Bareboat means you skipper the boat. Every operator that offers it will ask what you hold before they hand over the keys, and the answer is not "I have sailed a lot".
What is generally accepted
Operators in Malta typically expect one of:
- an ICC (International Certificate of Competence)
- an RYA Day Skipper or above
- an equivalent national boating licence from your own country
If the boat carries a VHF radio — and a charter yacht will — a radio operator's certificate is often asked for as well.
It is not only the certificate
A licence gets you considered. What actually decides it is experience on a comparable boat. An operator handing over a 14-metre motor yacht will want to know you have handled something of that size and power, and they are within their rights to decline, or to insist on a skipper for the first day, if the answer is thin.
That is not obstruction. The deposit is theirs to chase and the boat is theirs to repair.
If you do not hold anything
You are not stuck. A skippered charter is the same boat and the same coast with somebody aboard who knows both, and on a first visit it is usually the better trip anyway — a skipper knows which bays work in today's wind, which is a judgement no chart makes for you. See where to sail for what that judgement is actually about.
The other route is to get qualified here. Malta has RYA training centres and Transport Malta runs its own nautical licence course.
Check before you commit
Requirements are set by the operator as well as by regulation, and they vary. Confirm what you need with the specific operator before you pay a deposit — and if you are told nothing is required at all for a boat of any size, treat that as information about the operator.
Nothing on this page is a legal position. It describes what operators here commonly ask for.
Questions
- Can you rent a boat in Malta without a licence?
- Not a bareboat charter of any size — operators ask for an ICC, an RYA Day Skipper certificate or an equivalent national licence, and often a VHF certificate too. A skippered charter has no such requirement, because the skipper holds the qualification.
- Is an RYA Day Skipper accepted in Malta?
- RYA Day Skipper and above are widely accepted by charter operators in Malta, as is an ICC. Individual operators may still want evidence of experience on a boat of similar size and power.