Solent Boat Training Client Reviews

Great well organised week full of interesting stuff to learn. Tom has been great instructor and managed to deliver tons of things in pretty full on 5 day stretch including plenty of useful feed back throughout. Fully recommend to everyone.

I just completed a first class 5-day virtual course with Tom Lessing, which was extremely well-structured with the heavy navigation elements nicely interspersed with practical knowledge and so many useful tips from his long experience on the water. Frankly I had been dreading doing this on Zoom rather than face to face but it turned out really well, with plenty of interaction and a small enough class to have really effective dialogue on the hard bits. As an old salt I found the O level geometry stretching as expected but Tom's explanations were full and clear, and well backed up with page references and where to go later for more practice. Glad to recommend this to anyone. The only thing missing was the beers afterwards but we will just have to wait for the practicals for those. Richard Pascoe 3.5.2021

Brilliantly taught over zoom and engaging throughout. Was great to be able to do the course from home and I didn’t feel like I missed out on anything, despite not being all together in a classroom.

I would like to say a massive thank you to Matt. He made sure everyone was 100% confident in each task before moving on and made the two days bery enjoyable. It was a great expearience and I couldnt recomend them enough.

I would like to thank Sean and SBT for the brilliant Intermediate Powerboat course. Sean was very patient with me, even when I gave a wrong bearing when on the Passage & Pilotage trip. This is my 4th course with SBT ( VHF, Essential Navigation & Seamanship, Powerboat 2 and now Powerboat Intermediate) and I thoroughly recommend SBT as my "Go To " Training Centre. Overall, brilliant - thanks all!!

Having completed our Competent Crew with SBT just before lockdown we were really looking forward to getting back out and completing our day skipper. We booked for the first outing allowed under the current covid restrictions this year and had a fantastic time under the instruction of Mike. Mike made the week for us with his vast sailing knowledge and friendly approach. The boats were all well maintained and Matt gave us a warm greeting and free loan of waterproofs. We would thoroughly recommend Solent Boat Training.

I would like to congratulate SBT in organizing yet another great COVID secure 2 Day Mileage Builder Course, although we didn’t get much wind over the weekend we had 2 glorious days of sunshine. Our skipper Terry made sure that every minute of the weekend was packed full with first class training and made the course, fun and very educational, even with the lack of wind Terry's' itinerary exceeded my expectations, thank you. SBT in my view is without doubt the number one sailing school of the Solent and I would highly recommend booking a course with SBT.

We have just completed our course which was outstanding. We had a brilliant instructor, Peter Day, who took us through all the necessary procedures and instructions to ensure we were safe and competent to operate our new RIB. Most of the course was on the water, and with only 3 students on the boat, each person had plenty of hands-on practice. Highly recommended and we will certainly be enrolling some of the other SBT courses. Nigel & Fiona

Really enjoyable and learned a lot. Dom did a great job of running a fun 2 day mile builder. It blew the cobwebs off my sailing kit and skills after a year of lockdowns. Highly recommended.

An amazing and exhausting week! Had forgotten what my body was capable of doing! It was packed full of everything you need to know and more. Tom, our instructor is a legend with so much calmness and faith in his team, pushing you to do your best ❤️ I feel like I have learned so much and have great capability. Can’t wait to get back on the next course. X

Attended 01/04/21 Instructor Dom. Good at getting information over . At a level that a novice like me could understand. Wish all instructors were like him. On the water for a lot of the course. Good to have a course with hands on learning. Feel far more confident that I could take a boat out to sea. Very enjoyable course.

I really enjoyed the course the few days were just fantastic. As I’m racing on a regular basis I didn’t learn that much on the proper sailing aspect however I learnt a lot about driving a inexperienced crew as well as marina skills. The great thing is that I was the only day skipper on the course and that made the difference because it was like a 1-1 with the instructor. Leo coached me throughout the 5 days and shared his huge sailing experience which I have highly appreciated. SBT is The Boating School no doubt! I have already booked power boat level 2 at the end of the month and want to go ahead with the VHF online course as well

Very interactive training program, I did the PB2 and for a beginner it provides you Core Skills, fundamentals on navigation and knowledge for future improvement. AR

Just completed the 2 day course with Pete. The Instruction was delivered to a high standard in a relaxed but very informative way. It was a very enjoyable experience learning constantly gaining confidence on our powerboat skills. Fully recommend the course and location, well worth it. Look forward to coming back for my intermediate PB course :). Mark

One of the most enjoyable and interesting 2 days you could have. I now feel although I will continue to learn with confidence and a great base of knowledge. It's already improved my handling of my own boat and the safety of me and my family. Bryan was our instructor and was great Many many thanks David

My son and I attended this two day course (1st-2nd April 2021), excellent equipment, training and content. Our Instructor Dom was first class and super knowledgable. We would not hesitate to recommend this firm. We look forward to booking another course.

Me and my sister successfully completed the two day RYA PL2 course today with instructor Peter. It was a thoroughly excellent course in every way! Peter was incredibly helpful, always taking the time to clearly explain everything in great detail but at the same time making the whole experience fun, engaging and very practical. The rib was well maintained and perfect for teaching us what we needed to know. Full marks all round, thank you very much for a great 2 days! Maisy and Phoebe

Just done the PB2 ICC course after lockdown and the guys at SBT have done a great job of reopening and making the course work with virtually no disruption. Our ‘classroom’ was a picnic bench on the quayside with a lovely view. We were given very good, warm waterproofs and life jacket and had about 10 hours on the water across 2 days. Our instructor Tom was brilliant and the course content was very good. For me, the most valuable skills learned were manoeuvring in the tight harbour with wind, tide and plenty of moored boats to contend with. The chart reading and route plotting, high speed driving and open water rescues were all great for confidence building too. The boat was a good quality 6m rib with 115hp, all very new and spotlessly maintained. I’m definitely coming back in the future for sailing courses once I have enjoyed a year or two of the power boating!

I have just finished my online Day Skipper Theory course with SBT, and it's been fantastic. Tom, our course leader, was a great tutor. From our introduction through to the more complex topics he walked us through all the information before setting us tasks for the afternoon to practice on our own. The structure of the day really took the Zoom/home working into account, with three morning sessions online and a small break between each (for tea, moving around etc), followed by an afternoon 2 hours practice sessions with questions to work through. Tom supported throughout this with Zoom on and available, as well as a Whatsapp study group. No question was too silly/small for him to work through with us. I think this worked great online, especially for those further afield like myself less able to travel to SBT. There is nothing I feel that I have missed out on by not doing the course in the classroom. I have chosen to do my exam uninvigilated as I am not worried about taking the formal qualification to commercial standards, but the option was given to travel and sit the exam socially distanced as well, which some of my class used. I had looked at other online courses for this but they didn't feel like they gave enough quality for what you were paying. SBT know their topics and their instructors have real life knowledge and skills, which shows in their teaching. I would recommend them every time.