Law and safety
Which sailing certificates Thailand actually accepts for bareboat
What sailing licence do I need to charter a bareboat yacht in Phuket?
The short answer
What sailing licence do I need to charter a bareboat yacht in Phuket?
Thailand does not run a national recreational skipper licence, and there is no government list of accepted foreign certificates for bareboat charter. The decision belongs to the charter operator and, behind it, the operator's insurer. In practice the recognised documents are the International Certificate of Competence, RYA Day Skipper and above, ASA 104 and above, and equivalent national certificates, and every serious operator also asks for a sailing resume. The resume is what actually decides: a Day Skipper certificate with no recent miles is routinely declined, and a well-documented resume with an older qualification is routinely accepted.
The thing people get wrong
Charterers arrive expecting a legal requirement, as in Greece or Croatia, where the state prescribes what a skipper must hold. Thailand does not work that way. There is no Thai equivalent to hand over at a checkpoint. What exists is a commercial and insurance decision made by the company handing you a yacht worth several hundred thousand dollars.
That is looser in one direction and stricter in the other. Looser, because a certificate Thailand has never heard of can be accepted on its merits. Stricter, because a certificate that would satisfy a European harbourmaster does not oblige anyone here to give you the keys.
What operators generally accept
| Document | Usual standing |
|---|---|
| International Certificate of Competence (ICC), coastal | Widely accepted, the most portable document to hold |
| RYA Day Skipper, practical | Accepted, usually with a resume |
| RYA Coastal Skipper or Yachtmaster | Accepted without argument |
| ASA 104 Bareboat Cruising and above | Accepted, usually with a resume |
| IYT Bareboat Skipper | Accepted |
| National certificates (SBF See, Patente Nautica, and similar) | Usually accepted, sometimes with an ICC alongside |
| No certificate, substantial documented experience | Case by case, and increasingly declined |
The resume matters more than the card
A sailing resume lists the yachts you have skippered, their size, where, when and for how long. Operators read it for three things: recent hours, a hull comparable in size to the one you are asking for, and tidal or coastal work rather than only flat inland water.
The most common refusal is not a missing certificate. It is a valid Day Skipper from eleven years ago on a 32 foot monohull, applied to a 46 foot catamaran, with nothing in between.
Two Phuket-specific things a resume does not cover
- Tide. Phang Nga Bay has real tidal range, the marinas at Boat Lagoon and Royal Phuket sit behind tidal channels, and several of the cave and lagoon entrances open and close with the tide. A skipper whose entire experience is the Mediterranean has not had to plan around this.
- Anchoring in coral. Anchoring on coral is prohibited in the national parks and yachts pick up park moorings instead. This is a habit rather than a skill, and it is one of the things a skipper aboard for the first day is genuinely useful for.
If the operator hesitates, the answer is almost never to argue. It is to take a skipper for the first two days. It costs a fraction of the charter, it converts a refusal into an acceptance, and in a cruising ground with tidal cave entrances it is good value on its own terms.
Questions people also ask
- Do I need an ICC to charter in Thailand?
- No, there is no legal requirement for one. It is simply the most widely recognised single document to carry, which makes it the easiest thing to hand an operator who has never heard of your national certificate.
- Can I charter a bareboat in Phuket with no certificate at all?
- Occasionally, on a documented resume alone, but it is getting rarer as insurers tighten. Plan on holding something, or plan on a skipper.
- Does my partner need a qualification too?
- Most operators want a named competent crew alongside the skipper, and some ask for evidence for that person as well. It is rarely as demanding as the skipper requirement, but it is not always nothing.
Last checked 6 September 2026. Rates, fees and regulations in this market change every season, so figures on this page are correct as at that date and not afterwards. How the figures are gathered.