Instructor Pre-Assesment - I Passed!
Following on from my post Becoming an Instructor? I got an instructor pre-assessment booked in early April.
So I showed up one lovely sunny morning to a beautiful location on the River Trent for my assessment a little nervous, but excited to get on the water in a fancy modern Rib! We were to demonstrate the following manoeuvres with our crew (The other students) as well as some quizzing on theory (Bouys, First Aid, Charts, Tides etc) ;
- Hold off a mark for 30s
- Pick up and secure to a mooring buoy
- Moor alongside up/down tide
- Turn using warps
- Turn in a confined space
- Recover a man overboard
- Stop / Start engine
- Planing speed runs including 'Figure 8' and 'U' turns
Split into 2 groups, we went out and demonstrated the manoeuvres, asking the crew to help where necessary, and reviewing afterwards what went well, and what could be better. No matter how good one is with a boat, boats and weather can always have their own idea about how things will go, and this was well understood and factored into the theory (i.e. Always have to have an exit plan for a manoeuvre)
The whole experience was great, the instructor professional, knowledgeable and friendly, and it was good fun and challenging enough with the wind and small flow of the river, especially in the wider parts.
After we came in and got changed, the instructor informed me that I had passed the pre-assessment, and could now go on to take the 3 day instructor course, which I'll need to do in the next 6 months.
Once that's done, I think I'll take the advanced powerboat course, as well as the safetyboat course which will allow me to also teach that course.
One day I'd like to also be able to teach sailing, but I still have a lot to learn on my own sailing first !
