Today I decided to actually sign up for the RYA Basic Navigation and Safety course that they run down at South-Eastern Regional College in Bangor. The course runs on Tuesday nights so there shouldn’t be a conflict with work or school. The only issue is that they need extra numbers to ensure the course runs.
This new course is for anyone new to boating e.g. powerboaters, sea anglers, drivers, boatmasters, experienced dinghy and keelboat sailors, and inshore racers.
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?
Subjects studied will include:
- Charts and publications
- Safety, including engine checks
- Buoyage
- Tidal awareness
- Visual navigation and pilotage
- Rules of the road
- Electronic navigation
- Anchoring
- Weather forecasts
- Passage planning
At £90 for 5 weeks (around 15 hours), it’s not a bad rate and the stuff really is essential in the long run, because you’re not going to want to be unprepared for this sort of thing.
