Becoming an Accredited Helm

If you wish to hire one of our yachts then we need to satisfy ourselves that you have the experience and knowledge to be able to do so. We therefore have an accreditation process which is designed to take you through a number of exercises with the type of boat you are interested in hiring.

 The Accreditation Leadership Group (ALG) run the accreditation process. The current 707 ALG is David Kitchen, Ramsay Leuchars and Justin Venton. The EuRoBo ALG is Jock Blair, Neil MacDougall and Geoff Bowerman.  The ALG will themselves be Accreditors and will collectively agree and appoint other Accreditors as they see fit. They may choose to agree and publish the criteria required to be an Accreditor. If you book on a mentored session with any of the above you can asked to be assessed.  There are also set mentored sessions for accreditation.

 Any Accreditor will be able to accredit an accredited helm applicant after taking them out for an assessment using the Accredited Helm checklist for the boat.

 An accreditation assessment in a club boat is still required for those well qualified with yacht master certification etc as part of the process is to ensure that credited helms know where the boats are berthed, have knowledge of the access codes to pontoons, boats, stores etc. Know how to report faults and to ensure in the case of the 707's that they are competent to sail back into the berth with a novice crew. 

Applicants who are confident they have the knowledge and experience to be an accredited helm can apply for a Fast Track assessment. They should contact a member of the ALG who can advise them of the chances of success. Based on an initial assessment (email, phone or face to face) the ALG will decide whether to offer a fast track accreditation assessment. The offer of a fast track accreditation assessment is at the ALGs discretion and cannot be appealed. The date and time of Fast track assessments will be made with the applicant by the proposed Accreditor and Booking administration at peyc.mentoring@gmail.com.These sessions will be charged at the same as the mentored sessions  rate currently £15 in 2025.

 All other Applicants should initially book on a mentored session(s) for guidance from a mentor on becoming an accredited helm. Having been out sailing, mentors can provide guidance on what the Applicant needs to do in order to qualify for an assessment with an Accreditor. If the mentor is also an Accreditor and feels the Applicant is ready for an assessment they will be able to accept a verbal application and organise one on a scheduled mentored session or a specially scheduled assessment session.

 If an accredited helm applicant fails their assessment then the Accreditor will provide constructive verbal feedback. If the applicant is not satisfied with the explanation they can ask that the feedback to be put in writing and can appeal to the ALG. One of the ALG (other than the Accreditor) will meet with the Accreditor and the applicant and listen to both sides and decide whether to allow a further assessment with an alternative Accreditor. The ALGs decision will be final.

Last updated 8:28pm on 9 March 2025