Training recommendations- Solent/South Coast

You don’t say where you are based boatwise but I would have thought asking at yacht club if you belong might produce suggestions. We are at Haslar which has Haslar yacht club who would be a source of info I’m sure as many wise heads there and there are a number of instructors advertising but ideally you want to find someone who has similar boat to yours and done course on board at your club.
 
As the OP is planning on cruising in The Netherlands:
In The Netherlands and Belgium they differentiate between Inland waterway and Open Sea/Tidal for their courses, the basic course is for inland waterways and features boat handling in locks, which if you are going to cruise on the inland waterways is a very useful skill to have.

Most of the sluizen in The Netherlands are remote operated. One of the things I did not know, even though I had done the RYA CEVINI course, was that you can ask the lock keeper to fill or empty the lock at a different speed, though you have to do that before he starts as once it is started it won't stop until the pressures are equalised.
This is something that is not in the syllabus of the RYA courses.
Still, doing the PB2 to give his wife confidence is a great idea, I know it really helped my wife, and she regularly takes the helm on our boat now, though she does need a bit more practice in boat handling with the twin engines.

Come April 2026 procedures in Belgium are going to change for a lot of the waterways, with a requirement that you either use AIS/VHF radio to access the locks or you use an App on a smart phone to do the same, some canals will still be under the old rules. The Waterways want you to use VHF as the primary method of contacting the lock keeper but we know of some that never answer the VHF so you have to call them on their GSM which the waterway frowns on.
 
ashtead said:
You don’t say where you are based boatwise but I would have thought asking at yacht club if you belong might produce suggestions. We are at Haslar which has Haslar yacht club who would be a source of info I’m sure as many wise heads there and there are a number of instructors advertising but ideally you want to find someone who has similar boat to yours and done course on board at your club.
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I don’t have a boat in U.K. at the moment ( I was based at Hythe but sold and am buying in Netherlands )
 
Elessar said:
Silly me. I presumed the purpose of training was to gain as many new skills as possible.
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Not necessarily! It could be to gain 100 new skills, or it could be to gain 10 new skills really well. I'd suggest that as a foundation for further learning and confidence in your own boat the latter is probably a good place to go.
Elessar said:
If anyone was put off by a training course in the Solent then they chose the wrong instructor, not the wrong location.
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Exactly, the syllabus will be the same wherever the course is sat. Its unlikely that someone doing a PB2 course actually even experiences most of the stuff you referred to even in the Solent.

If I was wanting to train someone who was going to be using a boat in the Isjelmeer, Markermeer etc I'd ideally be looking for someone that could teach box moorings with cross winds - not sure if there is anywhere in the UK that is good for that?
 
ylop said:
Not necessarily! It could be to gain 100 new skills, or it could be to gain 10 new skills really well. I'd suggest that as a foundation for further learning and confidence in your own boat the latter is probably a good place to go.

Exactly, the syllabus will be the same wherever the course is sat. Its unlikely that someone doing a PB2 course actually even experiences most of the stuff you referred to even in the Solent.

If I was wanting to train someone who was going to be using a boat in the Isjelmeer, Markermeer etc I'd ideally be looking for someone that could teach box moorings with cross winds - not sure if there is anywhere in the UK that is good for that?
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The only place I can remember that in the UK is Bourne End marina. Which is a long way from the solent and that one skill aside is not a gret place to do training.
 
SimonX said:
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 ;)
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Aye up, thou'need naought tranlaaation up North laddie.
 
Elessar said:
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.
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The Solent, that's what I'm thinking for when I do my DS Practical, precisely for all the reasons you cite. Plus I'd like to do it at a time of year when the weather might be a challenge. I understand there are loads of training centres in the area; any that stand out or you would be willing to reccommend?
 
HarbourDog said:
The Solent, that's what I'm thinking for when I do my DS Practical, precisely for all the reasons you cite. Plus I'd like to do it at a time of year when the weather might be a challenge. I understand there are loads of training centres in the area; any that stand out or you would be willing to reccommend?
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Sail or power? Plenty of options.
 
HarbourDog said:
The Solent, that's what I'm thinking for when I do my DS Practical, precisely for all the reasons you cite. Plus I'd like to do it at a time of year when the weather might be a challenge. I understand there are loads of training centres in the area; any that stand out or you would be willing to reccommend?
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Mendez marine have a good reputation. I used to teach for a company that’s no longer there so can’t recommend them.
HarbourDog said:
Thanks, but no, looking for sail.
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first class sailing in shamrock quay then.
 
HarbourDog said:
The Solent, that's what I'm thinking for when I do my DS Practical, precisely for all the reasons you cite. Plus I'd like to do it at a time of year when the weather might be a challenge. I understand there are loads of training centres in the area; any that stand out or you would be willing to reccommend?
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Did my (sail) Comp Crew and later Day Skipper in (two different) Decembers with First Class Sailing and had a great time and some entertainingly tricky conditions, Watch out though, because (a) courses are likely to get postponed if the weather is too bad (b) they don't always get enough takers to run the course. So you need to be able to be a bit flexible on time.
 
justanothersailboat said:
Did my (sail) Comp Crew and later Day Skipper in (two different) Decembers with First Class Sailing and had a great time and some entertainingly tricky conditions, Watch out though, because (a) courses are likely to get postponed if the weather is too bad (b) they don't always get enough takers to run the course. So you need to be able to be a bit flexible on time.
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Thanks. I don't have the option of flexibilty unfortunately, as I'd be travelling from Canada for it. I'll have to choose a school that is one of the busiest I guess.
 
HarbourDog said:
Thanks. I don't have the option of flexibilty unfortunately, as I'd be travelling from Canada for it. I'll have to choose a school that is one of the busiest I guess.
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They are one of the busiest, it's just that sail training in November/December isn't that popular here. I did the courses that run over two separate weekends which seem to be less popular and more prone to having one of the weekends postponed. Unfortunately there's no way to avoid the risk that a winter storm rolls in and writes off some sailing days. I think with a week your risk of problems are less. And maybe a bit earlier in the year than I went for.
 
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