The question that stops half the bookings. Here it is answered.
This is the question that stops half the bookings, and it has a short answer: it depends on the boat, and in most cases you need nothing at all. If a skipper comes with you, no licence is required and no sailing experience. If you take it yourself, the boat has to be one the rules allow to be handled without a licence, and you stay inside a marked area.
In Spain the recreational licences go in steps — the navigation licence, PNB, PER and the higher ones — and each allows a different boat length and distance from the coast. Jet skis work the same way: with a navigation licence or above you ride on your own, and without one you go out with a guide inside the authorised area.
What matters for booking is not learning the table by heart, but knowing what the particular boat you are interested in requires. We confirm that when you book, before you pay anything: we tell you whether that boat can be taken without a licence, whether it needs one, or whether it goes out with a skipper.
What we do not do is issue licences. We are not a sailing school: we run no courses, we examine nobody and we process no qualifications. We do not issue the recreational sea fishing licence either — that is issued by the Junta de Andalucía and obtained online. We can explain which one you need and where to get it, but the paperwork is yours.
They go in steps. At the bottom is the licencia de navegación, obtained with a short course and no full theory exam, which allows small boats close to the coast and in daylight. Above that is the PNB, Patrón de Navegación Básica, and then the PER, Patrón de Embarcaciones de Recreo, which is the one most people who sail for pleasure hold.
Above the PER come the Patrón de Yate and the Capitán de Yate, which are qualifications for large boats and for genuinely going offshore. Each step widens two things at once: the size of boat you may handle and how far from the coast you may go.
At an approved sailing school. The procedure and the exam depend on the region, and in Andalucía they are handled by the relevant regional department. The licencia de navegación is the quickest of them all; the PER requires theory, an exam and practical safety and navigation sessions.
We are not a sailing school and we play no part in any of that: we do not run the course, we do not examine and we do not process the qualification. If you ask us we will tell you which one fits you and point you in the right direction, but you deal with the school directly.
It works the same as with boats: with a licencia de navegación or any higher qualification you go out on your own, outside the buoyed area. With no qualification at all you go out with a guide and inside the authorised area, which is what the rules allow.
In both cases you have to show the original document when you collect the ski. A photo on your phone is not enough, and that is not a whim of ours: it is a requirement of the boat's clearance.
For a week, no. Getting a qualification takes time between the course, the exam and the practical sessions, and it is not something you sort out from the hotel the day before going sailing. That is what the skipper option is for, which solves the whole problem and takes the marina manoeuvres off your hands as well.
If you come to the same coast every summer, the sums change. Anyone who hires three or four times a year pays off the PER within a couple of seasons, and above all removes the limit on which boat they can take. Then it does make sense, and it is worth doing at home and without rushing, rather than here and in a hurry.
The maximum length and the distance from the coast for each licence are set by Spanish national rules and have been changed several times in recent years, so a table written on a website ages badly and misleads more than it helps.
That is why we do not publish one here. What we do instead is the useful part: when you book we confirm what the particular boat you are interested in requires — whether it can be taken without a licence, whether it needs one, or whether it goes out with a skipper — before you pay anything. If your case is borderline, we say so and suggest the alternative that does fit.
If it is not here, call us: two minutes on the phone and it is sorted.
There are boats that can be handled without a licence inside an authorised area and after a briefing. Before you book we confirm which particular boat falls under that, because not all of them do.
Then a licence is needed: the navigation licence, PNB, PER or higher depending on the boat and the area. We do not issue licences, but we will tell you which one you need.
No. You have to show the original when you collect the boat or the jet ski.
Yes, and it is the commonest option. With a skipper on board you need no licence and no sailing experience.
Leave us your number and we will call you. In July and August it is worth booking ahead.
Puerto Deportivo de Fuengirola, local 367. You can drop in and see the boats before you book.
At no charge. Going out to see what happens is never worth it.
Life jackets for everyone on board, included in the price.
