About Us

About Nautica

Nautica is a yacht and motorboat skipper school in Riga, Latvia, founded in 2008. We are one of the oldest schools of this kind still operating in the country, and we are officially accredited by CSDD — the Latvian Road Traffic Safety Directorate, the authority that issues recreational skipper licences in Latvia.

1595 people have taken our courses. Most of them started with no boating background at all.

What we teach

Three levels, all taught as distance learning in Latvian, with live group sessions over Zoom and a teacher who answers questions along the way:

• Inland waters — motorboats and personal watercraft on lakes and rivers.
• Territorial waters — the sea up to 12 nautical miles from shore: COLREG, navigation and safety.
• International waters (ICC) — the certificate charter companies abroad ask for.

If you hold a licence from another country and need to know whether it is valid in Latvia — or you need a Latvian licence in order to charter here — write to us and we will tell you plainly, including when the answer is that you do not need a course from us.

Who teaches

Askolds Hermanis founded the school and still teaches. His sea time runs into many thousands of miles — deliveries, expeditions and everyday teaching, on sailing yachts, motor yachts and megayachts. He holds a Master of Yachts Limited (Offshore) 200 tons commercial licence.

Where to find us

Riga, Latvia. Rated 5.0 out of 5 from 68 Google reviews. See contact details, or read the school page in Latvian: Par mums.

Our Certificates