RYA Advanced Powerboat Course From £299 In Southampton
RYA Advanced Powerboat Level 4 Course Summary
Course Duration: 2 days - 9am to 10pm approx (Day 1) & 9am - 5pm (Day 2)
Course Cost: From £299
Course Location: Shamrock Quay, Southampton
Joining Instructions: Download here
Recommended Reading: RYA Advanced Powerboat G108 (Not Included)
Course Prerequisite & Age: Up to the Level of RYA Intermediate Powerboat, with Theory kowledge up to that of Coastal/Yachmaster & with at least 2 seasons of Powerboating experience in a variety of vessels. Minimum Age,17+ Years (Under 18's Must Be Accompanied).
What's In The Course?: Aim is to teach boat handling, seamanship, pilotage and navigation up to the standards required to drive a planing powerboat safely by day and night in tidal coastal waters, with which the candidate may be familiar, in more demanding conditions.
The RYA Powerboat Advanced Course is the pinnacle of the RYA Powerboat scheme and usually requires students to have been Coastal Powerboating for several seasons. We are always happy to advise you, so do call. Our fully inclusive RYA Advanced Powerboat Course costs just £299 per person for this 2 day course and runs from our Southampton base. We always include everything you need to complete this course except meals. The course is run over 2 full days but the first day is extended into the night to allow for several hours of night work, effectively meaning 2 1/2 days are packed into 2 days.
For this Advanced Powerboat course, we use our larger boats. We run a pair of 7.2 metre XSRibs powered by a Suzuki 200hp petrol outboard. Both are designed for those "days when you have to go to sea". Both are MCA coded Cat 3R and are part of the large fleet of Ribs working in the Solent, moored in Shamrock Quay, Southampton.
We don`t run these courses in the height of the summer as they require a suitable length night session, which is difficult to achieve in the lighter summer months. Courses run from September to April each year.
RYA Powerboat Advanced Course Content & Syllabus
Day 1
Classroom Catch Up. With each course limited to just 3 students we have time to assess your theory knowledge levels. Your instructor will fill any gaps in the essential theory knowledge needed to complete the course. This initial period in the classroom helps with refreshing existing skills and whilst also learning new theory.
Practical Warm Up. You may not be familiar with larger ribs, so we use the next hour or so to run through a few favourites including:- Initial boat checks and startup, marina skills, man over board and picking up a mooring.
Advanced Practical Navigation. We introduce several new techniques including compass back bearings, transits and following a depth contour.
Introduction To Night Navigation.Understanding buoyage and light characteristics is the key to safe passage planning at night. Time in our classroom creating safe plans and bringing in the earlier practical navigation skills ensures the correct preparation prior to our night run. We run our passage plan and use advanced navigation to find various marks within the Solent.
Day 2
Classroom Debrief. Filling in gaps and checking over the night runs pros and cons comes first on day 2. Then an informative session including:- understanding twin engine installations, diesel/petrol engines, propeller setup, rough weather handling, meteorology, tidal streams, search patterns, spiders webs and GPS navigation including XTE.
Practical Session. So lets use all of the above to run a longer passage in some rougher water with a shallow water pilotage just for fun, maybe Ashlett Creek, see picture above.
So a summary of whats included in our advanced course:-
RYA advanced powerboat instructor
Large rib training boat including all fuel used
Waterproof gear and lifejacket
Classroom with charts, books, tea & coffee
RYA advanced certificate on successful completion of the course.
Previous Experience Required For the RYA Advanced Powerboat Course
Required:-
Your boat handling skills should be to RYA Intermediate Powerboat level or above. Your theory & navigational knowledge should be to the level of RYA Coastal/Yachtmaster theory. We run several preparation days for advanced course students to ensure their skills are up to scratch. You should be a confident and practised coastal powerboater looking to move to the pinnacle of RYA Powerboating.
Minimum student age is 17. Under 18`s must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Recommended:-
First Aid Certificate equivalent to the RYA First Aid Certificate
RYA SRC/VHF Radio Certificate.
For those wishing to move into commercial work at sea then the next logical step is to take the RYA Powerboat Advanced Certificate of Competency Exam which is needed to add a commercial endorsement to your advanced ticket allowing you to helm a craft with paying passengers, such as for rib charters. We can run a preparation course for this exam on request.
