27th April 2023
Members of the Brixham Under 10s Rugby Team were recently given the opportunity to learn about marine engineering and achieve their RYA Powerboat Level 1 certificate thanks to the efforts of the South Devon College Marine Academy, British Marine South West (BMSW), and Royal Yachting Association (RYA) South West members.
The team spent the day learning the ins and outs of marine engineering, while three lucky prize winners got the chance to get out on the water and earn their RYA Powerboat Level 1 certificate.
Sarah Wallbank, CEO of BMSW company member August Race and also the vice chair of BMSW and part of the Brixham Youth Squad’s volunteer helpers, said: “It’s fantastic that this superb facility is right on our doorstep. We’ve already had some of the young boys and girls declaring that they want to be Marine Engineers in the future. The youth team is extremely grateful to the Marine Academy for donating a powerboat course to be raffled to raise funds for their upcoming summer tour.”
Ian Fenton, Lecturer and the RYA Principal for the College, added “It’s really great to see young people so enthusiastic about the marine industry at an early age. Hopefully we have inspired at least some of them to consider the sector in their futures.”
The on-water training gave the teammates an opportunity to helm and learn all aspects of boat handling. Andy Hunt, the Bosun and a RYA Advanced Powerboat Instructor at the College, commented on how after some brief hesitancy, the young crew were keen to get on the helm and manoeuvre the boats themselves – “It was a struggle to get them to swap over, such was the enthusiasm to take charge of each exercise that we did, the teamwork that they’ve learned on the rugby field clearly showed through with good communication and learning skills being displayed onboard.”
As a gesture of appreciation, August Race has set up a voucher code for RYA members, which will give them 20% off the entire August Race range online. The voucher code is available here and will automatically apply the discount, or users can enter RYAMEMBER1 when prompted at the checkout. This offer ends on the 1st June.
South Devon College Marine Academy is a Further and Higher Education College based at Premier Marinas’ newly redeveloped Noss on Dart facility offering a range of full-time courses and apprenticeship opportunities.
For more information about South Devon College Marine Academy, visit https://www.southdevon.ac.uk/marine.