RYA Professional Practices & Responsibilities

(PPR) Professional Practices and Responsibilities A compulsory online course for new and revalidating RYA Commercial Endorsement holders.

This course is available 24 hours a day 7 days a week once you are registered by MPT and set up on the RYA system. Dates are provided simply for the convenience of selecting the course in your class queue.

You do not have to travel to MPT to take any part of this course.

Who this course is for:

Each year approximately 4,500 people apply to the RYA for a commercial endorsement in order to use their RYA qualifications professionally as skipper or crew. You could be doing anything from delivering a new 35’ yacht or driving a workboat with lifting and towing gear, to running a superyacht in the Med. Whatever your job is on board, in the commercial world you are a professional seafarer. As such, you are no different from the captain of a cruise liner – you have a duty of care to crew, passengers, and other water users, and you will be held to account if things go wrong.

The course is broken down into four modules: • Commercial environment - how you fit into the professional maritime world. • People – the importance of correct manning, keeping your skills up to date and the safe management of commercial vessels. • Vessel – the compulsory carriage and maintenance of safety equipment and how to create and implement risk control and operating procedures. • • Purpose – making sure your vessel is suitable and legal for the work you are carrying out, your obligations in protecting the environment, appropriate planning and situational awareness.

Following the modules there is a mock assessment so you can check you are ready before moving on to the final graded online assessment. We estimate users will take around 6 to 8 hours to work through the four course modules. The graded end of course assessment is split into two sections, totaling 2 ½ hours.

Exemptions from this course: If you hold an MCA Deck Officer\'s Certificate of Competence as Officer of the Watch, MCA CODE VESSEL Master 200, MCA Master 500 or above you do not need to take the PPR course. Please send a copy of your MCA certificate with your application or renewal form for your commercial endorsement. Updating your PPR certificate: Once you have taken your first PPR course, at subsequent renewals of your commercial endorsement you will need to take a reduced version of the course and a short test to make sure you are still up to speed with the subject.

Note: If you are over 65 and subject to more regular medical fitness examinations, you do not need to take the PPR course each time you renew your medical. You will simply need to take it when your commercial endorsement is due for renewal (normally every five years).