ICC Assessment — Sydney By Sail

The International Certificate of Competence (ICC) is the certificate many overseas charter companies and European waterway authorities ask to see before handing over a yacht. Sydney By Sail runs a one-day ICC assessment on Sydney Harbour, departing from the Festival Pontoon at the National Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour, with the licence itself issued through International Yacht Training (IYT). It is an assessment, not a training course: you are expected to arrive already able to skipper a yacht.

What you'll be assessed on

The assessor is checking that you can take charge of a yacht calmly and safely, not that you can recite theory. Each candidate skippers a short pre-planned passage, and the practical covers:

• Preparing for sea: a clear safety briefing for the crew, and pre-start checks of engine, fuel and weather. Good looks like a routine you run the same way every time.
• Close-quarters handling: leaving and arriving at a pontoon, coming alongside and securing to a buoy. Assessors look for a plan briefed to crew, slow controlled approaches and allowance for wind and current.
• Man overboard recovery: getting the boat back to a person in the water quickly and stopping alongside them without drama.
• Turns under power: 360-degree and three-point turns, which show you understand prop walk and how the boat pivots.
• Handling under power and sail, plus navigation.

The theory side covers regulations, pilotage and navigation to the coastal standard.

How Sydney By Sail runs it

The assessment runs over a single day, from 9am to 5pm, on the harbour. Because it is a test of existing skills, the most useful preparation is recent time at the helm, especially berthing practice.

Who it suits

It suits sailors planning to bareboat charter overseas, for example in the Mediterranean or Caribbean. The school requires the VHF Marine Radio Operator's Certificate and its International Skipper course, or equivalents, before you sit the assessment.

Where it leads

The ICC sits alongside a skipper qualification rather than above it. If you are not yet at that level, the school's International Bareboat Skipper course is the usual preparation, and bareboat skipper graduates may be eligible to apply for the ICC.

Full course guide

See the International Certificate of Competence (ICC) guide for what the certificate covers, where it is recognised and how it is issued.