Power Boat Licence

A bit of background to this one first.

If you want to pilot a powerboat in European or UK waters you need:

• An International Certificate of Competence (ICC) (RYA INFO)
• Attain the ICC in the discipline that you are wanting to use (MORE RYA INFO)

The discipline that we are going to cover here is the ICC Level 2 (link here) which is: Coastal waters; Powerboat up to 10m in length; for Pleasure use only.

This is a 2 day course to be taken with a qualified instructor and covers off all the necessary for you to be “self-sufficient powerboating at a basic level”

Now for the instruction days:

DAY 1

What was supposed to be a quick trip for me to just get the certificate before we went on our longer holiday, turned in to a group trip for everyone to take a jolly and take command of my parent holiday! (they loved it).

We all trooped down to the harbour for about 10am had a brew and waited for Gavin (instructor). I was introduced to Gavin and we kicked off the training over another cuppa. The first things to go over were the safety aspects when out on the water and most importantly looking at and interpreting the local weather forecast and where to find them.

Once the paperwork was out of the way about 2 hours, it was time to get on the boat!

The next stage was to take a look at the mechanics of the boat, again these were geared towards the safety checks that your should do every time you plan to take a trip out on a boat, simple things like looking for and smelling for petrol leaks, any hose cracks, excessive belt wear etc. all the core elements that mean you should come back in the same piece that you left in!

Opening up the engine bay on one of these powerboats is pretty awesome! The one here is a 5.7 V8, the kind you would expect to see in an American muscle car (Corvette) or equivalent. Anyone who like playing around with car engines would most certainly like this side of boating!

Time for a lunch break! Back in 1hr….. ish!

After the lunch break came the good stuff! Launching, mooring, anchoring and recovery along with any handling skills required (e.g. trimming etc)

The trickiest part of all is taking into consideration the wind and current. (mainly the wind in the powerboat, to do with less purchase under the water in contract to a yacht with a greater purchase in the water with a keel). Once you’ve got handling the wind down, and in most cases, getting the wind to work for you. The rest of it is just a good bit of fun in learning different techniques to help you in different circumstances. With most things there are multiple ways of getting around obstacles when boating, which the elements will help you choose which technique to use! If not going to start listing them here, because the RYA has already written a book on that for you…. Needless to say there are a lot and all a set to circumstance.

Day one completed all went well. Looking forward to the next day!

DAY 2

The second day started much like the last day finished, but in reverse.

The reverse close down checks were applied, to make sure that I had actually learnt what I practised the day before. Check.

Then back out on the water for further practise. The second day was a lot more windy than the previous day. Which meant that It was “working for you 50% of the time and against you 50% of the time” (thanks for that one Gavin 😉 ) So there was a lot more concentration going on!

Once we’d run through al the core skills again it was time for lunch! Time flew by!

On returning from lunch it was time for a bit more theory before we did the final run through ‘simulated test’. This time it was learning about the lighting and buoy signals and types to steer you away from danger as well as keep you the right side of things that can hurt you or you can hurt! There wasn’t much around the areas we were boating in but in somewhere like Southampton the guides are everywhere! A spot of map work and we were back out there. J

Now then… time for ‘the test’:

1. Mooring to a buoy
2. Coming along side
3. Moving in a confined space
4. Man over board
5. Mooring in the Marina
6. a quick Q&A

And done! Certificate passed!

Gavin the instructor was a knowledgeable and easygoing instructor who made learning the necessary skills very enjoyable, the kind of instructor that is ideal for helping you place your first steps into boating for pleasure.

Now to look forward to sunbathing and swimming off the boat in the summer!