What you need to perform it
Primary qualification
- Professional Recreational Craft Skipper (RD 973/2009): requires prior Yacht Captain, minimum age 20, a DGMM aptitude test and a valid seafarer medical.
- Accredited experience: 50 days and 2,500 documented miles, with passages as skipper (per the call's requirements — verify detail).
- Maritime specialty certificates for professional practice: Basic Safety Training and those the activity requires (passenger, radio) — indicative per service.
Basic STCW
- Basic Safety Training Specialty Certificate
- Survival boats and rescue boats (not fast)
- Specific Health Training (initial or advanced)
- General or restricted GMDSS/GMDSS operator
Specific courses
- DGMM aptitude test: professional regulation, safety and running the activity
- Basic Safety Training (A-VI/1) for professional sign-on
- Radio: operator certificate matching the ship's fit (SRC/GOC per area)
Indicative experience
The 2,500 miles and 50 days are evidenced through crew lists, charter licences or endorsed logs; part must be as skipper, including offshore passages (verify the call's exact breakdown).
Observations
All the listed proficiency certificates are mandatory to obtain the PPER. Professional attributions limited to recreational craft (up to 24 m, per the decree's terms and the craft's registry list); valid 5 years with revalidation. For merchant ships or wider attributions, the route is the explorer's professional scale (Spain framework).
What this role does
The professional gateway from the recreational world: allows paid command of recreational craft —charter, sailing schools, passenger carriage in the relevant registries— within its attribution limits. The title with which an experienced leisure skipper turns miles into economic activity without entering the merchant-navy scale.
Typical watches
- Command and watchkeeping according to the authorised commercial operation
Key responsibilities
- Professional governance of Spanish flag pleasure boats on lists 6a or 7a.
- Operation within zones and conditions authorized by DGMM.
- Instruction in basic safety and navigation practices for PER/PNB.
Operational scope
- Boats <= 24 m
- Up to 12 people on board (including crew)
- PPER A: up to 60 miles from the Spanish coast
Profile reviewed by HydroAbyss (2026). Cited rules and timeframes are indicative: the final requirement is set by the flag State, the Administration and each company.