Licencing Rules (Sweden) / Boat Handling Course

I'm a sport-diver, finally living close enough to the sea to make buying a boat worthwhile. A RIB looks like my best option, but never having owned a boat of any sort I have no idea what the rules are (although I have fallen off several).... http://www.rib.net/ubb/biggrin.gif

Can anyone fill me in on licencing rules for Sweden? I guess I'll be spending most of my time fairly close to shore at first. With short days approaching all too rapidly it won't be long before I'm out after dark - either accidentally or deliberately.

Also, before I commit myself to spending serious money I'd like to take a boat handling course whether or not there is a legal requirement. Any recommendations? I'll be on holiday in the North-East of England next week (arriving 04-Sep-00, departing 11-Sep-00). Sorry about the short notice. Thereafter I'm back in Karlskrona.

Any help/advice greatly appreciated.

[This message has been edited by DDay (edited 31 August 2000).]

Have a look here (http://www.rib.net/ubb/Forum2/HTML/000003.html) for an earlier thread covering this very subject! Basically, there are various certificates that you can get, but unless you have a boat that is greater than 12m x 4m they are not compulsory.

It's probably worth getting some training though, in the UK the most comon basic course is the RYA level II Powerboat Certificate. This covers subjects such as launch and recovery, boat handling, rule of the road, mooring, tides, charts and bouyage, man overboard and safety. A list of RYA powerboat training establishments is here (http://www.rya.org.uk/training.cfm?region=ne&table=Powerboats). I suggest you contact a few of them to find the best for you -- some of them are likely not to be powerboat specialists, but sailing clubs that train boat handlers for their rescue boats!

Hope that helps!
John

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John Kennett
RIBnet (http://www.rib.net/)

Thanks John,

I've spoken to someone in the North-East of England and, hopefully, will be trained by the time I come back to Karlskrona.

I'll leave the thread open for now in case plans fall through. Also, any more replies might be helpful to other people.

Regards

Derek