Sail to power "conversion" training / familiarisation

Sticky Fingers

Sticky Fingers

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Well, as we've now taken an unconditional deposit on the sale of our yacht, with completion expected next week, I'm now thinking about how we take this forward.

Soon, I'd like to organise some practical training on a planing mobo, covering both crew and helm to update our skills on boat handling, berthing, lines, matching speed to conditions, etc from the power perspective. Appreciate that shafts, outdrives, IPS etc all differ that's going to be a compromise.

I can find some RYA courses but I'm not sure if that's what I need. Example here from Mendez who I know is well regarded, but these seem to assume you have motor boat handling skills already. I'll call them tomorrow I think.
https://www.mendezmarine.co.uk/course/rya-yachtmaster-conversion-sail-power/

I'd like the session to end up with (a) confidence for us both and (b) a recognised qualification / certification (eg ICC Power might be adequate).

So I'm looking for suggestions. Ideas welcome.
 
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When we purchased are current boat we had Martin Payne on the delivery trip and he showed us how to drive the boat, A very usefully few hours, for this particular type of boat, I would also go for own boat tuition as it gets you used to how they "Actually" handle,
 
Scala said:
Well, as we've now taken an unconditional deposit on the sale of our yacht, with completion expected next week, I'm now thinking about how we take this forward.

Soon, I'd like to organise some practical training on a planing mobo, covering both crew and helm to update our skills on boat handling, berthing, lines, matching speed to conditions, etc from the power perspective. Appreciate that shafts, outdrives, IPS etc all differ that's a going to be compromise.

I can find some RYA courses but I'm not sure if that's what I need. Example here from Mendez who I know is well regarded, but these seem to assume you have motor boat handling skills already. I'll call them tomorrow I think.
https://www.mendezmarine.co.uk/course/rya-yachtmaster-conversion-sail-power/

I'd like the session to end up with (a) confidence for us both and (b) a recognised qualification / certification (eg ICC Power might be adequate).

So I'm looking for suggestions. Ideas welcome.
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Do you already have any qualifications?
If it just MOBO. handling there are many you can give you that but for a qualification you need to go to an RYA school.
If not using a school at least get someone qualified to teach as I have found many who think practice makes perfect. It doesn’t, it makes permanent, correct practice makes perfect. You can go for Joe Bloggs down the pub who has done a lot of boat handling or an instructor through a school who has done a lot of teaching.
In addition to Mendez, look up Marine Matters at Warsash, another quality school.
 
Rocksteadee said:
Do you already have any qualifications?
If it just MOBO. handling there are many you can give you that but for a qualification you need to go to an RYA school.
If not using a school at least get someone qualified to teach as I have found many who think practice makes perfect. It doesn’t, it makes permanent, correct practice makes perfect. You can go for Joe Bloggs down the pub who has done a lot of boat handling or an instructor through a school who has done a lot of teaching.
In addition to Mendez, look up Marine Matters at Warsash, another quality school.
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Exactly so, I've been sailing for decades but will be new to mobo, so I want "correct practice" - at least the chance to understand it and adapt.

RYA wise, I have Day Skipper sail practical, Yachtmaster Offshore theory and the VHF SRC. Also have the sail ICC but that's a given really. Mrs Scala has what she describes "Incompetent Crew (Sail)" so we're starting from a basis of some competence in boat handling, decent nav and passage planning, Colregs etc (been reading that thread :) )
 
Ian h said:
When we purchased are current boat we had Martin Payne on the delivery trip and he showed us how to drive the boat, A very usefully few hours, for this particular type of boat, I would also go for own boat tuition as it gets you used to how they "Actually" handle,
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Own boat tuition - yes of course, we'll definitely do that, was invaluable on our current one, but no "own mobo" at the moment. HJoping to fill the gap this autumn with some training.

:) If I talk to Martin he'll sell me a Hunton. And there are two on his website for silly cheap money at the monent so it's a serious risk....!
 
Scala said:
Exactly so, I've been sailing for decades but will be new to mobo, so I want "correct practice" - at least the chance to understand it and adapt.

RYA wise, I have Day Skipper sail practical, Yachtmaster Offshore theory and the VHF SRC. Also have the sail ICC but that's a given really. Mrs Scala has what she describes "Incompetent Crew (Sail)" so we're starting from a basis of some competence in boat handling, decent nav and passage planning, Colregs etc (been reading that thread :) )
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Good ho.
Talk to the schools. Not sure of the current RYA requirements
I would aim for a couple of days practical conversion to Power day skipper and just for those 2 days if just you and the missus, aim at getting her more proficient at the boat handling. Any decent instructor can teach at the two different levels.

An alternative could be to find a school which could give you the Coastal skipper power. That is now a 6 day course but you have the pre requisite of yachtmaster theory (used to be call coastal theory)
 
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A school I had used in Chatham quoted me a week to convert yachtmaster offshore power to sail was a week of boat handling. However the other way round was just a couple of days.
 
I'd wait untill you've got the new boat then book Mendez for a day or two to cover whatever you need help with. Perhaps structure it around an ICC syllabus? IMO, anything in the meantime on another boat is a bit of a waste of time and money.
 
I don't normally read the Mobo forum but this popped up on "new posts". The one thing that surprised me when I (fairly experienced in sailing yachts) got brought in as navigator on a fast powerboat chartered by a film crew was that you really had to preplan navigation. I was accustomed to sailing, where you couldn't just go in straight lines, and you were usually doing under 6 knots, and you'd plot new courses as and when you had to tack (or change your mind about where you were going entirely). At 40 knots in tricky waters you totally need to have it all ready to follow on paper.
 
The most difficult thing is parking the thing in a marina berth , as you probably already know.

I imagine, when mooring , the motor boat will be affected more by the wind than your yacht , but the motorboat may be more easily corrected if it goes slightly wrong.
 
jwilson said:
I don't normally read the Mobo forum but this popped up on "new posts". The one thing that surprised me when I (fairly experienced in sailing yachts) got brought in as navigator on a fast powerboat chartered by a film crew was that you really had to preplan navigation. I was accustomed to sailing, where you couldn't just go in straight lines, and you were usually doing under 6 knots, and you'd plot new courses as and when you had to tack (or change your mind about where you were going entirely). At 40 knots in tricky waters you totally need to have it all ready to follow on paper.
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Yes that's a thing. We have modest ambitions so for most trips our navigation as such is pretty much a known quantity. Going somnewhere new I;d always pre-plan anyway (yacht or not)... and I don't think I'd want to do 40 kts in tricky waters without some the benefit of some proper experience.
 
MartynG said:
The most difficult thing is parking the thing in a marina berth , as you probably already know.

I imagine, when mooring , the motor boat will be affected more by the wind than your yacht , but the motorboat may be more easily corrected if it goes slightly wrong.
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Parking is a key reason why I want to do the 'best practice' training. Not that I would expect to get it right first time. My parking is alright but I can still get caught out and have to correct things. Moving sideways on purpose is very difficult (or impossible). The experience I have so far in power is that adjusting positiion and heading using combo of P/S throttles, steering angle (esp on stern drive) and bow thruster, can be learned.
 
Personally, I’d wait til you’ve bought your mobo then contact either Mendez or Marine Matters and ask them to tailor the day (or so) around your specific needs. They should do that no problem.
L
:)
 
Scala said:
Parking is a key reason why I want to do the 'best practice' training. Not that I would expect to get it right first time. My parking is alright but I can still get caught out and have to correct things. Moving sideways on purpose is very difficult (or impossible). The experience I have so far in power is that adjusting positiion and heading using combo of P/S throttles, steering angle (esp on stern drive) and bow thruster, can be learned.
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Parking training and practice is only any good if the training boat has the same method of propulsion. Learning to park a sterndrive boat on an instructors shaft drive boat would be counter productive thin IMO.
 
petem said:
Parking training and practice is only any good if the training boat has the same method of propulsion. Learning to park a sterndrive boat on an instructors shaft drive boat would be counter productive thin IMO.
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A sound argument.
However I have heard a contrary argument whereby changing types of drive eg shaft compared to sterndrive, that an intuitive skill of handling to the boat responses is learnt, compared with learning just a particular series of movements
Personally I would intitially learn on the type of boat you are intending to buy, from yacht to power there is enough going on already which you are required to learn
 
petem said:
Parking training and practice is only any good if the training boat has the same method of propulsion. Learning to park a sterndrive boat on an instructors shaft drive boat would be counter productive thin IMO.
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Rocksteadee said:
... Personally I would intitially learn on the type of boat you are intending to buy, from yacht to power there is enough going on already which you are required to learn
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Is a good point. And until a deal is done I won't know... !
 
Scala, when we jumped ship from sail to power, my intent was to do the sail to power conversion and then some own boat training. My start point was exactly the same as yours for rya qualifications and our wives also have the same quals!

The reality was that we found a boat very quickly and before I could do any training we were proud owners. Our first day was a 40nm delivery from Frejus to Beaulieu-sur-Mer with lunch in The Lerins. We took things slowly and the first thing I found was the steering is nowhere near as responsive.

The basics are all the same and the nav at speed is not a factor. Just plan before hand.

Two years on I still want to get my rya quals swapped over, but things get in the road and we still, just take things slowly in ports. Use power at the minimum levels and you will find that it is not too scary. We haven’t had any issue, some berthing manoeuvres are more interesting than others, but no damage has been done.

This is all in the context of Med berthing and Med boating. I’m not a Solent warrior. I like my water blue and warm.

Go with what your head and heart feel and makes you and your wife happy. Today I had to get my wife to manoeuvre the boat into a very tight berth so I could do the fendering as some more effort was needed to squeeze our way in to a visitors berth in Nice. We took it in our stride as we use simple language, don’t get excited and never ever yell. This was the first time she had berthed the boat and she did an excellent job.
 
I would imagine an afternoon with an instructor getting used to 2 engines and parking will be more than sufficient.

also do get the dealer / vendor to do a full walk through of the boat. I suspect that a Mobo has more kit on it than a sailing boat and it is really useful to know where it all is when it stops working !
 
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