First, you must know that to sail a rental boat in Spanish waters you need a nautical qualification. You need a document that shows you have undertaken a training course, are a capable sailor and have the required skills and knowledge to operate a boat.

Nautical Qualifications in Spain

Let us start with the basics. To comply with the conditions of your rental and the distance from the coastline that you want to sail, you need one qualification or another.

In Spain there are various types of nautical qualifications. Amongst them:

Patrón de navegación básica (PNB). This is called the ¨titulin¨ which means that you will be able to take out a boat of up to eight metres in length. This qualification allows you to sail up to five miles from the shore.
Patrón de embarcación de recreo (PER). With this recreational sailing qualification, you can rent a boat up to 24 metres in length and sail between the peninsula and the Balearic Islands
Patrón de Yate: is valid for boats up to 24 metres in length and you can sail up to 150 miles from the shore

Sailing licenses in Spain if you are from abroad

If you are thinking of renting a boat in Spain but you do not have any of these qualifications and you live in another country, these other nautical
qualifications will be accepted;

• ICC (International Certificate of Competence), International

Prerequisits: RYA “Day Skipper Course” or complete the ICC Assessment form to prove competence from previous experience.

• IPC (International Proficiency Certificate), America

Prerequisits: ASA 104 or US Sailing “Bareboat Cruising Course”.

• NauticEd SLC
(International Sailing License and Credentials), International

Similarly, if you do not come from the USA, but come from other countries such as the following, these are the necessary qualifications:

• UK – RYA Day Skipper practical (with or without photo)

• USA – US Sailing “Bareboat Cruising Course”, ASA “104 Bareboat Cruising Course” or above

• Germany – “Sportbootführerschein See“or above

• Belgium – Algemeen Stuurbrevet/ Brevet de conduite général

• France – LE PERMIS PLAISANCE

The Spanish authorities have identified a list of sailing licenses from the following countries that are accepted.

Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Holland, Polonia, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Uruguay and Venezuela

Processing the sailing license

All sailing certificates should be sent to the rental base and should be received at least two weeks before the beginning of the charter.

It is essential that you take with you your license or certificate of the original skipper. If you do not have an official sailing license, by law, the team will not allow you to rent a boat without an officially certified boss onboard.

Lastly, remember that if you have any doubts you can always ask us, at boatjump we would be delighted to help you.

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