Upskilling in Busso
At an early age, my parents impressed on me the benefits of education and self development, which was primarily instilled in me through surf life saving. Starting off as a young nipper, the first certificate at the age of 10 was the ‘resuscitation certificate’ and this (apart from my schooling) was probably the first step in my learning journey.
Fast forward forty five years and I am still a strong believer in education and gaining appropriate certification. Hence, part of our time in the South west would also include my completion of a Coxswain Grade 1 course at Busselton. A Coxswain qualification basically allows you to skipper a commercial vessel up to 12 metres in length. There is both a requirement to complete a theoretical and practical course, but also to have completed a minimum requirement of sea time to be eligible.
I had the opportunity to complete my Coxswain ticket way back in about 2000 when we were in Broome. The sea time certification was a bit different back then, but I went through the process of putting in a sea time application, which at that time was with the Dept of Transport Maritime team. My application went in and to be honest I forgot about it… at the time our girls were just babies so we were busy - and I was also doing uni studies at the time. About 7 or 8 years later, I received a note in the mail with my sea time log. Department of Transport had moved offices and they found my log book behind a cabinet; which would explain why I never heard back from them. Funily enough, my log book was stamped sea time approved!!
So, now finding myself full time on the sea I wanted to complete my Coxswain for a number of reasons. Firstly, for my own personal development - as a full time sailor I want to be as knowledgeable as possible, but more importantly for the safety of Nicky and I and anyone we have aboard as guests. It also gives me an opportunity for casual work driving boats and a bit of an insurance policy if we need to stay put in a location for a period of time. I could then use this qualification to keep working on the water.
I decided to undertake the course on a full-time basis over two weeks as opposed to online study, with the added benefit that the course was being run by Paul Willison at Adventure Bay Sailing. We sailed with Paul, on Queimarla, for a five day live-aboard course; a route from Fremantle to Dongara learning everything about how to sail a catamaran. Thoroughly recommended… see the link at the end of this blog for Adventure Bay Sailing and all that they have to offer!
Paul is super experienced, has a great life story (check the other podcast link for his story) and is passionate about teaching people to be safe on the water, with a passion for the sailing life. The other key facilitator was Wayne Baddock who is also a passionate educator with a wealth of marine knowledge, much of it gained through his long association with Volunteer Marine Sea Rescue, notably in the often treacherous waters between the Capes of our south west.
The course was run at the Busselton Yacht Club and we had quite a big group of 20 people, the main benefit being the range of ages and experience within the group. The course was pretty much structured so we had theory in the mornings and then practical in the afternoons.
Theory involved everything from International Regulations preventing collisions at sea, sea safety and survival, engine familiarisation and maintenance, navigation, working safely and vessel handling.
Each subject had a practical component that saw us climbing into life rafts, firing distress flares, servicing engines and outboards, driving an 8.5 metre power cat and smaller vessels, putting out fires with extinguishers and blankets, spending an afternoon on a 17metre charter vessel looking over engines and systems and then having the opportunity to drive it and practise emergency drills etc.
A really great two weeks with a lot of reinforcement of knowledge for me as well as lots of learning and salient take away points for safe sailing on Singularity.
Never too old to learn and when living the life we live, you need to be in the present and always aware of your situation in regards to weather and boat management.
Pete
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