Willow Wren Training

Willow Wren Training is approved by the Royal Yachting Association and Maritime and Coastguard Agency to provide boat and shore based training for the leisure and professional inland waterways and off-shore boater including:

Helmsman Training ● First Aid ● VHF SRC ● Diesel Engine Maintenance
RYA Theory courses: Basic Navigation and Safety
Day Skipper ● Coastal Skipper/Yachtmaster Offshore.
MCA Fire Safety ● Personal Survival ● Tier 2 Boatmaster Training.

Formed in 1994 by the respected Andy Newman, Willow Wren Training has introduced many thousands of people to the skills of better, safer and more considerate boating. Andy is the author of the RYA Inland Waterways Handbook which is the official course book for the Helmsman Course so there couldn't be a better source of learning.

Our main boat handling course is the one-day RYA Inland Waterways Helmsman's Course. This course is delivered in an informal way to provide a very relaxed learning environment making it good for first timers but flexible enough that we can make it a challenge for the more experienced. No-one leaves us without being totally satisfied.

Canal Training is carried out on the North Oxford Canal from Rugby Wharf on one of our top specification, cruiser stern training narrowboats.

Peggy is our NEW 50 foot narrowboat. Purpose built for training with a convenient reverse layout and a nine-foot rear deck which gives us plenty of room to accommodate the RYA maximum of three delegates.

Peggy was built by Rose Narrowboats using a shell made by Dave Thomas at Braunston. We asked Rose for a "hire boat standard" boat. One that we would like the look of and one that would stand the test of time. Clearly, Rose have a high standard for their hire boats because it is absolutely superb.

Our other training boat is Maggie. She is our 55ft narrowboat with a standard fit out. She is very user friendly and representative of the kind of vessel that many of our customers use.

All our boats are turned out to a very high standard. See Photo Gallery for more views.

We have access to longer craft for the more advanced courses, such as Tier 2 Boatmaster training.



River Training is carried out on the River Nene in Northamptonshire on the 46 foot narrowboat Asmund.

RYA Inland Waterways Helmsman's course can be carried out on the river in the same way as the canal. Naturally, there are things we can do on the canal that we can't on the river and vice versa.

We also conduct the One-Day Helmsman's Course on your own boat. This can be combined with helping you to move your new boat to your mooring and extended to any number of days.

Our friendly instructors are amongst the best in the business. All have RYA Instructor status, two are RYA National Trainers, all are qualified Boatmasters and have other professional teaching and training qualifications. They all have unrivalled practical experience.

Shore Based Training is delivered at the training centre at Rugby Wharf throughout the year.

The training centre is approved by the Royal Yachting Association, (RYA), and Maritime and Coastguard Agency, (MCA), and uses modern teaching techniques and training aids combined with comfortable surroundings. The coffee is good too!