“Being an RYA Training Centre for PW – pitfalls and overcoming them”
Paul Glatzel is a RYA Personal Watercraft and Powerboat Trainer and Examiner and a RYA Superyacht Inspector. In 2007 he ran the first RYA PW Instructor courses and wrote the SOPs for MY Kogo which became the first yacht to be recognised as a RYA Training Centre for PW Operations – there are now over 500. Each year since then he has visited roughly 30 yachts running instructor courses, writing PW SOPs, inspecting yachts for the RYA and undertaking tender training. Paul’s key recommendations for yachts and their crew are:
- PW Operations are arguably one of the riskiest operations that occur on a yacht that the yacht doesn’t have 100% control over. With that in mind invest the time and effort proactively in this area to mitigate the risks to crew and officers – doing so after an incident is too late.
- The Captain(s) need to be prepared to stop PW operations by guests if it is not totally safe and Managing Agents/the Boss needs to back a Captain up in doing this – some Captains are all over this, others less so.
- Comprehensive guest briefings at the outset of a charter make the subsequent management of PW Operations so much easier and safer.
