PPR Online

Your PPR instructor will be able to respond to any queries you may have during your course. You can contact your instructor using the link towards the top of the page and they should respond to you within 8 working hours.

The time it takes to complete the course varies greatly, but the majority of students complete it in 10 hours or less. It's up to you how you break your study time down to suit you.

The PPR course is for skippers and crew using RYA qualifications to allow them to work commercially. As such, it is written mainly from the point of view of UK legislation and concentrates on your place in the international maritime environment as a UK certificate holder. However, it also explains the need to look beyond UK rules and regulations and take into consideration the requirements of the flag and port state.

Teaching scenarios throughout the course are based on a variety of boats, both sail and power. It may be that you have experience on none of the boats used, but that will not affect your ability to do the course as no specialist knowledge of any type of vessel is required – the same rules and regulations apply regardless of your type of boat or operation.

The time it takes to complete the course varies greatly, but the majority of students complete it in 10 hours or less. It's up to you how you break your study time down to suit you.

The course has 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 are mock assessments which you can use to check you are ready before taking the final online assessment.

The RYA estimate it will take around 6-8 hours to work through the modules and the final assessment is split into two sections that should take about 2.5 hours.

When you have passed both sections of the final assessment, you will be able to download your certificate. It can then be submitted in support of your commercial endorsement application or renewal.