_{“Do you guys do practical training?”}

_{…That’s the most common question we get from the boating public at large, and students who take our SVOP Transport Canada approved classroom classes to become a small vessel captain. It’s all well and good to get a of paper saying you’re a captain. You learned a lot of theory, enjoyed our class and passed a multiple choice exam, and are expected to be professionally responsible for an expensive boat and 12 lives! What could possibly go wrong?}

_{Aside from gaining experience within a commercial operation (which normally hire based on prior practical experience!), how do you actually learn how to dock a boat, judge the waves, feel the wind on your face, or navigate the route without (as we say in class)  “hitting the rocky bits or the sandy bits”?}

_{The answer is easy, but the training is challenging. Take the 4 day Boat Boss course in Tofino, get a feel for open ocean waves, tricky sandbars, lots of other small boat traffic, strong currents and oceanic weather.}

_{If you’ve worked with Datum Marine you have already felt the trust in our instructors and how we value relevance. You’ve already seen our realistic and non-nonsense approach to safety and mindfulness while under pressure. Now feel it. Our instructors come from a background of independent small vessel operations and have gone through hundreds of practical courses with a prestigious and proud history. Our classroom lessons are arranged logically, sometimes with a view to fun and passion, and always with a view to relevant safety. Well—so is this practical training. Our most important goals are to empower you, help you explore marine challenges safely, understand safety culture and best practices, and cultivate your best, inner Captain.}

_{100% attendance: As you may have already seen in our SVOP courses, the lessons build on each other. This is not a holiday, it’s a challenging course meant to push your excellence and show you what you’re capable of over an exhausting 8 hour day in an open speedboat. Oh—and there’s a night run, where you learn to navigate in the dark by the lighthouses and lights. It’s the best way to develop muscle memory so you know what to do when the waters throw unexpected challenges at you.}

_{Search and Rescue perspective: It may seem hard core, but after you take your training with us, you’ll feel so much pride in your accomplishment, precisely because of the challenge. We take a SAR perspective where we show students how to behave in emergencies, to recognize things that commonly go wrong, how to best assist others and how people before us have been seriously injured or killed. We also play games, run races and do team building exercises between the boats in our fleet. Every single minute you spend with us in Boat Boss is geared towards developing your mind and body to know how to react and what to do when the situation becomes uncertain or overwhelming. As we say in class… You got this, Captain!}

_{Safety Management System expertise means that Datum Marine has had the freedom to develop our most relevant and best practices that we’ve learned from our students after running and evolving hundreds of these courses since 1999. Our final evaluation is purely based on you showing your best practice, solving problems, and finding solutions in the face of uncertainty, with a timer applied to replicate real-world pressure.}

_{You’ll come out with a report card with customized comments where you’ve proven all the work you’ve done, and how far you’ve come to grow into being a professional, safe and confident Boat Boss Captain.}