RYA powerboat course

[newbee]

I ve just completed my level 2 powerboat handling course at West Kirby Marine lake , over the weekend and boy was it fun!We used a Tornadoe 5.5 with a 70 mariner and for the sea voyage we used the Ocean Pro with 115 suzuki 4 stroke, what a beast! 2 days of fun with a thorough instructor who made it enjoyable aswell as serious, cheers Mike, giving my friend and I a solid grounding on future potential offshore boat safety and awareness.
We did our navigation on the Mersey and used our GPS to great effect out in the Irish sea as the weather suddenly closed in , 4 hrs of fun with pictures to prove! It has certainly whetted the appetite for more.

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by newbee

I ve just completed my level 2 powerboat handling course at West Kirby Marine lake , over the weekend and boy was it fun!We used a Tornadoe 5.5 with a 70 mariner and for the sea voyage we used the Ocean Pro with 115 suzuki 4 stroke, what a beast! 2 days of fun with a thorough instructor who made it enjoyable aswell as serious, cheers Mike, giving my friend and I a solid grounding on future potential offshore boat safety and awareness.
We did our navigation on the Mersey and used our GPS to great effect out in the Irish sea as the weather suddenly closed in , 4 hrs of fun with pictures to prove! It has certainly whetted the appetite for more.

Well done - I will be doing mine shortly - then we will both be more qualified than any "idiot" coxswain from the RNLI with 20 yrs experience - or Steve Curtis!!!

[ribrunt]

Originally Posted by codprawn

Well done - I will be doing mine shortly - then we will both be more qualified than any "idiot" coxswain from the RNLI with 20 yrs experience - or Steve Curtis!!!

LOL - but seriously - most ILB helms are becoming RYA Adv. ticket holders through the RNLI training system of aligning the training with external tickets. Coxwains on larger boats are getting Power YM tickets instead!

Cheers

Ribrunt

[codprawn]

A lot of the certificates are quite good but remember reading somewhere that a boat used commercially with a total installed HP of over say 800 or something needs a full time engineer.

What a load of crap! Engine power for a start depends very much on it's rating - an MTU rated at 1200hp in a sunseeker may only be rated at 800hp for commercial use.

Considering a sunseeker may have as much as 2400hp or more - it would mean it needs a full time engineer on board if used for charter - I don't think the bloke would be too happy lying down in the cramped engine room with nothing to do!!!

Conversley an old Kelvin diesel the size of a bus may only be 400hp but would need a full time engineer to baby it - shows just how out of touch the people who draw up some of these rules are!!!