Advanced Powerboat Syllabus

Aim: To teach boat handling, seamanship, pilotage and navigation up to the standards required to drive a planing powerboat safely by day and night in tidal coastal waters with which the candidate may be familiar.

• Practical
  Prepare the powerboat
  Carry our fuel and engine checks
  Stow and secure gear
  Differences for a twin engine vessel
  Characteristics of various hull forms and propeller configurations
  Action to be taken in rough weather
  Demonstrate a practical understanding and correct use of power trim and trim tabs
  Demonstrate an awareness of the effects of wind and tide when manoeuvring, including:
  Steering in transits and in buoyed channels
  Turning in a confined space
  Berthing in various conditions of wind and tide
  Picking up and leaving a mooring buoy
  Demonstrate the use of an appropriate length of kill cord at all times
  The importance of pre-trip planning
  Planning and making coastal passages, taking into account the relevant navigational hazards, the type of boat and the strengths of the crew
  Chart plotters and radar, their advantages and limitations
  Organise the navigation, safety and welfare of the crew during a powerboat passage
  Navigate at higher speed using time / distance
  Use electronic navigational equipment for planning and undertaking a passage, including the use of waypoints, routes and XTE, SOG, COG, BTW, DTW
  Carry out pilotage plans and pilotage entry into or departure from harbour
  Use leading and clearing lines, transits, back bearings and soundings as aids to pilotage
  Use GPS and understands it limitations in pilotage
  Navigate using soundings
  Terms used in shipping forecasts, inclusing the Beaufort Scale, and their significance to small craft
  Sources of forecast information and interpretation of forecasts including synoptic charts
  The significance of meteorological trends
  Can interpret a synoptic chart
  Apply the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea
  How to change a propeller
  Propeller diameter and pitch
  Propeller ventilation and cavitation
  Checks to be made before starting, during running, amd afetr stopping for diesel and petrol engines
  Periodic checks on engines and electrical systems including spark plugs, water filters and pump impellers
  How to bleed the fuel system (diesel), change filters and pump impellers
  Transmission belts
  Spares to be carried
  Correct action to take in emergency situations
  Fire prevention and fighting
  Hull damage / watertight integrity
  What to do in a medical emergency
  Towing and being towed
  Helicopter rescue procedures
  Use of flares
  Search patterns
  Pick up a man overboard in all available conditions
  Take charge of a powerboat at night, including leaving and entering harbour
  Demonstrate ability at keeping a proper lookout and identifying lit and unlit marks by night

Advanced Powerboat Examination Syllabus

1. Preparation for sea
   Preparation of vessel
   Safety brief
   Stowing and securing gear for coastal passages
   Engine operations and routine checks, fuel systems, kill cord
   Fuel system, bleeding, changing filters and impellers
   
2. Boat handling
   Hull forms and their handling characteristics, propeller confirgurations
   Knowledge of action to be taken in rough weather
   Significance of tidal stream on sea conditions
   Steering and power control through waves
   Understanding and correct use of power trim and tabs
   Towing, under open sea conditions and in confined areas
   Strategy up and downwind and in heavy weather
   Awareness of the effects of wind and tide when manoeuvring, including:
   Steering to transits and in buoyed channels
   Turning in a confined space
   All berthing and un-berthing
   Picking up and leaving a mooring buoy
   Anchoring
   Recovery of man overboard
   Awareness of ground speed and ability to hold the boat on station
   
3. Responsibilities
   Skippering the vessel with effective crew communication
   Preparing the vessel for sea and for adverse weather
   Tactics for heavy weather and restricted visibility
   Emergency and distress situations
   Customs procedures
   Courtesy to other water users
   
4. Passage making and pilotage
   Your chart work and theory knowledge should include:
   Charts, navigational publications and sources of navigational information
   Chart work, including position fixing and shaping course to allow for tide
   Tidal heights and depths
   Buoyage and visual aids to navigation
   Instruments, inclusing compasses, logs, echo sounders, radio navigation aids and chart work instruments
   Passage planning and navigational tactics
   Importance of pre-plannig
   High speed navigation, pre-planning and execute
   Use of electronic navigation (GPS & Radar)
   Pilotage techniques and plans for entry into or departure from harbour
   Use of leading and clearing lines, transits and soundings as aids to pilotage
   Navigational records
   Limits of navigational accuracy and margins of safety
   Lee shore dangers
   You should be able to enter and depart from a charted port by day or night. Your examiner will give you a pilotage exercise and ask you to explain your planning. You will need to be aware of the problems of collision avoidance and how to determine your position by night.
   
5. Meteorology
   You should be able to use weather and tidal information to predict likely sea conditions and make passage planning decisions.
   Definition of terms incuding Beaufort Scale, and their significance to small craft.
   Sources of weather forecasts
   Weather systems and local weather effects
   Interpretation of weather forecasts, barometric trends and visible phenomena
   Ability to make passage planning decisions based on forecast information
   
6. Rules of the road
   Application of the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea.
    You should be able to identify  power and sailing vessels by night. Identification of types of ship by night is not required, but you will need a knowledge of the lights of tugs and trawlers.
   
7. Safety
   Candidates will be expected to know what safety equipment should be carried on board the vessel, based either on the recommendations in RYA booklet C8, or the Codes of Practice for the Safety of Small Commercial Vessels. In particular, candidates must know the responsibilities of a skipper in relation to:
   Fire prevention and fighting
   Hull damage / watertight integrity
   Medical emergency
   Towing and being towed
   VHF emergency procedures
   Explanation of helicopter rescue procedures
   Use of flares
   Man overboard
   Sector search
   Lifejackets
   Life rafts