Conditions – On-line Day Skipper and Yachtmaster Theory courses are run in conjunction with Navathome and is a RYA recognised training course.
Payments for course fees are due in full at the time of enrolment. Payment – Payments for course fees can be made by bank transfer, credit card or debit card. (credit cards, business debit and all overseas cards will incur a 2.5% surcharge). We are unable to accept cheques.
Once payment has been made and confirmed students will be sent the student pack and be supplied with the log in information to access the online course.
The student pack will be sent on the next working day and delivery within the UK is included in the course price.
Additional fees may be applied to addresses outside of these areas.
There is a six month time limit set for the course from the date of purchase. Students will retain log in information until they have completed the course and on passing their exam will received the relevant certificate. After passing the exam access to the course will cease.
Students can extend their access time for a further 6 months for a £30 registration renewal fee.
Under our cancellation policy you can cancel your purchase up to 7 days from the day of delivery of the student pack.
The pack must be complete, unopened and in an ‘as new’ condition. All materials must be returned.
Access to the online course material is terminated immediately. A refund will be made less a £30 administration fee.
The cost of returning the student pack will be payable by the student.
You will not be able to claim a refund if the course material has been damaged or if you have no proof of purchase.
Students must have access to the internet and email to complete the course.
The course will run on windows based systems and Apple Mac. Most systems both of which will already be able to run ‘Flash active graphics’, however, this will automatically download when you start the course if you do not already have it.
Day Skipper courses will run on IPAD and most mobile devices..
Students will also need to provide a plotter, dividers, 2B pencils and paper. (Plotter and dividers provied free of charge for Day Skipper courses)
Students should be at the correct level for the course being taken.
No previous experience is required to take the Day Skipper theory course, Day skipper level theory is required for the Coastal/Yachtmaster theory and Coastal/Yachtmaster theory is required before taking the RYA Ocean theory.
Commodore Yachting Ltd will provide online back up, skype and telephone backup as required by each student and every endeavour will be made to help students achieve their aims.
Students wishing to use this qualification commercially must have the exam invigilated, usually this can be done via webcan however for MCA Large Yacht Qualifications (such as Officer of the Watch or Master 3000) the exam must be taken either at a RYA training centre or be invigilated by a person agreed by ourselves. All other exams can be taken on-line at home.
We will not disclose information about students unless we are legally obliged to do so or a student has agreed in writing in advance.
By enrolling you confirm that we may hold necessary business information about you including your name, address, course booking, payment and course record.
Any contract between you and us shall be governed by English law and the courts of England and Wales shall have non-exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute. All dealings, correspondence and contact between us and you shall be made or conducted in the English language.
Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of course information. However, Commodore Yachting Ltd, creaters of the course material, Vic and Lyn Punch, nor navathome.com, cannot accept any liability for errors, omissions or inaccuracies in the course content. We continuously improve the course content and we do welcome any feedback from students which improve the quality of the course.
All online material has been written and is under copyright to Vic and Lyn Punch.
No part of the online documents can be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) or for any purpose, without the express written permission of Vic and Lyn Punch.
Course material should be treated as for any copyrighted material.
Own Boat Tuition – All conditions above apply.
In addition, the Student will be expected to reimburse any travelling or out-of-pocket expenses for the Instructor from our Gosport Marina base to wherever the vessel is kept.
The Student’s vessel will be expected to be equipped with all safety equipment in date for servicing and provide the Instructor with bedding and victualling whilst on board.
The Owner must notify his Insurance Company that there will be a qualified Instructor onboard delivering tuition during which time the Owner remains the Skipper. The Owners Insurance must be Fully Comprehensive and provide cover for all aspects of the the activities and for the area in which the Skipper is expected to sail, allowing for any extra time required to allow for adverse weather.
Disclaimer – Commodore Yachting will accept no responsibility for any damage or loss caused to the vessel or any other vessel or persons whether caused by our Instructor, Crew or the Skipper. The Skipper will remain in charge and all responsibility and decisions made will be deemed to be those of the Skipper.
Can we help you?
We are committed to providing a high-quality service to all our students and charterers. When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to solve any problems and ensure that the remainder of your course or charter is as enjoyable as possible.
If you have a problem, please tell your instructor, skipper or our office at the earliest opportunity.
If a solution cannot be found you should then tell the Principal of Commodore Yachting.
What will happen next?
We will look into the matter and do our best to resolve any problems
At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact:
The Royal Yachting Association
RYA House
Ensign Way
Hamble
Southampton
SO31 4YA
