bulktraffic
New Member
Hi folks,
My better half and I are currently in the market for a boat and I've been devouring a lot of the information here so thought it was about time I said hi. We'll be getting a motor boat in the range of 20 - 30', relatively old/cheap (budget up to £20k) and are planning to keep it on the Thames for a year or so while we become familiar with the boating world/life before relocating somewhere on the coast in the future and travelling further afield.
I've been looking at various books / courses etc and wanted to get a feel for what you would recommend to two relative beginners. We're both bargees once a year but have never owned a boat or taken one to sea. I was wondering about combining some training with a holiday in the Med - e.g. there's a company that offers a week's supervised sailing/training, finishing with the Competent Crew certification for what seems like a reasonable price.
Does that sound like a sensible plan for getting us comfortable with the basics? Would we be disadvantaged by taking the certification in the Med (I think it's in the easy Ionian sea) rather than somewhere more tidal like the coasts of the UK? As the Competent Crew training seems to focus on the fundamentals (maneuvering, knots, safety etc) is it fair to say we won't be wasting our time taking it on a sailing yacht whilst owning a motor boat?
I do have a sneaky ambition of learning to sail, so having a 'hands on' sailing holiday while also learning the basics to handle our motor boat would be ideal. Once we've had our year of acclimatisation on the River, we'd then look to do further qualifications before heading to sea.
Cheers!
Colin
My better half and I are currently in the market for a boat and I've been devouring a lot of the information here so thought it was about time I said hi. We'll be getting a motor boat in the range of 20 - 30', relatively old/cheap (budget up to £20k) and are planning to keep it on the Thames for a year or so while we become familiar with the boating world/life before relocating somewhere on the coast in the future and travelling further afield.
I've been looking at various books / courses etc and wanted to get a feel for what you would recommend to two relative beginners. We're both bargees once a year but have never owned a boat or taken one to sea. I was wondering about combining some training with a holiday in the Med - e.g. there's a company that offers a week's supervised sailing/training, finishing with the Competent Crew certification for what seems like a reasonable price.
Does that sound like a sensible plan for getting us comfortable with the basics? Would we be disadvantaged by taking the certification in the Med (I think it's in the easy Ionian sea) rather than somewhere more tidal like the coasts of the UK? As the Competent Crew training seems to focus on the fundamentals (maneuvering, knots, safety etc) is it fair to say we won't be wasting our time taking it on a sailing yacht whilst owning a motor boat?
I do have a sneaky ambition of learning to sail, so having a 'hands on' sailing holiday while also learning the basics to handle our motor boat would be ideal. Once we've had our year of acclimatisation on the River, we'd then look to do further qualifications before heading to sea.
Cheers!
Colin