Training

Giving you the skills to do the job 

We’ll make sure that we match your skills and abilities to the right role and provide the training and support to deliver an outstanding waterways experience to our clients.

Each volunteer is assigned to a team depending on their skills and interests.

 As a small organisation, we concentrate our training activities on boat handling, boat crew and skipper development.  Volunteers for other roles are expected to come with the necessary skills as advertised in role descriptions.  

Crew volunteers, whether new or experienced in canal navigation and boat handling are required to take part in WExp-specific training carried out by our own experts. Trained crew volunteers are then expected to sign up for at least 5 trips per year and to take part in ongoing training as deemed necessary to maintain skill levels to the required standard.    

The first step is basic crew training which includes both theory and practical hands-on sessions.  After you have completed this training, you will be able to crew on our two smaller boats.  Next comes Stage 2 training, which is all boat-based, where you will learn the necessary additional skills to crew our largest boat Sheldrake 3.  You can pause at that stage or carry on to Senior Crew, Skipper and Boat Master training.