After nearly 40 years of playing around on boats I finally took some time for myself to do an official RYA course and passed my level 2 powerboat, was it worth it?
Following on from the utter shit show in the marina from last year and being told to “get better” I decided to use one of the last few weeks of freedom before I start an office job again to get my Level 2 RYA powerboat. Partly idle curiosity, partly a chance to spend a couple of days at sea and partly to see if there is anything in terms of handling I’m missing. The short version, I’m not, last year I was simply put in an impossible position. There is nothing wrong with my boat handling, both with outboards and shaft driven boats. This year thanks to having a local smaller yacht along side I’m not in that impossible position which I appreciate a lot, even having a large (if not quite as large) powerboat behind it’s not the same issue so cheers to the boys from Peel harbour for giving me a chance.
Anyway, my experience of IOM boat training, was it worth it. Absolutely, there were a few rope and knot things that I’ve done out of habit which aren’t great, it was nice to get confirmation on how I manoeuvre the boat, some of the navigation stuff was really nice to have a reminder of and there were plenty of markers that you just don’t see day to day around the Isle of Man. On top of that it was an affordable way of spending a couple of days at sea whilst at the same time getting an official qualification that can even be turned into an “international drivers license” meaning that when fishing abroad you can rent and take out a proper boat, up to 10 meters! If you’re interested and no matter what your current experience or skill level (I was on with 2 total newbies) then I’d really recommend giving Chris at Chill Marine a shout for all your IOM boat training, RYA course needs.
Get better? I have, it wouldn’t have helped. That being said the next step at some point in the future is to do the advanced course, now I started my OCD want let me leave something unfinished.