Why radio is asked separately from the skipper step
A skipper certificate does not cover radio on its own. Whether you need VHF depends on the waters and the country. Listening, the course and SRC are three different steps.
After a sailing course it is easy to decide that the skipper certificate already covers radio as well. On charter that is often not true. Sailing papers are read as how you handle the boat and the crew. Radio is asked for separately: whether you can work a VHF set the way distress and safety procedures expect.
Whether you need radio depends on the waters and the country, on the charter company and on the insurer. In one place Inshore is enough. In another the contract puts VHF or SRC on its own line. There is no universal “everywhere”. What counts is the operator’s written answer and the current requirements.
Practice, course and paper are not one VHF
On the site, free VHF practice, the VHF online course and an ISSA VHF/SRC certificate sit next to each other. These are three different things: active listening, study with an exam, and an exam for the certificate.
- Free VHF practice is live radio in your headphones. You mark for yourself what you caught and what flew past. Nobody issues an ISSA certificate at the end, and a charter contract does not count this practice as SRC.
- VHF online is where procedures are taught and you prepare for an exam. You can finish the course and still have no certificate: the check after study is separate.
- An ISSA VHF/SRC document appears after the exam and is paid for separately. What it confirms is on the certificates page.
Why the contract has two lines
This is not one school’s whim. Many charter contracts are written that way: the skipper pack and radio are different items. A base can accept Inshore without fuss and still ask for VHF or SRC in the same letter.
How that line is usually worded, and what SRC is not, is in SRC for sailing charter. How the online course differs from free practice is in VHF online versus the free trainer.
If you do not have radio yet
If you do not have VHF, we recommend taking it. It is not only a contract line. On the water you can call the shore yourself, hear someone calling you, and not go mute while the skipper is on the helm. That raises crew safety: fewer moments when everyone waits for the first person to pick up the microphone.
In practice it looks like this. You can ask for a berth or say you are late without shouting from the bow. You hear if a neighbouring boat is calling you or warning you. In a distress or safety call you know the order of phrases. If the engine dies or visibility drops, one person can steer while the other speaks on the set and says where you are and what you intend to do.
The contract and the insurer may still ask for the paper. Even if they do not ask this year, the ear and the procedure stay with you on any waters.
The VHF online course is the procedures and the exam. If you have barely heard live traffic, you can start with free VHF practice. The document and a call you trust come after study.
How this sits with Inshore
On the skipper path the usual step for charter without a skipper is Inshore. We sometimes attach radio to that week: it is handy to cover both requirements while you are already on the water. Sometimes we leave radio for another time. Inshore does not “contain” radio. It is a neighbouring document; you can sit it alongside if the timetable works that way.
Where to start
If you have barely heard live traffic, open free VHF practice. There is no fee and no card: you test whether your ear catches speech in the noise.
When you already know you need procedures and an exam, take VHF online. If the only question is why radio stands on its own contract line, start with SRC for sailing charter.