Good news for those who want to make boating a real job. How? By being a professional skipper of a charter boat or as a captain/mariner of a yacht. Well-paid and, most importantly, in good standing. Not as is the case now where dozens of skippers are forced into subterfuge in order to work. And without necessarily, if you want to be in compliance, losing years of unnecessary learning.
It is at the signing on the table of Giorgia Meloni, president of the Council, the new simplified professional title “Recreational Navigation Officer 2nd Class” provided for in the decree reforming professional titles for boating.
I documenti obbligatori in barca nel 2023 (imbarcazioni +10 metri)
It will be possible to earn the title through a pathway of a number of certifications proportionate to the needs of domestic boat chartering, without the 36 months of mandatory boarding.
You will finally be able to work in Italy as a skipper, hired by charter companies, or privately, with a VAT number. A revolution that is decades overdue and will give a boost to the charter and nautical tourism sector. Here’s what will change, what problems will be solved, and how to become a professional skipper in Italy.
Here is the whole story of the path to becoming a skipper: yesterday and, hopefully soon, tomorrow.
Patente Nautica 2022, ora prenderla è piĂą “semplice”. E cambia il quiz
AAA Skipper Wanted
AAA Skipper Wanted. We will finally be able to answer this ad, because with the decree revising the professional titles of the boating industry, proposed by Confindustria Nautica to the Ministry of Infrastructure, a new simplified professional title will be born, known as the 2nd Class Boating Officer of the Bo ating Industry.
People will be able to become professional skippers, with qualifying training commensurate with the actual needs of boating. Charter companies will be able to hire competent staff and offer skippered chartering on their boats. You will also be able to work on your own, with a VAT number, for example, for transfers, or for a private shipowner.
How to become a skipper today
Working as a skipper in yachting in Italy, at present, is practically impossible, because you have to acquire the title of ” YachtingNavigation Officer,”(Ministerial Decree No. 121 of 10-05-2005).
It is necessary to have essentially chosen, from a young age, the career of a seafarer. For the very young, there are the nautical institutes, some with excellent educational paths geared precisely to the needs of boating. Upon reaching the age of majority and obtaining the diploma, a very long training process must be completed.
The biggest hurdle to overcome is the mandatory 36-month embarkation period, 24 months of which are on pleasure vessels and boats for hire, with the status of deckhand or midshipman. It is then necessary to have passed GMDSS and Radar courses, pass the Maritime Maritime Rescue Qualification Courses (MAMS), personal safety and social responsibilities (PSSR) courses, swimming and rowing test, fire-fighting courses, sea survival and first aid courses. One must then take a theoretical and practical examination at the captain’s office that tests the officer’s ability in the duties of the officer on watch in navigation. Of course, one must have obtained a boat license. And then there is enrollment in Sea People, with passing the medical fitness examination and vaccinations.
A route disproportionate to the needs of nautical tourism
It is obvious that those who wanted to earn the title to be able to work as a charter boat skipper during the summer by practicing during the 3 summer months, would take more than 10 years just to complete the 36-month embarkation period. Also apparent is the disproportion between the required training, as a ship’s captain, compared to the training actually needed to drive a cruising boat, typically 12 meters, for a tourist vacation.
How to get the new simplified title
The new 2nd Class Recreational Boating Officer title will be an exclusively national title, simplified precisely to meet the needs of recreational boating. It does not provide for compliance with the international STCW convention, therefore will not be usable abroad, but it will allow boats up to 200GT (Gross Tonnage, an international measure of tonnage). to sail in the Mediterranean, i.e., sail or motor boats as long as 40 meters or more.
In order to obtain the title of 2nd class pleasure boating officer, one must take a written and oral examination, at the harbor master’s offices. The contents of the examination test will be comparable to the examinations for the recreational vessel license with some simplifications. To be eligible for the exam, no training or boarding period will be needed, you will need to have earned a first aid certificate (BLS), a basic firefighting certificate, the VHF Short Range Radio Certificate (SRC), and finally the offshore raft and survival course issued by World Sailing. The simplified professional title will last for 10 years.
Finally, you can rent a boat with a skipper
It will finally go to unlock the current absurd situation of Italian-style bureaucratic masochism: there is Growing demand for skippered boat rentals. Many experienced sailors would like to work on boats in the summer season. Charter companies, they would like trusted and experienced people at the helm. For the reasons seen above and complex boarding and disembarkation regulations, for decades our blue-economy has been constrained to only the “skipperless charter” formula. Countless then were the abuses that were perpetrated in unfair competition by charters that placed “skippers” on board a lease by passing them off as friends of the group.
For charters, own skippers for the entire fleet
The reform of the new simplified professional title, goes hand in hand with the reform of the boating code, which stipulates that charter companies no longer have to do boarding and disembarkation procedures to move people within boats in their fleet.
The formulas used to date
We would like to reassure the all readers who had sailed in skippered boats to date-not necessarily falling into the squatting of a skippeless charter! Also legal in Italy are occasional charter formulas, where the boat owner rents and acts as skipper for up to 42 days a year, as well as sailing courses, where the skipper is a CONI instructor and the entire crew is made up of card-carrying members.