First Aid -General

Why Choose us?

Thank you for visiting our website to learn more about the courses we offer, about our school and the people involved in it. We appreciate that there are literally hundreds of RYA schools out there to choose from and deciding which one to invest your money with is not always an easy choice.

We firmly believe that one of the things we are most proud of as a school is our ability to combine a friendly and professional approach to our business with the ability to serve such a diverse range of clients. We are as happy sitting in a 3m RIB with a 15Hp outboard on the back as we are blasting along under a military helicopter undertaking specialised training.

As one of the largest and longest established schools we are able to offer the full range of RYA courses using first rate equipment in a professional training environment yet at the same time we are small enough to ensure we provide a personal service. To steal a phrase- “we are big enough to deliver, but small enough to care.”

As you will see elsewhere on the site we have invested heavily in an excellent fleet of craft and spend plenty of time, effort and money each year to ensure these vessels remain as some of the best available for training at any RYA school.

We remain unusual in running our own motor cruiser and can train on tiller controlled craft as well as those with more normal steering systems.

Our Instructors are regularly asked to write for magazines and to contribute towards books. Indeed we are authors of the RYA Powerboat Handbook which is the most popular RYA Book ever written and is available in 5 languages. In 2014 the RYA published the RYA Advanced Powerboat Handbook written by us and 2016 saw the launch of the third edition of the RYA Powerboat Handbook.

We have invested heavily in new classrooms at our base at Cobbs Quay and fitted them out to the standard you would expect of a professional training organisation. We are always delighted to welcome visitors and show you around our boats and classrooms.

2014 saw us buying an existing well established and respected school in Lymington called Aquasafe Powerboat School which runs alongside Powerboat Training UK. Aquasafe gives us the ability to offer courses in two of the top training locations in the country and further improves the courses that we can offer for those that train with us.

In everything we do we try to go that step further. We never achieve all we would like to but we do try. Take this website, we know that creating an all singing all dancing website is quite easy nowadays however we’d hope that the time and effort we’ve invested to create a site with real depth and value is seen as indicative of the care that we invest in our training and the courses that we offer. Keep watching though as we have loads of ideas for new developments.

Like any people type business though, our Instructors and support team are our greatest asset. They come from various backgrounds, have a wealth of knowledge but without exception they have a passion for boating in all of its forms which they combine with a patient and calm training manner. They are exceptional and we are proud to work with them.

Ultimately though words are cheap and easy to write so put us to the test, call or email us and see how we deal with your enquiry. Perhaps pop in for a coffee or tea if that is feasible and form a view first hand about us.

Whilst we would never be arrogant enough to suggest that we can answer every question we’ll be honest enough to say if can’t, and equally if we feel another school would better serve your needs then we’ll say so.

We look forward to hearing from you and welcoming you to the school.