International Yacht Training Worldwide (IYT Worldwide) is an independent sailing and boating training organization which provides education and training standards for professional and recreational boaters and yachtsmen and women. It was originally based entirely in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA; it is now a British Columbia, Canada Corporation based in Kelowna. Its qualifications are similar to those of the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) at the recreational level, but IYT Worldwide also offers additional courses at the professional level. It is regulated by a number of Maritime Administrations and has an ISO Quality Management System to independently monitor and control all of its training standards. History IYT Worldwide was founded by Mark Fry in 1998 as a credible alternative to the RYA with the purpose of providing training for crews of superyachts by offering professional yachtsmen and women the opportunity to train for their career outside the UK, a first for the professional yachting fraternity. IYT Worldwide was approved, and its courses recognized by the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), in October 1999 and is now recognized as a world leader by multiple administrations due to its numerous (20 plus) international recognitions covering a large number of its courses. IYT has trained over 350,000 candidates in the last 22 years. Due to its dedication to high standards, quality training and the implementation of its ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System, the company has enjoyed an international expansion which now includes more than 300 partner schools in 64 countries. No other yacht training organisation is as internationally recognised or accepted as IYT. Global spread Initially recognized for its professional courses, IYT has successfully developed professional, recreational and other boating watersports courses delivered through licensed training schools. There are currently over 300 partner schools around the world in 64 different countries (November 2020). These include Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Cayman Islands, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, French West Indies, Gibraltar, Greece, Honduras, Hungary, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, St Maarten, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, St Lucia, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and the United States. Membership There are basically 2 membership levels, those partner schools offering recreational courses and those offering professional yachting courses such as Master of Yachts (MOY)