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Recreational Training

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Recreational Instructor Training

IYT’s Recreational Training courses are delivered by highly qualified and experienced yachtsmen and women.

Becoming an Instructor

If you have the skills and experience to instruct, you can apply online through the IYT system. Your eligibility will be reviewed based on the documents you provide.

Key requirements:

  • Instructors must be affiliated with an IYT partner school (freelance instruction is not permitted).
  • Courses may be taught in any language.
  • Instructors receive an IYT Recreational Instructor Certificate (valid for 5 years) and an Official Instructor Membership Letter (renewed annually).
  • Membership must remain current to maintain teaching approval and order student certificates.

Instructor Responsibility

Certifying a student carries significant responsibility. When an instructor signs off on a student, it confirms that:

  • On that specific day, the student demonstrated the required skills to meet the standard for certification.
  • This evaluation must be documented for future reference, similar to licensing exams for pilots or drivers.

If a student is certified without meeting the standards, the instructor may face liability. For this reason, instructors must be prepared to fail candidates who are not competent, regardless of circumstance.

Legal Considerations

In the event of an accident, instructors may be required to present records proving that the student met the certification standards at the time of testing. IYT has experienced this first-hand when documentation was requested by a court to confirm the competence of a certified Master of Yachts candidate.