On Sunday 1st March 2015, followed by a detailed report dated Wednesday 4th March 2015, we reported on three members of our ‘Water team’ attending Day 1 of their 2x Day RYA Powerboat 2 Course.
Having a 3.4 metre long semi rigid inflatable SAR Boat in the team, it is desirable that our ‘boat handlers’ are appropriately trained.
Returning to complete their course, on Day 2, on Sunday 15th March, Team Chairman Craig Lamb, John Dickinson and Deputy Team Leader Chris Greenhalgh, (all three in our ‘water team’) were again on the waters of Lower Rivington Reservoir, operating out of the Anderton Centre, and our Deputy Team Leader Chris Greenhalgh has now made the following detailed report on the days activities;
“On Sunday 15th March 2015, we all met at the centre at 9am along with Simon our instructor and started with a brew and the outline for the day. The first subject of the day was weather and interpretation of forecasts, unlike day one, we were expecting good weather for the day with cool, cloudy and fairly calm conditions forecast. We then went over some common knots used for sailing and then got kitted up.
Between the three of us, we firstly carried out the safety and engine checks on the 30hp boat which we had previously used as we’d been shown on day one and spotted a few ‘deliberate’ mistakes which had been left for us to find. We then launched and went through some new skills including man overboard drills, picking up a mooring and some shallow water work involving controlling the boat with a tilted engine. This took us up to dinner time when we took a welcome break hot drinks and food at the centre.
After dinner, we returned to the jetty and this time tried a more powerful 55hp boat to see how differently it handles, followed by an 18hp tiller steered boat. We then went through coming alongside, setting up a tow, anchoring and recovering a boat. Our final test was to recover a boat on our own which had been secured to a mooring which we did quickly and without a problem.
We then helped recover all the boats and pack away before returning to the centre. We had a small amount of theory work left to do over a brew including basic navigation, emergency situations, cold water shock, mayday calls and finally a debrief before all being presented with our RYA Level 2 powerboat licenses.
We would like to thank Simon, for his very good instruction over the two days along with Dave Watkinson, Anderton Centre manager for use of their excellent facilities.”
