Thank you for booking the powerboat night exercise session with us. The main joining instructions were sent via email and this page is to give you the preparation work to do ahead of the on water session.
Remember that you don’t need to do any pre course preparation and you are most welcome just to come afloat and experience being out in the harbour at night.
Things you need to do the preparation
You will need a chart of Poole Harbour. We recommend Imray as they have special paper that survives getting wet – Poole Harbour Chart
You will need some A4 white paper, a pencil (preferably a 2B) and a ruler. If you want you could purchase a plotting tools set but you can get by without them.
We suggest that you get the Imray Tides Planner app for tides. It’s £3-4 to get the tides for the whole year.
What should my pilotage plan look like?
There is no absolute right and wrong when preparing a pilotage plan but we prefer a visual depiction of your plan rather than just notes as it is easier to interpret at night. The example below is not actually Poole Harbour but is based loosely on it.
What to prepare
You can prepare as much or as little of what is below as you wish. We have broken the pilotage plan through and around the harbour into legs and when we exercise these legs we may do so in either direction so bear this in mind as you are putting your plan together. For example if heading outbound along the ‘Main channel’ the heading is 110°M. The reciprocal is 290°M so record this too.
Leg 1: Fuel berth at Cobbs Quay Marina to ‘Stakes’ south cardinal mark just off Poole Quay.
Leg 2: ‘Stakes’ south cardinal mark along the ‘Main channel’ (is referred to as ‘Middle ship Channel’ on charts) to ‘Brownsea’ east cardinal at the south east tip of Brownsea island.
Leg 3: ‘Brownsea’ east cardinal via the ‘North Channel’ past Salterns Marina to ‘Stakes’ south cardinal mark.
Leg 4: ‘Brownsea’ east cardinal along ‘South Deep’ to the jetty on the south east side of Furzey Island.
Leg 5: ‘Stakes’ south cardinal heading west past the ferry terminal to Lake Yard Marina.
For those heading towards their advanced exam there is a need to practice stopping the boat on the of water at a position you are given by the examiner. The expectation is that you use a range of pilotage techniques to land you on that spot as a means to show that you understand how to use these techniques. Techniques could include: transits, back and head bearings, clearing lines and bearings, depths, speed/time/distance etc.
X marks the spot No1: 50° 41’.05N, 001° 57’.74W
X marks the spot No2: 50° 42’.18N, 001° 59’.76W
We won’t necessarily execute all of these legs because time, weather etc may prevent this however the instructor can review them with you and give you feedback on any ones that we don’t execute.
We look forward to welcoming you shortly. If in the meantime you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us.
