RYA Intermediate Powerboat

Course Aim: To teach powerboating up to the standard required to complete a short coastal passage by day. In essence this course aims to introduce those boaters who have previously stayed ‘close to home’ to travel that bit further and undertake short coastal passages.

Course description

This course covers the practical use of pilotage and passage planning by day on coastal waters using both traditional and electronic navigational techniques. During the two days you also cover more advanced boat handling. It is recommended for anyone considering moving on to the Advanced course.

Course content

It includes planning a day cruise, boat preparation, boat handling, pilotage, passage making, man overboard.

More details about the course

The RYA Powerboat level 2 course is aimed both at those new to boating and those that have boated a while that want to improve their boat handling.
Your instructor will cover the following topics with you during your time with him/her:
Navigation
Bearing distance
Charts, symbols & use of charts
Tides
Use of almanacs
Use of marina locks
Latitude & longitude
Principals of GPS
Sources of forecast information & interpretation of them
Use of plotting instruments
Buoyage
IRPCS
Waypoint navigation
Emergency situations

Practical subjects including:
Boat preparation including kit
Crew preparation
Stowage
Boat handling including effect of waves
Rougher conditions
Awarenss of wind & tide
Pilotage
Passage making including application of subjects covered in theory section
Man overboard recovery techniques

Broadly speaking the course divides into 1) developing the core navigation skills to be able to undertake coastal passages 2) Using these skills afloat to undertake a passage/entry to a port safely.

Day one will tend to start with a bit of a recap on the theory side to see where you are relative to the level that we need to achieve during the course. You then go afloat and spend some time practicing and enhancing your close quarter boat handling skills. Once back in the classroom the instructor will look in detail at the areas of passage planning and pilotage so that you have the skills to put it into practice.

Day two will spend lots of time learning new skills such as the ways to use GPS to create effective and rapid position fixes in small open craft. You’ll use the skills developed on day one to plan and execute pilotage plans setting you up well to be able to use these skills where ever you choose to go boating.

In 2013 new RYA rules upped the level of craft needed to run the intermediate courses and it became a requirement to use craft with forward facing seats behind the console carrying significantly increased levels of equipment. We totally supported this decision as it means that the course is run on the type of craft that are really suited to the coastal passages that we are training for.
Our Instructors that will deliver the course are all highly experienced Advanced Powerboat Instructors holding current Commercially Endorsed Advanced Powerboat Certificates.