TAKE YOUR MARITIME CAREER TO THE NEXT LEVEL
Helping you succeed every step of the way
If you’re passionate about the sea and want to advance in your career, you have come to the right place for commercial skipper training.
Depending on your goals, you can choose from various commercial maritime courses, and gain the qualifications to skipper inshore, coastal, and offshore vessels.
Take a virtual tour of our dedicated training vessel!
WHERE ARE YOU ON YOUR MARITIME CAREER PATH?
Gain confidence and safety skills in our Advanced Sea Survival course
If you’re planning on heading offshore on a recreational vessel, it’s crucial that you know how to act in an emergency.
Our Advanced Sea Survival course equips you with critical survival skills that can decide the outcome of an emergency.
Become a deckhand or emergency vessel handler
A great way to start off in the maritime industry is as a deckhand or emergency vessel handler.
These qualifications allow you to work at sea, where you will gain valuable hands-on experience. A fantastic stepping stone on the pathway to becoming a skipper.
Gain your entry level skipper’s ticket
If you have some experience on the water, and are ready to gain your skipper’s ticket, you can either pursue the SRL or the Coxswain grade 1 course.
These tickets allow you to skipper commercial vessels up to 12 metres (or 24m with endorsement) up to 12 nautical miles from shore.
Train for endorsements or a higher-level ticket
If you’re an experienced skipper looking to upskill, you might consider training for endoresements or offshore tickets.
We offer training for the 500GT endorsement and the Master 24 Near Coastal qualification, which allows you to skipper commercial vessels less than 24 metres up to 200 nautical miles from shore.
WHY CHOOSE US?
Our mission is to provide practical skipper training courses to help you take your maritime career to the next level.
Dedicated training vessel
Practical skills aren’t learnt in the classroom! Which is why we operate a dedicated training vessel where you can get real, hands-on experience. Learn more about our training vessel here.
Student focus
You will be paired with a tutor who will guide you through the process from start to finish.
Simplified
When designing our courses, we stripped out all unnecessary roadblocks and obstacles to foster an efficient and enjoyable learning process.
Browse All Skipper Courses
At Skipper Training, we offer a range of courses whether you want to be a skipper or a deckhand.
We also want to give you all the relevant information to choose the course that’s best for you.
Advanced Sea Survival Course
Our Advanced Sea Survival course equips you with theoretical knowledge (classroom), practical knowledge (wet drills) and cover a wide range of emergency scenarios to survive at sea.
Skipper Restricted Limits (SRL)
Its not like school!
We invented practical delivery for SRL after teaching in a traditional polytec and seeing some students struggle in that setting. Complete your Training Record Book on our block course, not before. We have an illustrated activity book to help you prepare, so there isn’t anything online!
EMERGENCY VESSEL HANDLER
An alternative option for companies to employ a deckhand as a mate if they do not hold SRL<24. (Maritime NZ exemption required)
500GT WORKSHOP
This workshop is designed to help those with sufficient
sea time with the completion of their Training Record Book (TRB) to allow them to sit
their oral exam with Maritime NZ.
Coxswain Grade 1
Coxswain Grade 1 is the Australian equivalent to New Zealand’s SRL certificate. It’s easy to convert Australian certificates to New Zealand ones when you follow the guidelines
Master <24 Near Coastal
This Australian qualification is equivalent to NZ’s Skipper Coastal Offshore. It’s easy to convert Australian certificates to New Zealand ones when you follow the guidelines
MARINE ENGINE DRIVER GRADE 2
This Australian qualification is equivalent to NZ’s Marine Engineer Class 5, while MED 3 is equivalent to MEC 6, the first step in your engineering career, or in combination with your skipper’s certificate
FAQs
Longer courses are generally more successful in attracting government funding, which is why many NZ courses appear to have extended in length (e.g. ILM/SRL was extended from 5 weeks to 24 weeks). The Australian courses are approximately in line with the original length of NZ courses.
NZ companies and individuals have been travelling to Australia for training for the last 4-5 years – about the same time the NZ courses suddenly got longer.
If you are constrained by time and need a shorter course, choose an Australian course delivered and tutored here in New Zealand.
You’re going to hear some lively debate about this from some providers, but Maritime NZ determines what is safe in regards to our waters. They review, compare and publish a list of equivalent certificates, which aligns the NZ and Australian qualifications.
You can operate a vessel under NZ Martime rules as soon as you have submitted an application to MNZ for recognition of your Australian certificate, as long as the vessel and areas fall within the NZ equivalency and you meet the NZ requirements.
Yes, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) recognises New Zealand seafarer qualifications, so you can work there if the vessel and areas fall within the Australian equivalency. You’ll need to apply for a certificate of recognition, and must be an Australian or New Zealand citizen or permanent resident.
Australian courses are delivered through Australian schools who also conduct the AMSA Mandated Practical Assessment (AMPA) which we can help with