Boatmaster

The qualification

The typical boatmaster student is a recreational boatie but employers including regional councils and the departments of conservation and customs also require their staff to have their ticket.

Tutor Harvey Gadd, who teaches the course in Auckland, says young, wannabe boaties often join their older counterparts on the course. The young people are in their teens or early 20s and want to borrow mum and dad's boat.

He's noticed more women taking the course since he began teaching it in 1989. They can be motivated by concern that they wouldn't know what to do if their husband or partner fell overboard or 'dropped dead of a heart attack', Gadd said.

One woman, who had been boating for 40 years, complained that her husband was always the captain and she wanted a bit of time at the helm. After she'd completed the course her husband enrolled because his wife was now pulling rank and, the erstwhile captain had to admit, she now knew more than he did.

The man intended to get his captaincy back. His wife would be the admiral, he said.

The 30-hour course, which is designed for boaties with some existing knowledge and experience, applies to a wide range of vessels including yachts, launches and powerboats. It is offered at venues nationwide as evening or weekend classes, block courses and by correspondence. Some classroom-based tutors also offer a practical session on the water.

Around three hours of study are required in each week of a typical, two-session a week evening class.

Gadd said the course was easy to teach because all the students were motivated learners. But the study after long hours at the day job could take its toll. "I have to be a good entertainer, too," he said.

Study is done in six modules - emergencies (accidents, distress signals, search and rescue, lifesaving and fire fighting), navigation (compass, chart work, tides and weather, buoys and beacons), boat handling (stability, anchors, steerage, manoeuvring, berthing, launching, rough seas, surf and crossing bars), rules and regulations (collision prevention and water recreation rules, harbour bylaws, skipper responsibility), ropes (rigging, bends and hitches) and boating equipment.

Students do written and oral exams and graduates can go on to other courses including coastal skipper, ocean yachtmaster and internationally recognised certificates of competence RYA/MCA coastal skipper and yachtmaster offshore.

Course costs vary between providers but are around $100 plus an exam fee of $70. Applications are generally taken up to two weeks before a course starts.

What students think

Long time yachtie Andrew Mason did the course last year to make sure he had no gaps in his understanding of sailing. It was, he said, full of useful information about situations he might one day find himself in.

He highlighted collision regulations, the rules for travelling in fog, and lights for night operation.

It was a useful course for yachties who tended to have a respect for the sea anyway because of their dependence on the weather. It would certainly benefit people who had not been on the water "before they step out of their car and into some power boat," he said.

He found the course a wonderful blend of what people needed to know with the welcome addition of the tutor's practical wisdom. The course went at a good pace and was entertaining as well as informative.

Mason is now a more confident sailor and has recommended the course to others.

Marine historian Harold Kidd did the course two years ago after being on the water most of his nearly 70 years.

After learning about boating all his life but "not in an organised way, it was quite nice to learn in a proper way. It was confirmation I really did know a lot of stuff. And the ticket on the wall helps if you want to hire canal boats in England or barges in France".

Kidd said he learned "all sorts of little wrinkles - short ways to do things - and basic things like day marks, which are the equivalent of lighting systems at night. I wasn't too good on lights at night and it's necessary in Auckland where you can get barges being towed around the place".

His wife had also since completed the course. Kidd found the course "very good, very involved, very human. Well taught and made interesting". He had gone on to study marine radio and contemplates doing the coastal skipper course.

Boatmaster
Coastguard Boating Education
Phone: 0800 40 80 90