Advice Required.

[Andy20]

Hi All,

I am new to this forum, so please excuse me if I have posted in the wrong place.
I am looking for advice in what qualifications are required to drive a rib/powerboat commercially?
I currently have a fair few hours under my belt and have a good knowledge of the Solent. My Farther is a Southampton Pilot and I have been around boats since I can remember. I am a marine engineer by trade and have raced in the Honda Formula 4 Stroke Series (Now P1 Superstock) for the last 4 years. I currently have a Fairline which is kept on the Hamble, i was hoping to do a couple of charters every year to help pay for the boat. I currently hold a VHF with DSC radio licence and a Powerboat Level 2 and i understand that you can have this commercially endorsed, but is this really enough?
I was hoping to maybe work for another charter company to see how things worked before i started on my own, but will a PB level to be enough? I now run my own telecoms company so can have spare time to spend working for others.
Any help would be a much appreciated.
Andy

[Tim M]

Minimum of powerboat level 2, VHF, ML5 medical, sea survival. Then you can commercially endorse the level 2. Most charter operators will want a commercially endorsed advanced powerboat skipper which is all of the above plus advanced powerboat (maybe intermediate depending on what level your at) followed by the advanced exam.

If you just want to charter your boat out a handful of times a year, look at getting a local area licence for it rather than going down the MCA coding avenue. The inspection and licence costs less than £100 a year, plus you most probably have all the required kit on board already.

[colblinky]

Hi Andy,

You can just send off your level2 to be be commercially endorsed however having done this myself I dont really think its that worthwhile having struggled to gain work in any other role other than crew member. With most companies I have approached the pre-requisite for skippering their craft would be having a commercially endorsed advanced powerboat.

This has to sat as an exam with an independant advanced powerboat examiner bookable online through the RYA. You will need several other piece's of documentation including medical ML5, survival ticket, VHF licence, First aid ticket see attachment as it contain's everything youll need to know about the exam. I have only been looking for work with commercial operator's offering safety boat services. Hope this helps

Col Blinky

[Andy20]

Thank you for getting back to me.

Is it possible to go striaght to the advanced? without doing all the courses inbetween?

Andy

[colblinky]

Im pretty sure you can do a direct assessment i may be wrong however but pretty sure you need the logged miles or at the least 2 night passage's you would be better to talk to seaskill's I know they are scottish based but they would be able to tell you the exact requirement's with previous experience
Col Blinky

P.S if you hold the advanced certificate this halves the logged miles plus will give you an idea of how the exam works plus a night passex on top and you can definately undertake an advanced course without having intermidiate or can demonstrate the appropriate level

[Doug Stormforce]

Originally Posted by Andy20

Thank you for getting back to me.

Is it possible to go striaght to the advanced? without doing all the courses inbetween?

Andy

Baically Yes.

To clarify there are 2 advanced qualifictaions, the 2 day RYA Advanced course and the Advanced Certificate of Competence. It is the second higher certificate that you need.

This cert. can then be commercialy endorsed.

You will need 3 one day courses

• Sea Surviva
• SRC Radio
• First Aid

and a medical from your doctor

Having said you can go straight for the advanced exam, most experienced drivers still need a little bit of coaching, feel free to call and discuss, we are based in Southampton

[peterb]

Andy - I fear that you may be missing the most difficult part of the mission in worrying about getting an Advanced PB2 Certificate of Competence.

I would guess that the biggest headache (and biggest expense) will be getting your Fairline MCA coded?? And the expense of that could well prevent you from helping to pay for the boat.

[Andy20]

Hi All

thanks for getting back to me so quick! I had a chat with David from Mendez Marine last night and i think i am going to do The Coastal Yachtmasters. I seems to me that this would be a decent level for Charter work etc. The only thing i need to do now is to get them to come down in price!

Peterb,
i have looked into having the boat coded and it doesnt seem that bad. We already have alot of the stuff required. Have you had trouble in the past?

Thanks again,

Andy

[Doug Stormforce]

Andy

If you are just after a ticket the Advanced Powerboat Cert. of Competence and Yachtmaster Coastal will both give you exactly the same rights, i.e. you can drive a vessel up to 24m, day or night, up to 12 passengers and up to 20 NM from a safe haven.

The advanced Cert is however easier and cheaper to attain to for most people.

The advantage of the Yachtmaster Coastal is the course is often taught in a larger boat and you may decide this is more relevant to what you want to do. We use a 40-46 foot twin shaft motor boat for the yachtmaster as opposed to a 7-8m RIB for the Advanced, as you can imagine the cost goes up proportionally. Other school run things in a similar way.

Although both qualifications give you the same rights by law and when working on coded vessels the Yachtmaster Coastal candidate does get a tougher exam, particularly on IRPCS etc.

[Jonny2488]

Originally Posted by peterb

Andy - I fear that you may be missing the most difficult part of the mission in worrying about getting an Advanced PB2 Certificate of Competence.

I would guess that the biggest headache (and biggest expense) will be getting your Fairline MCA coded?? And the expense of that could well prevent you from helping to pay for the boat.

I take it you mean Advanced Powerboat Certificate of Competence OR Powerboat Level 2, as "Advanced PB2 Certificate of Competence" doesn't exist??