Solent Boat Training Client Reviews

I can highly recommend this course at SBT for those wishing to do their RYA Day Skipper Theory. Over five days the syllabus covers a wide range of key topics from practical nautical information to an introduction to chart work. There was a lot to learn but our instructor Tom was extremelly competent, and patient, leading us at a good pace through the material with enthusiasm and good humour. SBT provides excellent training. Thank you. Roland

Good evening Matt, First I just wanted to say thank you - I attended the Competent Crew course a few weeks ago on Gallifrey with Terry and had a tremendous time. He did a fantastic job of teaching and his wealth of experience was apparent. I am already hooked and fully intend to come on a weekend mile builder in the near future as well as do my Day Skipper Theory before the spring.

I have used SBT for many courses for powerboat and sail. The courses and instructors are always great. Most recently I completed the advanced powerboat course with Sean, the training materials, boat, facilities and instructor were all spot on. Shame about the weather though.

We completed our Powerboat Level 2 yesterday with Russ. It was great fun and thoroughly professional. We would highly recommend this course and Russ in particular. Peter and Reg.

I successfully completed my RYA Powerboat Level 2 ICC with Peter yesterday and would firstly like to pass on my appreciation and regards to him for his excellent practical and theory knowledge and experiences that he passed on to us, it was a great course and learning experience.

Hi Matt, We have just come back from a weekend mile builder with Mike Heffer, one of your skippers. There were 4 of us with a range of skill levels, from reasonable (but with low self confidence - me) to an absolute beginner who had never set foot in a boat before. I wanted you to know what an exceptional instructor / skipper Mike is. He managed to throw something in for everybody & reinstall my confidence levels. We had fun with a good upbeat feeling on the boat, mainly due to Mikes cheerful nature, but still achieved a number of important objectives (MOB under sail for me) Please pass on our thanks to him & do everything you can to retain him… He’s a real asset to the team! Thanks and very best regards Mark Chapman

Thank you Russ & Bryan, what an amazing two day training weekend, very informative, covered so much and went above and beyond to make sure everyone was on the same page. There was lots of laughter in the right places which made the whole of learning easier and enjoyable. Really appreciate the detail you go into and the patience showed to explain in different formats to cover all learning styles. Great work, great team, great company and highly recommend to everyone looking to gain skills on the water.

I decided to redo my day skipper course having already done it in the Mediterranean but finding it impossible to rent yachts as I was always being told it was "too easy in the Med". 5 days with Solent Boat Training showed me what I had not been taught. You don`t know what you don`t know and this course proved the point. My thanks go out to Steff for getting myself and my wife through a tuff but fun week and I`m sure I`ll have the confidence and paperwork to hire a yacht in most places from now on.

Enjoyed the course which I took along with my wife. She was a bit nervous about it but the instructor and examiner were both great and a full day's work paid off. Thank you SBT.

My wife and I could not have been in better hands, SBT team provided a well structured and excellently delivered two days of training. Our instructor Bryan was absolutely great, patient, thorough, knowledgeable and made the most of the time. Just brilliant. Ian & Julie

Hi Matthew, I just wanted to say thank you for a great 2 days of training with SBT. Really excellent facilities and vessel combine with a clear and thorough course. A great credit to you. I would also like to particularly thank Bryan who was absolutely superb. He has a great teaching manner, very clear and patient. It has been really appreciated and I know will make the teaching all the more effective when I apply it in the real world with my family. Many thanks again and I look forward to coming back for more courses. Richard Dew

My mum and I have just completed the powerboat level 2 course with Solent boat trainings. We have had the most amazing two days. Which is all thanks to Russ the instructor; who didn’t just teach us the content, but also made it such a fun environment. Thank you again, we will not hesitate to recommend Solent boat training in the future.

A fantastic two day course. The course was structured so that the majority is practical. Lots of opportunity to apply taught theory. Tom, the instructor was calm, enthusiastic and engaging and managed to deliver a lot of information in a short space of time. I would highly recommend Solent Boat Training and am looking forward to booking my next course.

We have been with SBT before and have found them to be a very good, professional setup. We went again last week and had an enjoyable week with Dom as our instructor. As well as being highly skilled technically, he was very calm and patient and a good teacher - taking into account our ways of learning. He was very flexible and very generous with his time and knowledge - a credit to the company. Many thanks , Jane & Phill

Hi, we took your Day Skipper Practical course a few months ago, it was a refresher course after first doing Day Skipper with another company in 2009. I really want to thank you and Stephanie our instructor for teaching us all the things we should have been taught before. Stephanie is a gifted teacher, setting the right task for each individual so we all achieved far more than we thought we could. Since doing the course we have bought a second-hand cruising yacht and hope to see you on the Solent soon. Charlie

Had a great day out with Tom and Frankie and learned a lot from the hands on methods of instruction. I would recommend this as it is fantastic value for money and if you have never sailed before you will learn a lot in a relaxed but professional environment.

I just completed a competent crew course and have to say it was fantastic..STB run a really comprehensive course which is very thorough and well organised. With the running of the day skipper course alongside the competent crew course one gets a good taster of the next step. Terry, our skipper for the week was brilliant. I’ve learned loads through his tuition, sharing his immense sailing knowledge and experience in a comprehensive and fun way..top man. Highly recommended thanks SBT, especially Terry

Hi Matt, Although it has taken us a little while to get back to you (we did a 2-day mile builder with Dom on Ecos 26-27 July) this delay in no way detracts from the great time we had on board. Dom pitched the 2-days just right and had the right balance of hands on/hands off. He also went the extra mile as we had expressed interest in using a spinnaker- and took time to explain the complexity in keeping wind in the sail and let us all take the helm to feel the change the sail made. We have sailed with other mile builders on the Solent but never had a skipper who was prepared to share so much knowledge on a mile builder. We know we're not paying for instruction, but Dom's observations and corrections were a big part of our enjoyment and we would like you to know how professional we found him. Also, the Match sailed really well for us in good conditions and we appreciated the extra speed. As a result of this, when we are able to sail on the Solent again, we won't hesitate to contact SBT again. Many thanks, Sue and Dave Thompson