How to Get Your STCW Certificate: The First Step Into Yachting

If you want to work on a superyacht, the STCW Basic Safety Training certificate is where every career begins. No reputable yacht will hire crew without it, so it should be the very first thing you book. What STCW actually stands for STCW is the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, an international convention that sets the minimum safety training required to work at sea. The Basic Safety Training course bundles four modules. The four modules 1. Personal Survival Techniques — life rafts, abandoning ship, and surviving in the water. 2. Fire Prevention and Fire Fighting — using extinguishers and breathing apparatus in real smoke. 3. Elementary First Aid — CPR and treating common onboard injuries. 4. Personal Safety and Social Responsibilities — shipboard rules, pollution prevention and working as a team. Most schools also bundle Proficiency in Security Awareness, which yachts increasingly expect. How long it takes and what it costs The full course runs about five days. Costs vary by location but typically fall between 900 and 1,300 EUR or GBP equivalent. Training hubs in Antibes, Palma, the UK and Fort Lauderdale all run regular intakes. What to do after STCW Once certified you also need an ENG1 medical, a tidy CV, and ideally a role-specific course. From there it is time to get to a yachting hub and start looking for day work. Explore our courses to plan your full entry route.