TheBoatman
New member
As a PB instructor and licensed boatman I find myself at odds with the new RYA PB syllabus. It seems to me that it is totally rib orientated! As an instructor I am now being told that if I “tell” a candidate about displacement boat handling characteristics without them actually handling a boat “it is fine”. It tells me that I should explain the use of the kill cord on such boats when I have rarely seen such a thing? I have to teach (tell) them about prop walk, carrying way and handling abilities but they don’t have to actually experience or use such a boat. It is my understanding that if I “teach” them in a rib and “tell” them about displacement boats I can pass them.
Now call me old fashioned but I truly believe that I could talk to candidates until I’m blue in the face about displacement boat handling and they would still get a huge shock when actually asked to do it. In my opinion a rib is one of the easiest boats to handle, it goes fast, bleeds speed off at the close of a throttle, backs up wherever you point the engine, has nice soft sides that cause no damage if you hit another boat normally weighs less than a ton and is very manoeuvrable. So how come I can give a ticket to a candidate that could be asked to drive a 9 mtr displacement boat weighing god knows what and expect him/her to understand what to expect.
I have spoken to a number of fellow instructors about this and they all have the same reservations as me, we all are rather jittery about this new syllabus, under the RYA we are being asked to pass people off as competent PB drivers when we know that they have had no real practical experience of all types of PB.
I’m sorry but I only see it a recipe for disaster and have to question the RYA’s reasoning for this change in PB training! Surely the ticket should reflect the candidate’s experience of various types of hull design/engine configuration and the types of water that they did their training on, not a “lets talk about it in the classroom” and you’ll be OK, just go ahead and plough on scenario.
Peter.
Somewhat disillusioned RYA PB instructor.
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Now call me old fashioned but I truly believe that I could talk to candidates until I’m blue in the face about displacement boat handling and they would still get a huge shock when actually asked to do it. In my opinion a rib is one of the easiest boats to handle, it goes fast, bleeds speed off at the close of a throttle, backs up wherever you point the engine, has nice soft sides that cause no damage if you hit another boat normally weighs less than a ton and is very manoeuvrable. So how come I can give a ticket to a candidate that could be asked to drive a 9 mtr displacement boat weighing god knows what and expect him/her to understand what to expect.
I have spoken to a number of fellow instructors about this and they all have the same reservations as me, we all are rather jittery about this new syllabus, under the RYA we are being asked to pass people off as competent PB drivers when we know that they have had no real practical experience of all types of PB.
I’m sorry but I only see it a recipe for disaster and have to question the RYA’s reasoning for this change in PB training! Surely the ticket should reflect the candidate’s experience of various types of hull design/engine configuration and the types of water that they did their training on, not a “lets talk about it in the classroom” and you’ll be OK, just go ahead and plough on scenario.
Peter.
Somewhat disillusioned RYA PB instructor.
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