Aboard Boat Coaching, Delivering RYA Courses on the Hamble
Aboard Boat Coaching (ABC) has been in business for just over 2 years but already have made a significant impact as an RYA Training Centre. The company offer a range of RYA Courses and have eight experienced Instructors & Commercially Endorsed Skippers. The company extensively use Icom radios in the delivery of all their courses be it the classroom or out on the water.
ABC offer RYA Powerboat Courses, Diesel Engine Courses, First Aid Courses, VHF Radio Courses and Navigation Courses up to Yachtmaster theory. They also have two (PWC) Personal Watercraft & Safety Boat Instructors available if needed by other centres.
ABC only use Icom Radios. They have a new Icom
IC-M330GE fixed marine VHF radio that replaced their Icom
IC-M411 on their 7.8 metres Ribcraft Rib and an Icom
IC-M93D DSC handheld radio as a back-up during training. The company also have eight Icom
IC-M423 Training Sets in their very professional radio training room set up.
ABC has 4 VHF Radio Instructor/Assessors and runs regular RYA Short Range Certificate Courses for up to 8 students in one session, (max 5 during Covid measures). Mike Coulson, Director of ABC said, 'what is really popular at the moment and a great way of keeping up to date is the Half-day VHF Radio Refresher Course that can be run for individuals or indeed clubs. The feedback is excellent on these refresher courses and it's a great way of keeping people safe on the water.’
Mike has been an RYA Instructor since 2007 and has a broad range of boating experience. He was an engineer for Caterpillar when he left school and as well as Earth Moving Equipment worked on Marine Engines fitted to Fishing Boats, Official Launches, RNLI vessels and Sunseeker Yachts. He and his family have had boats for over 40 years both Sail and Power, the current family boat being a 35ft twin engine Sports Cruiser kept at Poole in Dorset.
After ten years with Caterpillar Mike joined the Police Service and enjoyed a full Police Career learning many things along the way. He was involved in Counterterrorism and set up Project Kraken the Maritime Security Strategy for his home force responsible for liaison with 7 Marinas on the Thames and working closely with the Met Police Marine Unit. He has a Certificate in Terrorism Studies including a Maritime module.
Mike was also a Police Marine Officer and was deployed at Weymouth for the period of the 2012 Olympic Games, and in 2013 the G8 summit in Northern Ireland, (the two most significant ever Police Marine deployments) and Mike also had his own RYA Training centre for several years on the Thames (Cool Sun Training), before ABC.
Mike has formal teaching qualifications and is a member of the society for education and training (SET), one of ABC's slogans is: "Dedicated to your Learning." This comes across at their training school, and the importance of correct student-centred learning is passed on to all their Instructors, three of which also have formal teaching qualifications.
The SRC Training Room is very much a professional set up with eight IC-M423 marine training radios neatly installed around the classroom. Mike said, ’the Icom training radios are really important to us as it does not take long for students to work out how to use them; they are great for hands-on learning. Most students learn by doing and our Radio Training set up allows this learning to take place, in addition to theory inputs and slideshows, hand-outs and classroom aids, we can cater for all learning types. We believe our knowledge of how students learn and our dedication to their learning sets us apart from our competitors.’
Mike said, 'We love our Icom Radios as they are straightforward to understand and use and the menu system is not complicated. Our training sets are a great asset to our Training Centre. We have a 100% success rate for students taking the RYA exam, a reflection on our Instructors.'
If you wish to learn in excellent facilities near the Solent, Aboard Boat Coaching run several VHF SRC Courses a month. You can book a course at
www.aboardboatcoaching.co.uk or give Mike a ring on 01489 319003. They are located on the Portsmouth side of the river Hamble at Universal Marina. They have free parking and excellent onsite facilities at a really Pretty location.
18/11/2020
