Boat Courses for Ocean Trawlling

[offwego]

I've done a fair bit of coastal cruising on a 42' power cruiser with my partner as the skipper and with all the knowledge. Now we want to get a bigger boast and do some ocean cruising. I want to be able to handle the boat, navigate and check basic systems for my own peace of mind. I've googled boat courses. In Australia we only seem to offer theoretical stuff for those workingon boats, or speed boat licenses. I don't need a qualification - I just want to be able to do things myself for safety sake. anyone got any suggestions? Am happy to travel to do it

[stillbuilding]

Actually, the skipper V licence you can get through the TAFE colleges is well worthwhile having - does all you want and allows you to upgrade if you wish. Not all that onerous in terms of time. Seem to recall that Bundaberg offered this. A bit theoretical in some ways but hey, we do need some understanding of how things work.