RYA Advanced Powerboat

Coastal navigation by night.

The RYA Advanced Powerboat course is for leisure and professional boaters waiting to undertake more adventurous trips or operate a commercial vessel or workboats further offshore in the hours of darkness. The commercial limitations are; Category 3, up to 20 miles from a safe haven.

This course can be attended at one of our training centres in either Kinlochleven in the Scottish Highlands or at James Watt Dock Marina in Greenock, just west of Glasgow on the Clyde Estuary.

It includes navigation by day and night, weather and other aspects of skippering a small vessel on more challenging passages in coastal waters. Anybody undertaking this course must have the practical skills of the RYA Intermediate powerboat course and knowledge of navigation to at least the standard of the RYA Yachtmaster shorebased course.

Students taking the RYA Advanced Powerboat course must hold a VHF/SRC radio operators certificate and a valid first aid certificate.

Acceptable certificates include the RYA's First Aid Certificate, First Aid at Work, First Aid at Sea or any other certificate issued on completion of a course which is a minimum of one day's duration, recognised by the Health and Safety Executive which includes the treatment of hypothermia, cold shock and drowning. However for a commercial endorsement there are only 3 first aid courses accepted; RYA First Aid, Sea Fish first aid, or STCW Elementary First Aid.

The course covers topics such as preparation for sea, boat handling, passage making and the responsibility of the skipper, pilotage, meteorology, rules of the road, use of different types of engine, emergency situations and night cruising. The course is demanding, challenging, but also very rewarding when you successfully complete a task, or from understand any errors that have occurred.

As this course requires a meaningful amount of time to navigate a vessel in the hours of darkness, we are limited to running these courses between September and April.

If you wish to use this qualification commercially, then the Advanced Powerboat exam (officially called the Certificate of Competence) is required as well as a commercial endorsement.

Course Fee: £395