Second only to diving off it, the most fun you can have with the club boat is driving it (is that the right choice of verb?). With that in mind, 9 brave PSAC souls made the decision to take the BSAC Boat Handling Course to increase their usefulness to the club and give them the freedom to take the boat out on the open waves. The course is split into two sections, a day of classroom teaching, and a day of hands on teaching on the Thames.
The classroom day started off with a slight hitch as we ran into scheduling problems when our teaching venue was double booked. Luckily one of our instructors volunteered his living room, and we all descended on a sleepy residential street in Wimbledon, boat in tow, to learn about the difference between port and starboard, how to start an outboard, and what to consider when plotting a course to a dive site.
On the second day the first 3 boat-handlers-in-training launched onto the Thames for some high speed manoeuvring, taking in all the sights along the river, and stopping at a ‘beach’ for some pie & mash. A cold but successful day means we are well on our way to having significantly more people capable of taking out the boat, which should lead to a flurry of RHIB trips this summer. Well done to those who have passed and good luck to those who’s open water session is still upcoming!
