Advanced Power Boat Courses

Ballyholme Yacht Club has now gained recognition to offer Intermediate and Advanced Power Boat Courses. Enquiries or bookings can be made via the links on www.ballyholme.com

Contact Details Course Completion

Congratulations to all who sat and passed both exam papers, now is the time to go out and practice, practice and more practice.

I have sent a group E-mail to you all with E-mail details for all the students on the course as requested.

Hope to see you all again on the water

Final Exam

The first General Navigation paper was done on the 3rd May at BYC. Congratulations to all with a 100% pass rate so far.

The 10th of May will be Chart Work revision on fixing, Estimated Position, Course to Steer and floating boat questions.

The final Chart Work Exam Paper will be done on the 17th May. Starting at 1915

Final meet up and course de-brief will take place in the bar at BYC from 1930 onwards on the 24th of May.

Exams

The First Exam will be the General Navigation Paper which will take place on the 3rd May starting promptly at 1915. The exam lasts 90 Min's and no one can leave the classroom during the first hour. You will need your charts, Training Almanac and plotting instruments.

All phones are to be muted or switched off.

The next revision night will be the 10th of May and depending on progress the final Chart Work Exam will be on the night of the 17th of May.

RYA Dayskipper Course 09/10

RYA Day Skipper Course currently being run at BYC. Theory lessons on Pilotage and Passage Planing on the 23rd of March and 30th March will mark the completion of all theory required for the course. A two week break for Easter and revision classes start on 20th April.

The final exams will be agreed by the class as a group depending on how much revision is required.

Exam I General Navigation Exam 1.5 Hours on general topics including Rule of the Road and Passage Planing.

Exam II Chart Work Exam 1.5 Hours, includes position fix, Course to Steer, Estimated Position and Floating Boat (Height of Tide) calculation

RYA Level II Power Boat Course

The level 2 Course was done over the weekend of the 30/31st January 2010 with 4 students in two boats. The weather on both days was forecast as NW 4 to 5 for both days with wintry showers. This meant that on both days a swell was coming into the bay along with some strong gusts of wind and made launch and recovery of the boats a bit tricky. The swell along the outer wall of the trailer park also tested the candidates when doing along sides and touch and go's much more interesting. However all the students learned much more than if the conditions had been calm.
A short trip to Bangor harbour on Saturday afternoon allowed some further practice in calmer water but students had to contend with gusts of wind within the harbour. Sunday saw a slight improvement in the weather with it remaining sunny for most of the day, and all exercises were completed in Ballyholme Bay. Securing the boats along side at lunch time was not proving easy due to the swell and wind direction and a good practical demonstration was done of making use of a kedge anchor to hold the boats of the walkway.
Everyone completed the course and agreed that they had learnt far more in the weather conditions than they would have if it had been calm.
It is hoped to hold another course in Late February or March.

The attached document shows the contents of the Coastal Skipper / Yachtmaster syllabus. (Note it does not mean the subjects are taught in that order.

Assessment is continuous during the course by set homework exercises.

Final Assessment is by three exams

Weather / Met exam normally done around the Christmas break on evening classes.

Rule of the Road Exam

General Exam including Chart Work.

The attached Document is a rough guide to the main subjects covered on the Day Skipper Course. (This not a guide as to the order the subjects are taught).

Course Assessment is continuous throughout the course on set homework.

Final assessment is two 90 minute exams on a General Navigation Paper (including Rule of the Road) and Chart work Paper (covering position fixing, estimated position, course to steer and tidal calculations),

Ballyholme Yacht Club TRAINING TRAINING TRAINING

TRAINING NEWS
RYA Powerboat Level 2 30th-31st January
The first of this years powerboat courses is planned for 30th-31st January.
The course is aimed at beginner level and includes launching, mooring, anchoring and recovery plus all the boat driving skills required for basic competence in a powerboat.
The minimum age requirement is 16 but anyone aged 12 -16 can take the course and receive their certificate which will include a statement specifying the person is accompanied by an adult when driving a RIB. 9 places available £110 Members £135 Non Members.
All enquiries to Ballyholme Yacht Club

SEE LINK TO BYC ON WEB LINKS POST.

Useful Links

The following links are for

More information about RYA Navigation Courses (SMC Marine), Powerboat Courses (Ballyholme Yacht Club).

General information on Navigation subjects, such as tides, weather, rule of the road, chart work, and many other sources of information useful to people interested in Nautical matters or people undertaking Navigation Training.



Royal Yachting Association Home Page

http://www.rya.org.uk/Pages/Home.aspx



Training Web Pages on Royal Yachting Association website.

http://www.rya.org.uk/coursestraining/Pages/default.aspx



Ballyholme Yacht Club web page

http://www.ballyholme.com/index.php



Admiralty Leisure Home Page (Charts & Publications)

http://www.admiraltyleisure.co.uk/homePage.asp



Metbrief (good site for weather information worldwide ) Also gives access to UK weather maps

http://www.metbrief.com/



Home page of RYA Northern Ireland

http://www.ryani.org.uk/

Trinity House (Lighthouses and navigation marks and services England, Scotland & Wales)

http://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/about_us/what_we_do/index.html

Irish Lights (Lighthouses and navigation marks and services for whole of Ireland)

http://www.cil.ie/

CHIRP (Confidential Hazard Reporting, aviation and maritime incidents)

http://www.chirp.co.uk/index.asp

SMC Marine

SMC Marine has been registered since 1995 as a SHORE BASED TEACHING ESTABLISHMENT and although it has been based at Castlereagh College (Now Belfast Metropolitan College) for the last 12 years we can can teach at any location or you can come to us.

Due to diminishing numbers this year (2009 / 2010) the course moved to Ballyholme Yacht Club (BYC), were a Day Skipper course is being run over the winter.

SMC Marine can offer the following shore based theory courses as evening classes or as intensive courses by arrangement.

Basic Navigation Course

Day Skipper Theory Course

Coastal Skipper / Yacht Master Theory Course

More Information about RYA Courses can be found at the following Link

http://www.rya.org.uk/coursestraining/Pages/default.aspx

More Information about Ballyholme Yacht Club can be found at the following link

http://www.ballyholme.com/index.htm?home.htm

Information on courses being run by SMC Marine or Ballyholme Yacht Club will be posted here when they are organised, but feel free to contact me anytime through my E-mail link on the site