We don’t hire Zinfandel out to complete beginners. You don’t need to be great experts, but we do require that at least one of your party must have some previous experience in handling boats. We negotiated our insurance premium on this basis.
For example, your experience might be:
- a previous holiday on a hire boat on rivers or canals
- the RYA Inland Waterways Helmsman’s Centificate
- experience with sea-going or sailing boats.
Please call us to discuss it if you’re in doubt about whether your experience is enough.
Don’t worry – you will be shown how to work the boat!
We don’t expect you just to get in and drive off. Every boat is different. We expect to spend at least an hour with you on handover, going through all the controls and explaining how everything on board works. We’ll also explain carefully the unusual features of our local waterways – how to operate the guillotine locks, and so on. And we’ll accompany you for a short distance if you like, until you tell us you’re confident to take over. We won’t let you go until we’re sure you understand what you need to know to navigate Zinfandel safely.
What to do if you don’t have the necessary experience
If you have no boating experience, please don’t despair! There are plenty of hire companies that are very happy to give complete beginners an introduction to the delights of boating. Why not book a short break with one of them first? The nearest one to Cambridge offering narrowboats is Fox Boats in March, which has a boat available for day hire as well as a fleet of holiday boats. Or you could sign up to take a one-day course, offered by many boatyards around the country, leading to the RYA Inland Waterways Helmsman’s Certificate. Taking one of these courses can make a very enjoyable day out, and the skills you’ll learn will benefit you whenever you step on board a boat thereafter.