Course Laying

I'm helping out at the club with organising some course laying training for our newer members. Up to now we've relied on pairing the newer rib crews up with experienced helms and done it "on the job" but there now seems a need to supplement this method with something more structured. 

  I've taken a look at the course offered by the RYA which looks interesting but we do have some very experienced members, it seems a waste of their skills to bring in somebody else.

 I was wondering what your clubs do to pass on these valuable skills to potential OODs and rib crews?

Thanks for the reply Buzz, appreciated.

All our rib crews have done the PB 1&2 as well as the safety boat course run by our own excellent power boat instructors, certainly wouldn't put them in a rib without those qualifications. Great preparation for safety boat duty but they don't cover the skills needed to lay a decent club course.

Course types (shapes), course sizes, spreaders, gates, hand bearing compass, laying a decent upwind mark, tidal considerations, altering the course, how to diplomatically cope with the grumpy old gits who are never satisfied, etc. etc. the list is endless

We do have a good volunteer base with adequate skills but there are some that are reluctant to do safety boat beacause they don't have the confidence to lay a good course, also they may not be regular racers. Some structured training may help overcome this.

So I was wondering if any other clubs have organised course laying training, is it a good idea? What would be better? How could it be structured? Any other thoughts on this?