In addition to running a wide range of RYA theory courses from RYA Basic Navigation and Safety to RYA Coastal Skipper/Yachtmaster Theory, and VHF radio courses to marine first aid courses, we also offer bespoke theory and brush up sessions. We can offer advice and training on anything from plotting a course to steer to working up a tidal secondary port calculation, or from pilotage to passage planning, or anything else that doesn’t make much sense to you from GPS and electronic navigation to radar or diesel engines. We can teach you how your engines work, show you good maintenance practices, and can also arrange Sea Survival courses. We can run training from our classrooms in Lymington Yacht Haven, or many of our theory courses can be taught in your offices or your home if you wish to get a group of people trained together.
Short Range Certificate (Marine band VHF-DSC radio) course – 1 day
The only legally required ‘must-have’...
If you plan to use a VHF radio, whether fixed or handheld (& in our opinion you should never go to sea without one or the other, & preferably both), you have to hold an appropriate Certificate of Competence and Authority to Operate. The best way to get the certificate is to come and do a one day course – we run them regularly. On the course we teach you how to use a VHF radio correctly, how make and receive calls, use DSC, send and receive alerts, use the correct language, send or relay a Mayday, and much more besides. We also look at a host of other equipment such as EPIRBs & SARTs, Navtex, Inmarsat etc. Certificates are issued by the RYA on behalf of the MCA (the Coastguard) and there are potentially heavy fines for unauthorised or illegal use of marine VHF radio.
We teach the course to a maximum of four students at a time so that everyone has their own fully functioning training set to practice with all day (however if you have a larger private group we can potentially teach up to 12 at a time). There are practical assessments and a written test at the end of the day, but we cover everything in the test during the course. The course fee includes the licence fee payable to the RYA, and a short book we will send you beforehand as pre-course reading called ‘VHF Afloat’.
A VHF certificate is also required both for any commercial endorsement, and for some of the higher stages of the practical courses.
RYA Radar course – 1 day
The collision regulations require you to use all available means appropriate to the circumstances to assist you in keeping a proper lookout, and this means if you have radar on board you should be using it correctly. That may sound like a big stick, but here is the carrot that goes with it...
We guarantee you will come away from the RYA Radar course wondering how you ever managed without it. Not just used on big ships to spot other big ships, radar is fantastically useful as an aid to navigation. Bring an under-used and misunderstood piece of equipment to life by having it explained in a way that makes perfect sense. Learn how to tune it, interpret it, navigate with it, fix positions, and avoid collisions by quickly telling where you are and how close you will get to any approaching vessels.
RYA First Aid course – 1 day
Hugely relevant, both on the water and off, this covers all the bases of 1st aid from cuts and bruises to full blown CPR. There is a marine leaning, with time spent looking at hypothermia, issues surrounding recovery of a casualty from the water, sea sickness and drowning, but this is useful stuff even if you never go afloat. Our instructors are passionate about the subject and know their stuff – let us know beforehand if you have any particular requirements or interests such as diving – one of our instructors is also a PADI divemaster instructor.
Commercial endorsement holders have to update their first aid certificate every three years, and it is also another of the pre-course requirements for some courses such as the Advanced Powerboat course.
RYA Sea Survival – 1 day
Invaluable and great fun is how we describe this course. Although we don’t run this one ourselves we have links with a couple of schools locally which do and are happy to pass your details on or organise it on your behalf. This is the third of the supplementary courses required for any commercial endorsement. Part of the day is spent in a classroom learning about how to deal with abandoning ship – what to expect, how to be best prepared for the eventuality, and how to give yourself and your crew the best possible chance of a good outcome. The second part of the day is about getting wet – finding out how it feels to go in the water in full wet weather gear, seeing how quickly your lifejacket inflates, experiencing what it feels like to squeeze 6 of you into a six-man liferaft (tight!) and how to work as a team when in the water. Invaluable and great fun to boot...
Basic Navigation and Safety – 2 days
A really useful two-day classroom based course introducing and helping to solve the mysteries of traditional and electronic navigation as well as providing a good overview on how to stay safe on the water – how to use flares, what safety equipment to take with you, how to deal with emergencies etc. This is a good one to do either before or after any of our introductory practical courses.
RYA Day Skipper Theory – 40 hours (typically five straight days or three weekends)
At some stage the time comes to bite the bullet and learn how all the safety and nav kit on board your boat works, how it relates to everything else on board, and how to navigate a boat safely using more than just ‘out of the river and turn left’. This may appear like a mountain to climb at the start of the course, but by the end it will all make sense and you will feel and be safer, with a full understanding of the theory behind how to use a chart, a compass, and an almanac, how to interpret a weather forecast, check tides without the internet, pilot your way into an unfamiliar harbour by day or night, even make an overnight landfall. You can only buoy-hop until the buoys run out, and at the end of this course you will set off from point A knowing that you will reach point B even if the GPS fails (& yes, sometimes they do), & you will leave with a greater understanding of electronic navigation with all its fantastic benefits and the few but potentially major pitfalls behind relying exclusively on your chart plotter. No previous knowledge is required, and the course is taught entirely ashore.
RYA Coastal Skipper/Yachtmaster Theory – 40 hours (typically five straight days or three weekends)
You will be able to navigate using everything apart from the stars by the end of this course (you have to do the Ocean course for that) – we take everything learnt on the Day Skipper theory course a stage higher here and the result is being able to navigate with your eyes shut. This is the best preparation possible for anyone thinking of doing either of the Yachtmaster exams – Coastal or Offshore. Like the Day Skipper Theory course, it is all taught ashore, but for this course your navigational knowledge will already have to be to the standard of Day Skipper otherwise the course is unlikely to make much sense.