Mastering Motor Cruising with Levels of RYA Powerboat Course Blending Adventure

For the occasion vacationer or for someone in love with waterboats or yachts, motor cruising can be fun. Taking the boat out into the sea sounds like a heavenly experience. It actually is so, unless people learn how to handle the boats. The experience of learning in itself is a much fun affair and after that the cruises with families and friends can be the plots for a great weekend. For people living along the coasts, it is better to learn the basics of powerboating because it helps them occasionally to go out with friends and families or one can make it a profession as a tourist guide for fun cruises.

Motor boats are small vessels like yachts or RIBs, which do not have the accommodation facilities and only the decks. So, the driving of the powerboats is possible only on the shores, while taking the vessels deeper into the sea will require extensive skipper courses. In the motor cruising courses, the lessons are quite simple and even kids above a certain age are allowed to move the vessels. Therefore adults can also learn these tricks, provided they go through the drills of learning the cruising and remain confident of handling a boat. While the RYA powerboat course will allow the basics to settle in, people can also need confidence to check out variety of waters. For such people, the Royal Yacht Association has made the work easier by dividing the course into different levels, across a few days, so that one can cross a hurdle and then take up the next course in the next visit. With a total experience of around 10 days, they are ready to take their small yachts into the sea and enjoy their vacations with friends and families in the cool waters and the sun.

• Starting from basics

To get started with the certification of RYA powerboat course, one has to be proficient in level 1 training, which is provided over 2 days, learning about basic theory of a boat, its movements, safety during boating, use of lifejackets and handling of the boat. While the level one training gives confidence to start taking the boat out, the level 2 will instil the necessary technical knowledge. In this level, boat handling is done for most parts, recovery of man overboard, collision and high speed manoeuvres and direction changes are taught under the guidance of a learned teacher. All these are trained under the RYA guidelines and are the best persons to learn the techniques from.

• Getting further trained for fully independent driving

With the completion of the level 2 training course in powerboating, people can now jump on to the intermediate level and advanced levels of the RYA powerboat course. These are designed for higher proficiency driving of the boats, with coastal skipper capabilities. In these stages, further navigational skills and use of other skipper techniques are imparted, giving enough proficiency to the sailors to navigate the powerboats along the coast, even allowing for coastal passages by day and night. While the entire course will take about 8 days, further practice with few hours of navigation will make a person good enough to take up yachting or motor cruising on own or even take this up as a profession in tourism circuits.