Training

[martink]

An enthusiastic powerboat owner myself, I have a colleague who is looking to potter in a boat gently along the non-tidal parts of Thames, stopping occasionally for picnics. Yet to buy a boat, he tends more towards a traditional wooden launch than a GRP cruiser.
Could anyone recommend a course that might teach both the skills required to master locks and the like as well as the etiquette of river travel.
Many thanks,
Martin

 

[Dave70]

hello,i believe bisham sailing and boating school at Marlow are very good. dave

 

[Gavi]

hello,i believe bisham sailing and boating school at Marlow are very good. dave

Yes, excellent. And I think The Green Parrot is wooden too...

 

[boatone]

Yes, excellent. And I think The Green Parrot is wooden too...

My vote also for Bisham Abbey and the Inland Waterways Helmsmans Course would be ideal:

http://www.bishamabbeysailing.co.uk/inland.html

The Green Parrot is actually a 22' Mitchell - fibreglass. But it has the most amazing location for the cooling water impeller - a real test if it needs changing which we were asked to do! (It was an Instructors course though.)

Good course, will do pretty much everything in the day that you will do regularly on the river.

 

[CX54WEK]

Is it not worth you taking him out and showing him the "rules of the road" as it were. It can often be more helpful to have someone you know showing you the ropes at your own pace rather than being rushed through a course with a complete stranger.

 

[martink]

Many thanks for your very helfpul suggestions. I will let you know how my colleague gets on.
Martin

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

Interesting point. My father in law wants to take mother in law, who is wheelchair bound, for a week's boating. The David Bruce Trust boats tick all his boxes but require you to show a Helmsman's ticket or convince them you are competent. Should be OK, hired nbs for many years before being married with kids and being tied to school holidays. Given that the ticket gives an ICC and SWMBO and I have same, I wonder if that can be reverse engineered to the helmsmans chit.

 

[Skysail]

If they want evidence of competence I would have thought an ICC would be just as good as an IWHC?

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

If they want evidence of competence I would have thought an ICC would be just as good as an IWHC?

So would I, but they regarded "wheel steerers" with some disdain over the phone. I guess 60' x 10'6" on a tiller is different to 32' x 10'9" with tiwn engines etc