Training recommendations- Solent/South Coast

[SimonX]

Looking to refresh my PB2, wife to do hers and both go on to Day Skipper but want it to be done in a boat over 11m , twin screw rather than a RIB which is what I did mine in originally.
Solent area ideally but south coast OK.
Had one recommendation from a friend but it’s in Hull which is a bit of a hike and may need a translator

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Try Mendez Marine based at Deacons in the Hamble. I did my Coastal Skipper there. Their boat is a Princess 385 flybridge.

Contact Kai Hall.

 

[wonkywinch]

Seconded Mendez, very professional, I see "Fenland Dancer" and their ribs out all the time. Did my PB2 with them a few years back.

FENLAND DANCER, Pleasure craft - Details and current position - MMSI 235110668 - VesselFinder

 

[Alicatt]

Had one recommendation from a friend but it’s in Hull which is a bit of a hike and may need a translator

Come on up to Largs, they have a Merry Fisher 725, The PB2 only gives you up to 10m on the certificate, for the Day Skipper I went to Rhu Marina with training provided by You and Sea on a Targa 35 which is over 11m and with twin VP D6 440 she was capable of 40knots, though only ever got her up to 25knots in the conditions we had

TIMELESS Current position (Pleasure craft, MMSI 232035965) - VesselFinder

 

[ylop]

Looking to refresh my PB2, wife to do hers and both go on to Day Skipper but want it to be done in a boat over 11m , twin screw rather than a RIB which is what I did mine in originally.
Solent area ideally but south coast OK.
Had one recommendation from a friend but it’s in Hull which is a bit of a hike and may need a translator

The vast majority of people use RIBs for PB2 as you have probably realised. If you think that’s less relevant to your planned use case why do PB2 at all? Especially as you have done it historically. Would this be more relevant?

RYA Helmsman Practical Course

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Do Coastal Skipper practical. Great course if you’ve got the basics already.

 

[SimonX]

Come on up to Largs, they have a Merry Fisher 725, The PB2 only gives you up to 10m on the certificate, for the Day Skipper I went to Rhu Marina with training provided by You and Sea on a Targa 35 which is over 11m and with twin VP D6 440 she was capable of 40knots, though only ever got her up to 25knots in the conditions we had

TIMELESS Current position (Pleasure craft, MMSI 232035965) - VesselFinder

Now that is a bit of a hike although we do go and see stepson in Glasgow fairly frequently. Last time I was in actual Ayrshire was in the '90s at a wedding in a place called Seamill and it was around the time there were a bunch of incendiaries washed up from Beaufort's Dyke

 

[SimonX]

The vast majority of people use RIBs for PB2 as you have probably realised. If you think that’s less relevant to your planned use case why do PB2 at all? Especially as you have done it historically. Would this be more relevant?

RYA Helmsman Practical Course

Yes, I think it would, particularly for her ladyship who occasionally drove the Bayliner but never had any training

 

[ylop]

Now that is a bit of a hike although we do go and see stepson in Glasgow fairly frequently. Last time I was in actual Ayrshire was in the '90s at a wedding in a place called Seamill and it was around the time there were a bunch of incendiaries washed up from Beaufort's Dyke

If you end up in Ayrshire when heading for Rhu you've made a wrong turn somewhere!

 

[SimonX]

If you end up in Ayrshire when heading for Rhu you've made a wrong turn somewhere!

I ws referring to Largs

 

[Alicatt]

You could pop into the Maritime museum at Irvine on the way past.
Close to my house in Scotland is the Denny Tank Museum, it is based round the old wave tank they used to test their models of ships they were going to build.

 

[SimonX]

You could pop into the Maritime museum at Irvine on the way past.
Close to my house in Scotland is the Denny Tank Museum, it is based round the old wave tank they used to test their models of ships they were going to build.

Lots of odd little museums around. I remember calling into one near Gretna called the Devil's Porridge Museum, all about the huge factory there used to make cordite. Tiny place but very interesting, also had a section about the Chapelcoss Nuclear plant

 

[ylop]

I ws referring to Largs

Ah ooops, I should learn to read propely - saw Alicatt talking about You&Sea and didn't realise they had a boat in largs too.

 

[SimonX]

Ah ooops, I should learn to read propely - saw Alicatt talking about You&Sea and didn't realise they had a boat in largs too.

No, you are right, You&Sea are at Rhu, I’m guessing Alicatt is at Largs. Or something. It’s all a blur

 

[Elessar]

Go training where you can experience:

A decent tidal range - including ports of entry constrained by tidal height, bridges constrained by tidal height, and poorly marked shallows in the middle of the sea that will bite at certain states of the tide.
Very strong tidal flows.
Exaggerated effect of wind over tide.
Commercial shipping, fishing, naval and merchant. In areas constrained by draft. Frequent RAM craft, dredging or with odd loads. Hazardous cargo.
Large fleets of WAFIs, intently focused on going round in circles. Leisure craft of all sizes crewed by people of all abilities.
VTS controlled ports.
Local navigation rules.
Ferries, fast ferries and hovercraft.
Locks.
Just about every nav mark you can think of, preferred channel, safe water, isolated danger, withies.
Transits for port entry or to avoid shallows.
Sectored lights, including complex approaches with direction changes.
Varied ports, primary and secondary, some tricky.
A huge variety of training providers.
Always a short passage to a pub for debrief.

There we have it - the best place to do a training course is the Solent. If there is anywhere else with all of the above I've never found it. And yes the weather can be crap but far less frequently than in scotland, and even if its an 8 there are sheltered areas to some training.

 

[ylop]

Go training where you can experience:

Probably depends what the objective of the training is! The OP and his wife are planning ot buy a boat to sail it in the Netherlands. That makes some of the things you mention particularly relevant but others less so. I've encountered most of those things in Scotland (with submarines thrown in for good measure!), although probably not all in a single area the size that's used for a weekend of training. But I guess his objective is to build confidence in his wife rather than put her off!

 

[SimonX]

But I guess his objective is to build confidence in his wife rather than put her off!

Exactly. The Solent is our ‘home’ area but, in the times she drove the Bayliner, she always handed back to me before we went into Southampton water, sometimes sooner if it was busy or windy. She was much more comfortable driving the hire boats on rivers and canals.

 

[Alicatt]

Ah ooops, I should learn to read propely - saw Alicatt talking aylopbout You&Sea and didn't realise they had a boat in largs too.

Scotsail is the operator at Largs, we did the PB2 with them, I think there is another training outfit at Largs as well but not You & Sea who which is run by Edinburgh Marine Academy

ylop:
Probably depends what the objective of the training is! The OP and his wife are planning ot buy a boat to sail it in the Netherlands. That makes some of the things you mention particularly relevant but others less so. I've encountered most of those things in Scotland (with submarines thrown in for good measure!), although probably not all in a single area the size that's used for a weekend of training. But I guess his objective is to build confidence in his wife rather than put her off!

It was the reason we went to Largs, to give my wife confidence and an independent person to instruct her, also they have a boat that was more closely related to our Casper, about the same size and not a RIB.

We were out in a force 6 decreasing to 5 with a nice swell and my wife handled it perfectly, the smile on her face belies her abhorrence of speed
For the Day Skipper I went with You & Sea as it had a boat similar to our Broom, however they got taken over by EMA and they took the Targa 35 over to replace the Nelson that You & Sea had. As luck would have it there was only 2 of us on the Day Skipper course, the other candidate called it off as there was a storm brewing up, we managed to complete the course just before the storm hit, only our long distance circumnavigation of the Isle of Bute was cut short due to the rough state of the sea, the bearings and sights were difficult in the poor visibility, we could hardly see land never mind take bearings off the church spire, lots of practice with the radar though!
My wife was not interested in doing the day skipper, she said it is too complicated to get her head around the navigation aspects, I will gently feed her the info as we go, she is not a tech minded person at all though.

 

[Elessar]

Probably depends what the objective of the training is! The OP and his wife are planning ot buy a boat to sail it in the Netherlands. That makes some of the things you mention particularly relevant but others less so. I've encountered most of those things in Scotland (with submarines thrown in for good measure!), although probably not all in a single area the size that's used for a weekend of training. But I guess his objective is to build confidence in his wife rather than put her off!

Silly me. I presumed the purpose of training was to gain as many new skills as possible.

If anyone was put off by a training course in the Solent then they chose the wrong instructor, not the wrong location.

 

[paradave]

You presumed that despite the OP confirming he also wanted to build
Confidence for his wife?