Training the trainers!
In April as part of our commitment to excellent customer service and ensuring safe and happy boating experiences to all our customers, our handover staff were again put through their paces with the Royal Yachting Association helmsman training and assessment. We are pleased to say that Tim the cheery RYA instructor passed them all with flying colours!
Every Foxhangers customer, whether an experienced boater or a complete novice, can be certain that they will leave our wharf with full confidence in their ability to safely enjoy their holiday. We pride ourselves on the high-quality training we provide to our customers during handover – all our handover staff, in addition to the RYA helmsmen qualification, share a wealth of knowledge of canal boating, and with the added benefit that many of our staff live-aboard themselves, our combined canal experience is second to none.
The Foxhangers Customer Handover team have varied boating experience ranging from narrowboats to sailing vessels to container ships and the course expanded on their pre-existing knowledge in a canal specific way. It was also an extremely useful day for the latest additions to the Foxhangers team, having recently welcomed Nick our Commercial Manager and Patrick our Wharf Supervisor as well as Mark and Lars who have joined our wharf/maintenance team.
The course was thoroughly enjoyed by all and luckily the sun shone all day (during a season when it felt like the rain would never stop). The content of the course was based around safety, helmsmanship, locks and bridges, collision avoidance and an introduction to engine maintenance and now that we have another four qualified helmsmen in our team, we can ensure that every Foxhangers customer has a consistent, in depth, safe and most importantly enjoyable canal boating experience from start to finish.