RYA First Aid

Our one-day course covers all the usual first aid subjects, but from a boating perspective. It is aimed at anyone who goes afloat, whether on inland waters, rivers, estuaries or on cross channel passages.

In a medical emergency a little first aid knowledge and immediate action can save lives, especially in remote locations. This one-day course is designed to provide a working knowledge of first aid for people using small craft and to support skippers.

It fulfils the requirements for: 

• Professional skippers working under the Maritime and Coastguard Agency Codes of Practice for Small Vessels Operated Commercially;

• Senior First Aid certificate needed by offshore racers subject to World Sailing’s regulations on first aid training (OSR 4.08.4); 

• The Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations, 1981 for the purposes of Emergency First Aid at Work.

The subjects specific to boating include:

Recovery position in a confined space

CPR, including the drowning protocol

Cold shock and hypothermia from immersion and/or exposure

Seasickness and dehydration

Obtaining medical assistance or advice by VHF

Helicopter rescue