If an event has been a permanent fixture in the event calendar for ten years and is always fully booked, this makes the question of its attractiveness superfluous.
The BOOTE women's boating training course powered by Pantaenius is a prime example of this. The recipe for success of the three-day intensive course is a harmonious mix of theory and practice: knot tying, how automatic life jackets work or how to ignite a life raft and fire extinguishing exercises on a fire simulation system from partner Pantaenius and, above all, the driving training with five boats of different categories, sizes and drive types, accompanied by experienced female skippers.
Because men are not allowed on board during the BOOTE women's boating training programme, but more and more men were also expressing a need for this type of training, we created a counterpart in 2016: the BOOTE Fresh-Up powered by Pantaenius. The programme is similar to the women's boating training, except that this "refresher course" for men is condensed into two days.
Wide range of driver training
The latest editions of the two training courses, each with 25 participants from all over Germany, took place in August at the Havelauen marina in Werder, which is operated by our partner aqua marin Boote & Yachten. The host provided four of the five training boats: a Jeanneau Merry Fisher 695 with 150 hp Yamaha outboard, a Jeanneau NC 37 with two 3.0-litre MerCruiser diesels and Z-drives, joystick steering, bow and stern thruster, a Marex 320 Aft Cabin Cruiser with 380 hp Volvo diesel, shaft drive, bow and stern thruster and a Jeanneau Cap Camarat 10.5 WA with two 375 hp 5.6-litre V8 Yamaha outboards. The quintet of training boats was completed by the Sloep Intender 650 with diesel engine, shaft drive and bow thruster from partner Kielwasser - Feine Boote, also based in Werder Havel. Mercury Marine was also on board for the first time as a partner for the training programme.
The participants were divided into crews of five on the boats, where they were coached by a skipper on two-hour trips including various manoeuvres. While they were able to try out all five boats during the course and choose their favourite boat for the final, sixth trip, the coaches remained on their respective boats. The women's favourites were Dorle Genthe, Anja Schult, Patrizia Reichold, Siegrun Scheiter, Deike Schütte and Silke Breig. The men were coached by Uwe Petersen, Frank Mertsch, Volker Domres, Oliver Jakobitz and Andrè Gläser.
Events inspire participants
The feedback from the participants was characterised by enthusiasm and praise for the organisers. Here is a representative voice from each of the two groups. Vanessa Langner: "Especially for me as a 'greenhorn' in terms of self-driving, it was a real experience to manoeuvre different boat sizes with different drive variants. The 'hardware' was also more than impressive in terms of condition and equipment. I think this format is unrivalled." Tim Hoevel: "A week later, I am still thrilled with what I experienced - the excellent organisation from A to Z, the relaxed atmosphere, the great yachts. I am sincerely grateful that such an event actually exists and is affordable. The women's skipper training has really turned into something great!"
