This Shorebased course is for anyone starting sailing or motor boating. It is particularly useful as a back up to the RYA Powerboat I and 2 qualifications. Here in Croydon we introduce you to chartwork in the traditional way but also using modern electronic charts, allowing you to navigate on short passages in tidal waters. You will be thoroughly briefed in safety and weather awareness to allow you to go on the water with confidence. We continually update the material to reflect current methods and regulations. The course is stand-alone. There is no written examination paper at the end of the course and you will be issued with an RYA certificate on completion.

A number of those who start this course transfer to the longer Day Skipper course after having some practical experience.

We currently charge £120 per day plus the RYA pack.

We have been running first aid courses here in Croydon now for over 35 years and have incorporated all the updates with every change in techniques and regulations. In addition to the new RYA book of First Aid, which is part of the course, we provide detailed teaching notes for you to take away with you. These notes are updated and revised for every course we provide.

The RYA First Aid course is specially designed for water sports, where immediate help is rarely available. You will also need to be adaptable considering the restrictions in small craft.

You will be introduced to how to deal with most emergency aid situations onshore and afloat. You will learn and practice resuscitation, the recovery position and how to deal with various emergencies. You will learn about cold water shock, sudden immersion and secondary drowning as well as the dangers of hypothermia. You will also learn about the first aid supplies and their storage that will be needed for your vessel.

It makes sense for every member of your crew to be aware of emergency procedures and we can provide a course specially for you and your crew.

One feature of this course is the endorsement for off-shore sailors who need to carry and administer medicines.

Along with all other First Aid courses, the certificate is valid for 3 years, but we can offer refresher courses at shorter intervals to keep your skills up to date. We also run first aid awareness sessions for clubs or groups.

We currently charge £120 plus the RYA pack, however since many of these bookings are with groups we will always negotiate a group rate with you.

The VHF/DSC course is the busiest and most successful course we run here in Croydon.

From September 2003 HM Coastguard ceased to maintain a dedicated listening watch on Channel 16, the radio emergency and calling channel. In busy times this means that the only way of being certain of your distress call being heard is by using a DSC VHF radio and sending a DSC Distress Alert. This alert is sent digitally on Channel 70 and overrides other transmissions and will be received by the coastguard and other vessels with DSC (Digital Selective Calling) radios.

If you buy a new or replacement VHF set for your boat, it will be a DSC set and you are required to have this certificate to operate it. Even if all you do is crew, you should take this course since in an emergency the skipper may not be available to operate the set. And if you charter, at least one person on board must hold the SRC Certificate.

In the 7-hour course we teach vital radio technique using actual adapted DSC radios for all emergency or routine procedures afloat. You will learn about operating your set, the protocols of radio transmission and how and when to send emergency messages. You will practice these techniques in role play situations.

The course is examined by a separate RYA assessor. Certification is by the RYA and currently you pay for this online before the course. A minimum of three hours pre-course study is a requirement before a normal 7 hours in the classroom.

The DSC course can also be done online or with another sailing school and examined here. We, at PanPan work closely with two other local radio schools, Boatcall and Lightmaster. For the on-line course you will use a simulator and not the real radios we use in the examination.

If you have an old VHF Operators’ Restricted Certificate of Competence or equivalent, we run short conversion courses to give you certification to use a digital VHF/DSC radio. You must provide the old certificate as evidence or know the date you passed that certificate before a new certificate can be awarded.

Are you thinking of introducing a new GPS or a Chart Plotter for your boat? This course covers the basics of the GPS, from the satellite system to setting up your set. We will teach you how to get the best out of your set and how to incorporate it alongside traditional navigation methods. We help you understand the new electronic navigation techniques, and how to incorporate the electronic chart with your GPS and traditional paper chart.

We work in conjunction with Martin from Lightmaster, a local sailing school here in South Croydon to provide this course.

The work is based on the RYA RADAR training pack which we provide for this course. In one day you will learn the basics of operating small-boat radar sets for navigating in day, night and in poor visibility. This is of great importance when using your radar set in the busy shipping of the Channel or other shipping areas.

All the work is done on a computer simulator, but the techniques learned will be very similar to that on your boat. You will be taught in a non-technical way, designed for the beginner in using radar. You will be able to buy a copy of the simulator as part of our training package, so you can practice the techniques at home before you need to use them on your boat. Our instructor, Martin of Lightmaster wrote and developed this simulator, and it is the RYA recommended teaching package for the course.

You will be issued with an RYA certificate at the end of the course and it is the minimum standard recommended for skippers who have RADAR installed on their boat.

We currently charge £120 plus the RYA pack.

This one-day course is designed for the non-technical boat owner to understand the basics of small diesel engines, normal running procedures and maintenance. You will learn about engine checks before and after sailing. We have a demonstration used 3-cylinder diesel engine here in Croydon, so you can practice impeller changes, fuel and oil filter changes.

You will learn about common engine faults and procedures to get you home safely in the event of engine failure. The prime aim of the course is to try and prevent the normal breakdowns that result from inadequate maintenance or understanding.

The course covers small diesel and larger turbo-assisted engines.

An RYA certificate will be issued at the end of the course. Our instructor, Derek, can also travel to your boat to advise on maintenance and put the course into practice for you.

We currently charge £120 per day plus the RYA pack.

On your Day Skipper course here in Croydon we don’t assume you have any knowledge of sailing or experience of boat handling (although if you have some it will help). You will learn everything you need to know as a skipper of your boat for short daytime cruises. If you don’t own a boat or have never chartered before it’s the perfect course to give you confidence.

The topics include:

• How to find your position at sea using charts, working out your course sailed, and getting to your destination using the effects of wind and tide,
• How to plan day-time passages and calculate the height of tides,
• The art of pilotage including port signals, lights on boats and on buoys
• Buoyage, the rules of the road and how to interpret weather forecasts.

We will cover boat structure and other aspects of boat safety, and finally we will look at the latest navigation aids, GPS plotters, instruments, AIS and RADAR.

This course is the ideal preparation for chartering and is a requirement for taking the Day Skipper practical course. As stated it is a five-day course and a very popular option is for one day a week over 5 weeks. Just let us know how you would prefer to schedule it. We can even schedule a mix of half days and whole days if required.

There are 2 written examinations to pass at a set minimum standard. One paper covers the syllabus in general and the other is purely navigation using charts and tide tables. We are pleased to say that our course members attain much more than the minimum standard expected, often getting 100% on one or both these exams.

We currently charge £120 per day plus RYA pack and navigation materials and will reduce this for multiple bookings.

We in Croydon normally deliver this course over some weeks and we recommend this approach because of the detailed home-study requirements. One day a week is a popular option, but any combination of days is possible.

The RYA recommend that this Shorebased course should run over 6 or 7 days and it is designed to follow on from the RYA's successful Day Skipper course, although you may take it directly if you feel you have enough experience. The RYA have lengthened the course to allow for the new requirement of a longer passage-planning examination lasting three and a half hours to replace the older weather examination. This exam, although seemingly longer, is an open-book one, so your pre-exam preparation is essential to successfully complete it.

The theory extends that of the Day Skipper and incorporates boat stability and more detail on the use of the GPS in navigation. You will learn everything necessary to skipper your boat by day and night on longer coastal and offshore passages.

You are required to spend a minimum of three hours planning a passage before taking the passage planning exam which incorporates weather and other normal changes that could be experienced on a long day-sail. This three and a half hours exam makes the course up-to-date and much more realistic. The other two exams are on the Collision Regulations and Navigation.

Having successfully passed you will be a more safe and competent skipper and will have the necessary knowledge to enable you to take the RYA Yachtmaster Coastal or RYA Yachtmaster Offshore practical examinations.

We currently charge £120 per day plus the RYA pack, so if you can complete in less than the 6 or 7 days there is a saving to be made. We reduce the rate for group bookings.

They say it's every sailor's dream to sail off into the blue! Well, here in Croydon you'll learn how to find where you are on the ocean without using GPS, going right back to basics using a sextant (which we provide), an accurate clock and a set of navigation tables (called ephemeris).

In small, friendly and effective classes we help you to get to grips with using the sextant to establish your latitude and longitude at sea. You will learn how to navigate by the sun, the moon, the planets and the stars. We take you through the navigation tables in an easy but thorough manner. You will need to consult tables (provided in the course pack), but no heavy mathematics is used. We also discuss calculator methods to check your position.

You will cover ocean currents, pilotage, routeing, passage-planning, and world weather to enable you to plan a successful ocean crossing.

This course is demanding and requires a commitment to self-study. We advise approximately 10-12 hours of self-study, although this varies depending on experience. You may wish to run the course intensively on 5 consecutive days, or spread it over several weeks, it is entirely your choice. Just let us know how you'd like to do it.

We have 100% success on our ocean examinations. Then all you need is an ocean to cross, to complete the necessary mileage, and to write up your log and you will be ready for the practical assessment!

For this course we have been pleased to teach students who have travelled from the US, Tasmania and Europe to take it. Current teaching charge is £120 per day plus RYA pack.

If you have been sailing some time but need brushing up on basic navigation techniques before taking a practical exam, then PanPan Sailing School, Croydon can provide you with just that. Half-day courses are probably the best, but if you need more time, then we can let you have exactly what you require. We can even do the navigation refresher on your own boat if you have the facilities. Tell us what you wish to cover, and we will be happy to meet your requirements. Currently we charge £60 per half day.