Learn to Handle Boats with Confidence
Practical RYA powerboat, PWC, navigation and marine training from Poole Harbour — from your first day behind the wheel through to becoming a more capable and experienced skipper.
Your boating journey should start with confidence, not confusion.
Whether you have never driven a powerboat before, have just bought your first boat or want to develop skills you already have, we can help you choose the right place to start.
We train from Poole, Dorset, using one of Britain’s most interesting boating environments. Students learn around real marinas, pontoons, marked channels, navigational marks, commercial traffic, tides and changing conditions.
The aim isn’t simply to collect a certificate. It’s to leave knowing more, understanding more and feeling more capable on the water.
Our most popular practical courses
If you’re completely new to boating, these are the two courses most people start with.
RYA Powerboat Level 2
Learn the foundations of practical powerboat handling, berthing, manoeuvring, navigation, safety and higher-speed boat control in Poole Harbour.
Maximum three students per instructor and training boat. No previous powerboat experience required.
Includes a free online VHF course voucher worth £99.
RYA PWC / Jet Ski Course
Learn to ride a personal watercraft safely and confidently, including slow-speed control, higher-speed handling, navigation and awareness of other water users.
Maximum six students. PWC and fuel included. Complete beginners are welcome.
Includes a free VHF course voucher worth £99.
Already have some experience?
You don’t have to start again. Choose the practical training that matches where you are now.
What Next After Powerboat Level 2?
Move beyond individual course exercises and begin applying your PB2 skills to real journeys and practical passage making.
Explore the post-PB2 course →Powerboat Skills Refresher
Ideal if it has been a while since your last course or you simply want more time practising boat handling with an instructor.
View the refresher course →First Night Passage
Take your first steps into boating after dark and experience how navigation, lights and familiar waters change at night.
Explore First Night Passage →Become more than someone who can drive the boat.
Good boat handling matters. So do navigation, communication, planning and knowing what to do when something goes wrong.
RYA/MCA SRC VHF Radio
Learn how to use marine VHF correctly, including routine calls, urgency and distress procedures.
View VHF training →RYA Essential Navigation
A practical introduction to charts, navigation, safety and the knowledge that supports confident recreational boating.
View Essential Navigation →RYA Day Skipper Theory
Develop the navigation, pilotage and passage-planning knowledge needed to operate confidently in familiar waters.
View Day Skipper Theory →RYA Yachtmaster Theory
Advanced coastal and offshore navigation for experienced skippers preparing for higher-level practical boating.
View Yachtmaster Theory →RYA First Aid
Learn practical first aid with the additional considerations that matter when help may be further away on the water.
View RYA First Aid →Own Boat Coaching
Get practical tuition aboard your own boat and concentrate on the handling, equipment and situations that matter to you.
Explore Own Boat Coaching →Think of training as a journey, not a collection of courses.
You do not need every qualification. You need the right skills for the boating you actually want to do.
Learn the fundamentals of handling a powerboat.
Powerboat Level 2 →Build navigation, radio and safety skills.
Essential Navigation →Turn course exercises into real boating confidence.
What Next After PB2 →Develop into a more capable coastal skipper.
Day Skipper Theory →Learn somewhere that feels like real boating.
Poole Harbour gives students far more than a convenient stretch of water in which to practise manoeuvres.
There are marinas, pontoons, marked channels, navigation buoys, shallow areas, tides, leisure craft and commercial traffic. Beyond the harbour lies the Dorset coast.
That variety allows handling, navigation and judgement to be taught together in a genuine marine environment.
Learned to drive a boat? Now find a way to keep using one.
One of the biggest challenges after completing Powerboat Level 2 is getting enough regular time behind the wheel.
If you want to keep boating without immediately buying, berthing and maintaining a boat of your own, Powerboat Club can be a practical next step.
Research your training properly.
Our guides answer the questions people ask before committing to a course.
Tell us what kind of boating you want to do.
You don’t need to work out the entire RYA training system before speaking to us. Tell us your experience and what you want to achieve, and we’ll point you towards the right course.