Power Boating
FS120659 (Published October 2025 replacing November 2024)
Introduction
This page provides information for anyone wanting to run power boating activities.
Power boating is an activity that provides exciting, educational and safe experiences. It provides opportunity for young people to learn how to helm a powerboat from a young age or be a passenger during a journey.
Key Planning Considerations
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Risk Assessment – Complete a risk assessment for the planned activity and shared with all leaders
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Check Forecast - Check the weather, sea forecast and conditions; and adjust plans accordingly. This should also include a check of the tides where appropriate.
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Competency Checks - Check permits of all involved in running the activity to make sure they are within the remit of their permit. This must include the classification of water and group sizes.
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Check the Activity is Appropriate- Consider the age, maturity and physical ability of participants.
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Activity Approval - Ensure the activity is approved by the relevant Lead Volunteer.
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Equipment Checks - Check all equipment, including kill cords, paddles, fuel tanks, PPE and anything else required for the activity. This should also include a check of Safety Equipment on the boat.
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Passage Planning - where appropriate, you should have planned your passage before the activity starts. (SOLAS V)
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InTouch - Make sure you have a InTouch system in place.
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First Aid Requirements – Ensure at least one adult is appropriately first aid trained for the activity and location and is immediately available.
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PPE – appropriate PPE should be worn, and PPE use is logged. Regular inspections on PPE are carried out.
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Boat Checks- Pre use boat checks should be done to check for any obvious damage. Alongside this, more in-depth checks should be done at least annually.
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Vessel Limitations- Some craft will have an RCD plate, which gives information regarding the limitations of the craft. Where this is fitted, the information displayed must be followed at all times. In situations where there is no RCD plate, the limitations of the vessel should be covered in the risk assessment and followed.
What is a power boating permit?
The adventurous activity permit scheme is designed to make sure that only people with the relevant skills and experience lead adventurous activities for young people. Therefore, all activities classed as adventurous can only be led by someone holding the appropriate permit.
Additionally, young people (under 18) can take part in adventurous activities for themselves with personal activity permits. A power boating permit is required for all power boating taking place in any class of water.
Levels of permits
Power boating permits can be issued for any class of water. Each class of permit can be further restricted (such as through non-tidal, restricting to only operating during daylight hours etc.) to end up with an individual permit to the level of the competence and requirements of any person. Please remember that a permit can only be ‘restricted’ down and not up. (e.g.- to operate in B3 waters, you need to hold a B3 permit, not a B2 permit with a restriction for B3 waters in a specific location.)
Types of permits
There are three types of permit available for power boating. These are:
Personal – Allows a young person (under 18) to take part in power boating with others with a personal power boating permit.
Leadership – Allows the permit holder to lead power boating for a single group.
Supervisory – Allows the permit holder to remotely supervise more than one power boating group.
Permit limitations
Personal – If you hold a personal power boating permit you can go power boating with others who hold a personal power boating permit. It does not allow you to go power boating with anyone not holding a power boating permit.
Leadership – If you have permit to lead power boating then you can look after only one power boat at a time and need to remain in the boat whenever it is being used.
Supervisory – If you hold a permit to supervise power boating then you can supervise up to three boats. All supervised boats should be within communication range of the permit holder who will need to be in or have immediate access to a rescue craft. You remain responsible for all the groups you are supervising and need to designate someone with the appropriate skills to be the leader in each power boat.
Designations
When supervising other boats, the holder of a power boating supervisor permit needs to designate a ‘leader’ for each power boat. This designation lasts only for the current activity while the permit holder is supervising.
People designated as ‘boat leaders’ should hold the skills and be responsible enough to control the boat safely in the waters that they are in. There is no problem with making young people boat leaders if they are up to the role, and it can be used as a useful development tool.
Legal requirements should be considered when planning Power Boating activities. This should include any byelaws and local restrictions in the area you’re operating in.
A personal flotation device must be worn when taking part in a Powerboating Activity. This should be either a Life Jacket or a Buoyancy Aid, whichever is deemed more appropriate or suitable. More information on PPE can be found here.
A kill cord must be worn at all times when operating a Power Boat, if a kill cord is not present, the boat must not be used for the activity. You must test the kill cord works before the start of each activity.
It is down to the leader in charge of the activity to decide what style of kill cord should be used, whether it be a dual kill cord or not. This should be considered in the risk assessment.
Most of the time, the person helming the boat should be wearing the kill cord. The only time this may be different, is when as part of the activity, an inexperienced person is helming and the permit holder, or designated boat lead is in the instructor position. In this case, the permit holder or designated boat lead could wear the kill cord.
The Safety Equipment carried on board the boat, should be appropriate to the location, weather conditions and rules governing the operating area. For pleasure craft (see definition of pleasure craft) less than 13.7m in length, there is no requirement to carry specific equipment, other than that specified in SOLAS V. For vessels over 13.7m in length, the MCA provides guidance on required equipment. This page from the RYA helps explain.
Any incident that happens while Power Boating should be reported to Scouts UKHQ Safety Team by using the online report form.
Any incidents that happen at Sea (i.e.- not in inland waters) should be reported to the Marine Accident Investigation Branch. The link to report to them can be found here.
Near Misses should always be reported, this helps to reduce the chances of incidents happening in the future and supports us to shape better, more informative guidance.
The International Regulations for Preventing of Collisions at Sea are known as COLREGS, these are the ‘Rules of the Road’ regarding navigation in a marine environment. There are some key rules that apply to all vessels that you should know before you go out on a power boating session at sea. More information can be found here.
SOLAS is the International Convention for the Saving of Lives at Sea. It was introduced initially in 1914 after the Titanic disaster. There are some elements that apply to ALL vessels, no matter the size or gross tonnage. The RYA has a page that informs of this, here.
Boat checks should be performed before the craft is used for an activity. This involves checking over the craft to check for any obvious damage, leaks from an engine and anything else untoward. As well as pre use checks, a more detailed and in-depth check should be done at least annually to check for any other problems. Engines should be serviced based on the manufacturers schedule. Boat checks and servicing should be recorded and stored. More information on boat checking can be found here.
When power boating, great care should be taken when decided where people are placed inside a boat. This can have a great impact on the handling, speed and the stability of the craft. People should be placed appropriately depending on the craft to ensure they are not at risk of falling out or being injured whilst on the water.
When running a power boating activity, where an inexperienced person may be at the helm, with you as the instructor. You must place yourself in the most appropriate position to be able to deal with anything that arises during the activity including an emergency. You should also consider the most appropriate way of using the kill cord.