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RYA Sea Survival Course Instructor Training As part of our continuing Professional Development, we attend training courses to further our own experience. This gives us perspective to present to you on the RYA Sea Survival Course.  it turned into a pretty exciting time! So even though we have a very accomplished Instructor for Sea Survival,

Returning to the Water It’s been lovely to see so many getting afloat and returning to the water for a new season over the last few weeks.  Lots of happy faces and many successful first trips of the season completed.   We have enjoyed meeting so many for bespoke refresher training and great to see that

Preparations for Back to Boating Our Preparations for Back to Boating Presentation last week looked at many different topics to consider before we get back on the water. What boat? Initially we need to think about what boat are we going to use. Do we already have a boat, will we be buying or renting?  

Buoyage and Navigation Marks In this blog we will be looking at ‘Buoyage and Navigation Marks’.  Why are buoys at certain locations and what are they telling us? Dom covered this topic during our ‘lockdown’ Training Talks earlier this week.  We are running our Free Training Talks throughout lockdown – please contact us if you

Buying your first RIB (Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat)?  Considerations when buying a RIB Recently a friend sent me details of a RIB they had seen for sale and asked for my thoughts.  My initial reaction was great, I love encouraging people to get out on the water and buying a RIB is perfect.  When I

Weather Training Talk – Updated 5th Feb 2021 The talks are designed as a springboard into learning for those new to boating or refreshers for others.  Please note that these talks are intended to complement training courses not replace them as there are lots of other topics to also consider before going afloat. If you

Introduction to Charts Thanks to all those who joined us in our Online Chart Chat last week.  We hope it inspired you to get those Charts out to check them out before the new season starts. This was part of our Tuesday Training Night Talks and aimed as an introduction to charts. I have included

Is ‘one to one’ boat training for me? Due to the current global situation, we have reduced the majority of our courses to single household bookings. This provide a fantastic opportunity if your crew is in your ‘bubble’ but what about those who boat alone?  We have the option of one to one boat training

10 Handy Tips: Lots of students each year book online courses with us, perhaps VHF, Navigation or for those that want to work on the water the PPR Professional Practices course. Many complete quickly on their own with little contact but we know that a few need some extra encouragement.  We have compiled a 10

Electronic Navigation Last night our Training Talk was based on Electronic Navigation, both Chartplotters and navigation apps.  It is clear that many of us rely on such technology but how much confidence should we place on it?   Is it reliable and what is the information on the screen telling us? Do we still need paper

VHF Radio Refresher – Marine Radios Introduction & Safety to our VHF Radio Refresher! This week with our Training Talks we have been looking at VHF radios. We can never cover all the materials in a short one hour session (or a short blog!) so these were very much aimed at being refreshers and reminders

  Night Navigation Dom gave another great talk on Tues leading us through night navigation. Great feedback and clearly an appetite for us to continue the series of talks into June.   Why should you come to tonight’s talk (Thurs 28th May)? Check out just some of the feedback from Tues: “This has been a

Boating Clothing Another great Women on the Water chat last week. The topic for the week was boating clothing & kit, what you would recommend and what you are still looking for. It was great to have such a mix of experience on the call. Women who work on the water through to those taking

Names on the Buoys in Poole Harbour During last week’s Training Talk on buoyage we were asked how the buoys in Poole Harbour get their names. Great question and one I said I would research. I didn’t realise quite what a task I had taken on so this blog will updated a buoy at a

Training Talks – Buoyage Each week during lockdown we are hosting Free Training Talks on both a Tues and a Thurs. This week the topic was Buoyage. These sessions are free to join in, sit quietly or actively participate. We hope to record them shortly and upload to our YouTube channel. The full program can

Women on the Water Blog As we adapt we have recently added a new session to our program a ‘Women on the Water’ Chat. The aim is to encourage more women afloat whatever their level of boating. This  blog will hopefully give you a flavour of our chats and hopefully encourage you as ladies along

/         Winter Boating I always get a little down when someone says to me ‘season’s coming to a close’…… it’s like being turfed out of your favourite restaurant at the end of the night because everyone who works there wants to go home….. We should enjoy ourselves based upon our own

Do I need to take RYA Powerboat Level 1 (PB1) before I take Powerboat Level 2 (PB2)? What is the difference between the PB1 and PB2 courses?   The simple answer would be no, you don’t need to take PB1 first but it is a little more complex. Indeed, many people will tell you not

A question we get asked is how do the Day Skipper and the Powerboat Level 2 Course fit together? Which is first? The answer is not quite as simple as it may first seem. The RYA run two certification schemes, the Powerboat Scheme and the Motor Cruising Scheme. (To be fair there are more than

The weather has definitely taken a turn for the cooler this last week. As a result my normal boating gear has had a few additions. New boaters regularly ask me if we boat all year and the answer is a definite yes! The secret is to planning the boating and your waterproof kit well. We’ll

Link to guidance from the RYA. Twice in the last week people have asked me for information on prop guards. I thought perhaps it is time to put a quick post up directing people to the guidance available from the RYA.  The RYA are “the national body for dinghy, yacht and motor cruising, all forms

What we’ve been doing 2019 has seen us teaming up with ‘The Boat Club’ at Parkstone Bay Marina, we’re giving boat club members a regular monthly update on all the various things that make up their boating experiences, from navigation to managing the boat and venturing further afield. For Dorset Marine Training, This relationship allows

It’s easy to make a ‘New Year’s Resolution’. Something you want to do, think you ought to do, even promise to do….. something that will be good and hopefully change you (in a good way)…..   We have a ‘new year’s resolution’ to improve the training facilities that we offer each year. The best way to

What next after a Powerboat Level 2 Course? Having just had one of our busiest months for Level 2 Powerboat Courses, we felt it was time to talk about the next steps.  We sincerely hope that if you undertook the course with us that you had a great time. We hope you want to carry

I thought I’d update this entry on ‘Safetrx’, the app from the RYA that allows us to be tracked, but we’re out on the water to escape right???? .  Do we forget to leave details as to where we are going and when we plan to be back? What options there are to remedy this? 

Buying a Boat You’ve made the decision to leap into boat ownership – exciting times but where are the best places to find the boat of your dreams?  If you’re not sure what you’re looking for the options can be overwhelming.  Even if you know exactly what you’re looking for it can still take some

Poole Boat Show Queries Hi and thanks for visiting our blog.  In this blog we look at a few questions that were raised by our visitors at the Poole Boat Show.  We love helping people to get afloat for the first time & we aim to provide info to assist.  We had a fabulous time

Welcome to our blog page,  hope to update with lots of posts and would love some feedback.  Why not bookmark this page and check back soon?