How to Get a Boat Skipper License in Croatia – Step by Step

If you dream of chartering a boat on the Adriatic without paying for a professional skipper, you need the Croatian "Boat Skipper Category B" license (Voditelj brodice kategorija B). It is issued by the Croatian Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure after a short oral examination – and the good news is that you can arrange the whole thing during a regular holiday in Croatia. This guide walks you through the entire process.

What the license allows you to do

The Boat Skipper B license entitles you to command boats with a displacement of up to 30 GT (gross tonnage), which covers practically every charter sailing yacht and motor boat available on the coast. An authorization to operate a marine VHF radio station is an integrated part of the license, so you do not need a separate radio certificate. The validity of the license is not limited in time – you pass the exam once and it serves you for life.

The license is valid in Croatian territorial and international waters, and in practice our clients have used it for charters in Italy, Greece, Turkey, France, Egypt and even far destinations like the Caribbean, the Canary Islands, the Seychelles or Thailand.

What you need before the exam

• a valid identity document (passport or ID card),
• two photographs, 4 × 3 cm,
• the examination fee of approx. 120 € paid to the Naval Authority,
• a few days of preparation – the exam can be managed even by a complete beginner.

Step-by-step procedure

1. Prepare for the exam. Spend at least one week studying. You need to know how to read a nautical chart, set coordinates, measure distances, recognize navigation lights and day shapes, know the basic "rules of the road" at sea, distress communication (MAYDAY, PAN PAN, SECURITE) and the international spelling alphabet.
2. Find the nearest harbour master's office (Lučka kapetanija). Examinations take place at harbour master's offices along the whole coast. The bigger the city, the more frequently they carry out the testing, and the dates are most frequent in the summer season. Call or visit the office at the beginning of your holiday to find out the date of the next examination.
3. Register for the exam and pay the fee. Bring your ID and the two photographs.
4. Pass the oral examination. It takes only about 15–20 minutes. The examiners typically ask you to set the coordinates of a point on a chart, measure a distance, explain a few rules for avoiding collisions, recognize boat lights and spell a location name using the international alphabet.
5. Collect your license. It is usually issued within a few days (often just 2 days), so you can pick it up before your holiday ends.

What the exam covers

The oral exam concentrates on practical knowledge a skipper really needs: setting coordinates of a specific point on a map, measurement of distance on a map, nautical "rules of the road", boat and marine navigation lights, the distress signals MAYDAY, PAN PAN and SECURITE, and spelling of map location names. Basic English vocabulary for reporting your location is sufficient.

Practical tips

Plan the exam for the first days of your holiday – if anything changes about the date, you still have time. Learn the international spelling alphabet by heart; it is a question that appears at almost every examination and it is easy to score with it. And bring the printed study material with you on board afterwards: the rules you learn for the exam are the ones you will use every day at sea.

Fees and examination dates are set by the Croatian authorities and may change – verify the current details at the harbour master's office where you plan to take the exam.