On-water Training
Small Powerboat Skipper
Small Powerboat Skipper training helps boaters build practical on-water skills, understand safe operating habits, and prepare for real conditions with a certified captain.
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Large Powerboat Skipper
Large Boat Skipper training focuses on planning, maneuvering, situational awareness, docking, and safe operation for larger recreational vessels.
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Training Levels | Book Now ↓
Skipper Training Levels
BEGINNER: Best for boaters with little or no recent hands-on operating experience.
SOME EXPERIENCE: Best for boaters who are comfortable underway but want more confidence in real-world situations.
EXPERT: Best for experienced boaters seeking validation, refinement, or documented skill assessment.
Skill Builder Training
Boating Fundamentals
The Boating Fundamentals skill-builder Powerboating course is your crucial first step to becoming familiar and comfortable with your boat handling skills. Think of it as the first day of Driver's ED.
This entire course is taught on the water and will teach you the basic parts of the boat, rules of the water, operating instructions, handling waves & wind, and safety checklists, boating. Pick the boat size you are interested in getting training on.
Anchoring & Mooring Balls
You will learn both simple and advanced maneuvering techniques to master anchoring and mooring to balls in open water that will keep your family safe and your boat undamaged.
- Mooring Buoy Arrival
- Casting off mooring buoy
- Anchoring & Retrieval
- and more...
Pick the boat size you are interested in getting training on.
Docking with Confidence
You will learn both simple and advanced docking, departure and close quarter maneuvering techniques that will keep your family safe and your boat undamaged.
- Departing from dock
- 180-Degree Turnarounds
- Docking on Port & Starboard
- Using S.C.A.N. procedures
- and more...
Pick the boat size you are interested in getting training on.
Open Water Maneuvering Fundamentals
You will learn both simple and advanced planning techniques to come up to plane, handling waves & wakes and several other maneuvering techniques that will keep your family safe and your boat undamaged.
- Recognizing Plowing Mode
- Transitioning to/from Planing Mode
- Boat and Engine Trim in Planing Mode
- Crossing Waves in Planing Mode
- Avoidance Turns ("S" Turn) on Plane
- and more...
Pick the boat size you are interested in getting training on.
Meet Captain Kevin Boyd
Raised in the Northeast in a small town in Central Massachusetts. Proud Veteran-U.S. Coast Guard, Retired (September 2022, 25-years). I continue to support the U.S. Coast Guard Academy as a navigation & shiphandling instructor, where I serve as Master of the Academy’s 44’ Morris Yachts for the Coastal Sail (Maritime leadership and Navigation) Training Program. I am a Licensed Merchant Mariner - Master 100GT for inland waters; Mate 100GT for near coastal waters; and serve as a delivery and orientation yacht captain for MarineMax, supporting new and existing boat owners onboard multiple platforms, sizes 21-45+ feet, diesel and gasoline (inboard/outboard) engines.
I hold a Master of Professional Science (MPS) degree focused in Environmental Policy and Management from Florida International University, insights/knowledge that has lended positively to the work of myself and my teams throughout my USCG military career; as well as my continued work in the maritime boating environment, plus new business Healthy Starts with Shaklee - where Shaklee continues to lead in many environmental initiatives!
I am grateful to be working with MarineMax, where I support their customer needs by providing new vessel orientation & followon training support, as well as vessel deliveries across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions of the U.S.
