This course builds on your existing powerboating experience to give you confidence to use a ship’s tender, for example for superyacht crew that need to transfer clients ship to shore. You will learn how to give an appropriate safety briefing for the conditions and practise berthing manoeuvres to make your boat handling smooth and professional. This course is also a useful stepping stone to the RYA Advanced Powerboat course.
What you will learn
Frequent questions
Course details
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Our fully equipped classroom and on the water training helps ensure you get an RYA approved training qualification.
This course responds to the increased demand from the superyacht industry for qualified tender pilots, and has been designed in collaboration between the RYA and the Professional Yachting Association (PYA). This course is specifically designed to follow the RYA Powerboat Level 2 course, teaching students all of the skills required to transfer crew and guests to and from large yachts or motor cruisers, as well as for those that want to gain more day and night time experience before attending the RYA Advanced Powerboat Course.
The RYA Tender Operator course will teach boat handling, night pilotage, knowledge of life saving equipment, rules of the road, passenger safety and comfort, as well as emergency situations, type of tenders and their drive systems and legislation and guidance. Common emergency situations are discussed with a strong emphasis on how to prevent them, together with training on using electronic navigation such as chart plotters, backed up with chart work and a range of pilotage techniques to ensure you can navigate safely by both day or night.
Our Hayling Island RYA Training Centre has easy access to Chichester Harbour and the Solent for the on the water aspects of the RYA Tender Operator course. Many powerboaters also find that some of the other DD Marine Training theory courses help them to better understand some of the more technical elements of this course.
RYA Tender Operator course £349 per person:
- Maximum per course: 3 people
- Course duration: 2 days
- Minimum age: 17 years old (accompanied by an adult)
- Course location: Unit 9 Sparkes Marina, Wittering Road, Hayling Island, Hampshire PO11 9SR
Experience required:
What the course includes:
- Vessel fuel costs
- Use of waterproofs and lifejacket
- RYA certificate
- Expert tuition
- Free parking
RYA Tender Operator course content:
Develop your existing safety and boat handling to the standard required for transferring passengers in a tender and in more complex berthing situations associated with larger yachts and motor cruisers.
- Comfortable berthing
- Pilotage
- Chart work
- Waves and tides
- Passage planning
- Night passage theory
- Compass rose
- Weather forecasts
- Position fixing
- GPS navigation
- Compass navigation
- Bearing and distance
- Chart symbol study
- Navigation at high speed
- Jetty and pile mooring techniques
- Manoeuvring beside large vessels
- Man over board methods
To view and download the RYA Powerboat course overview click here
Buy the RYA Powerboat handbook at the RYA shop click here