If you are searching for NZ Cat 1 certification because you want to take a boat out of New Zealand, the first thing to know is that the name changed. Since 1 July 2024 the certificate a cruising yacht needs to clear Customs outwards is the International Voyage Certificate, issued by Maritime NZ. Cat 1 still exists, but Yachting New Zealand now issues it for race boats only, and its taking your boat overseas page sets out the four steps. The law behind both is section 21 of the Maritime Transport Act, and most of what the inspector goes through is the list it has always been. Mā Tori has been inspected before each of her four New Zealand to Fiji departures, so we have sat through it, but this guide is built from the official requirements, not our memory.
What changed on 1 July 2024
Yachting New Zealand ran the section 21 inspections under a delegation from Maritime NZ for years, and the certificate it issued was Category 1. That delegation ran out on 30 June 2024 and Yachting NZ did not renew it. Its section 21 update from July 2024 gives the reason as the resources the job needed, and says Cat 1 to Cat 5 inspections carry on for boats in yacht races. Maritime NZ took the cruising side back. The inspectors are now Vessel Adequacy Assessors and the document is the International Voyage Certificate, or IVC.
Everyone still says Cat 1, including us. If you are buying a boat that "holds Cat 1", ask the date on the certificate. Before July 2024 it is a Yachting NZ Cat 1, after it is an IVC, and either way it covered one departure, so it says the boat passed that day, not that she will pass today. A boat that has passed several seasons running has had someone independent over her hull, drives and safety kit each time, which is why the New Zealand buying guide rates it, and if you are buying to sail away this list is also your departure checklist.
Who needs it, what it costs and how long it lasts
A New Zealand registered boat leaving on an overseas voyage needs an IVC before Customs will clear her out. A foreign flagged boat does not, but the skipper still notifies Maritime NZ of the departure and meets her own flag state's rules. The Boating New Zealand report on the changeover has the costs as Maritime NZ set them: NZD 490 for the application, which covers the paperwork and one visit to the boat, and NZD 245 for a replacement certificate. If the boat does not meet the standard you pay again. The certificate is valid for 60 days from issue, for a single departure, with one 30 day replacement available inside the 60 if nothing on the boat or crew has changed. Come back to New Zealand and you start again.
The timeline that works
Maritime NZ wants the application three to six months before you leave, and at least a month before the assessment date. Lodge it even if a liferaft service or a course certificate is still outstanding; you send the evidence later. The assessors are in Auckland, Kerikeri and Nelson and the boat goes to one of them, out of the water, so a boat in Tauranga makes a delivery trip first. The visit takes two to three hours, can happen up to three months out, and the certificate is only issued once the crew drill form is in, which is how you line the 60 days up with a weather window in May.
That pre-departure drill checklist covers man overboard, abandon ship, fire, flooding, medical and the boat's own procedures, signed by everyone leaving on the boat. Crew can change right up to that point.
The crew rules trip up more boats than the gear does
The Maritime NZ guidance (version 8, December 2024) sets out the people side, and it is where a lot of first-timers get stuck:
- The skipper needs ocean experience: an RYA or IYT Ocean Yachtmaster, or at least one ocean voyage as skipper or active crew, described in the application.
- A second person needs a Coastal or Offshore Yachtmaster or equivalent experience, enough to take the boat on if the skipper goes down.
- Advanced sea survival: at least two people or 30 percent of the crew, whichever is more, including the skipper, with a certificate from the last five years. STCW Personal Survival Techniques counts.
- Marine first aid: the same two or 30 percent rule, including the skipper, with STCW Basic First Aid, Offshore Medic or equivalent inside five years.
- Everyone aboard is crew, children included, with full legal names on the form.
- Single-handers can get a certificate if they can show Maritime NZ how they will keep a lookout and avoid collisions.
Maritime NZ's own advice is to enrol early in the sea survival and first aid courses. Both have a five year clock, so check the dates on the certificates you already hold.
Out of the water, about 30 minutes
The boat has to be slipped and clean. Maritime NZ recommends a wash within six months of the application or a recent antifoul, because the assessor will not pass what they cannot see. On the hard they check the hull, the keels for grounding or cracking, the rudders and bearings for play, the shafts or saildrives, the props and the anodes. On a cat that is two of everything. It is not a survey and Maritime NZ says so; if you doubt the structure, get a surveyor first. The survey day checklist we use is in the Buyer's Pack.
On the boat: the list the assessor works through
The list from the guidance, grouped the way the assessor groups it. Jacklines have to be rigged for the visit, not in a locker.
Navigation. A chartplotter plus a second GPS on independent power, a swung compass with a current deviation card, a hand bearing compass, a depth sounder, and paper charts and cruising guides for the route.
Communications. A fixed VHF with an emergency aerial and a handheld VHF. Then one of SSB, a satellite phone or a satellite messenger with a current subscription. The guidance names Starlink as not an emergency alerting device, so Starlink alone does not meet this line. We carry Starlink and Iridium; the Iridium is the one the assessor cares about. More in our post on Starlink changes for cruising sailors.
Storm gear. Jacklines and lifelines, a tether for every person, harnesses where the lifejackets lack them, a way to lock the washboards or doors shut after a capsize, a sea anchor or drogue where appropriate, and a storm jib. One that sets over the furled headsail is accepted. Windows around 1,858 cm² or more need shutters or knees unless the builder's information shows they are up to it.
Emergency gear. Two lifebuoys, not white, one with a light and drogue. A dan buoy and a heaving line. A 150 N lifejacket for everyone with light, reflective tape, crotch straps and whistle, serviced if inflatable, with rearming kits aboard. An in-date EPIRB registered with the Rescue Coordination Centre. A PLB or AIS beacon per person on a short-handed boat. Four red handheld flares and two orange smokes, or a USCG-accepted LED flare in place of the red handhelds. An offshore liferaft, in date, stowed to go over the side fast. A grab bag with handheld VHF, spare flares, torch, light sticks and personal medication. Three extinguishers of at least 4 kg, one in every cabin space, and a fire blanket at the galley. A gas detector if there is gas inside the boat. An offshore first aid kit. A knife in the cockpit. A bucket that will not melt, on a lanyard. A manual bilge pump worked from the cockpit. Emergency steering. A preventer, a sail repair kit, and a hacksaw or bolt cutters for getting a rig off.
The boat herself. Working navigation lights and battery spares. Torches, one that floats. A main anchor and rode and a second anchor and rode. Tools and spares for engines, systems, sails and rig. A fuel shut-off. Seacocks that work, each with a wooden bung tied to it. Enough fuel and water. A gas-off sign above the stove, the call sign and a Mayday card beside the VHF, and a safety manual with a diagram of where the emergency gear and seacocks are.
The lines that matter on a catamaran
Three things in the guidance are written with a multihull in mind. An axe, or some other way out of an inverted boat, stowed where you could reach it upside down. The window rule, because a cat's saloon glass is often over 1,858 cm² a pane and the builder's documentation is the way through. And the storm jib over the furler, for a cat with one furling headsail and no inner forestay. Our own set-up is in the Fusion 40 review.
How we would get ready
Book the assessor before the haul-out, because the haul-out date has to suit them. Go through the list above on the boat, not from the couch, and put every item where the assessor will look for it. Service the liferaft and inflatable lifejackets early and check the dates on the EPIRB battery, flares, extinguishers and first aid kit while you are at it. The rig check we would add is in our Golden Globe Race lessons post, and the weather window for the trip south is in the Fiji to New Zealand passage guide.
What we don't know
- Whether the fees are still current. Maritime NZ's page, updated July 2026, matched the December 2024 report when we checked, but fees are reviewed.
- How strictly each assessor reads the window rule on production cats. Ask yours early.
Safety and legal requirements and fees change. Read the current Maritime NZ guidance and application form before you rely on anything here, and ask the assessor when the guidance is unclear.
Questions people ask about NZ Cat 1
Is NZ Cat 1 still required to leave New Zealand?
Not under that name for a cruising boat. Since 1 July 2024 a New Zealand registered yacht needs an International Voyage Certificate from Maritime NZ under section 21 of the Maritime Transport Act. Yachting New Zealand's Category 1 is now for race boats.
How much does the International Voyage Certificate cost?
NZD 490 including GST at the time of writing, covering the application and one visit to the boat, and NZD 245 for a replacement certificate. Check the current figure with Maritime NZ.
How long is the certificate valid for?
60 days from issue, for one departure, with one 30 day replacement available inside that window if nothing has changed. A boat that returns to New Zealand needs a new certificate before she leaves again.
Does Starlink count as offshore communications for the inspection?
No. The Maritime NZ guidance says Starlink is not considered an emergency alerting device. You need SSB, a satellite phone or a satellite messenger with a current subscription, plus VHF.
Keep reading: the printable inspection prep list and the survey checklists are in the Catamaran Buyer's Pack, what to do when the hull is holed offshore is in our whale strike post, and our bluewater catamaran for sale is the boat this was written from.