The Boat Handling course is open to anyone aged over 14 and it’s a great way to get non-divers involved in the club, especially if they have family members who dive. No diving qualification is necessary to take part.
It’s a practical boat-based course that gives each student plenty of time at the helm of a small dive boat to practise their skills, including how to drop and recover divers safely. Some boat insurers require any person driving a boat to have an approved boat-handling qualification.
You will be out and about in boats on both days of this two-day course, which includes a mix of four theory, two dry practical and three open-water practical sessions aboard a RIB. You will learn about the responsibilities of owning, towing and driving a boat, and how to launch and recover it.
Practical skills include high-speed driving, slow-speed manoeuvring, anchoring and coming alongside. You will develop your overall seamanship skills, including voyage planning, essential rules of the road and learn the actions to take in an emergency.
