Learn to Powerboat on Percy Priest Lake: AB 101 Two-Day Course with Sail Nashville

AB 101 Powerboating Course (2-day Course) on Percy Priest Lake teaches beginners to run a recreational powerboat with confidence. Located on J. Percy Priest Lake east of downtown Nashville, Tennessee, this two-day program from Sail Nashville pairs classroom Zoom sessions with hands-on work aboard a Zodiac 550DP RIB powered by a 90hp Mercury outboard. The course opens with a Saturday Zoom classroom that walks through boat types, hull shapes, propulsion, navigation rules and pre-departure checks. On Sunday students gather for a short exam and then spend the afternoon on the water practicing throttle control, docking and mooring, man-overboard drills, and basic navigation in the lake’s coves and channels. Instructors emphasize safe gear stowage, situational awareness, and emergency procedures that make the difference in real-world boating. What sets this offering apart is its on-water platform and credential: Sail Nashville is the only provider of American Sailing Association powerboating certification courses in Tennessee, and the Zodiac RIB mirrors the nimble, high-visibility craft many new boaters aim to operate. That means you leave with practical skills—not just theory—and with a sense of how a plan on paper actually unfolds against wind, wake and shoreline. Percy Priest’s landscape is straightforward and instructive for novices: wide, sheltered arms off the main lake, wooded shorelines, and the J. Percy Priest Dam—completed in 1968—give a mix of calm practice zones and open-water transitions. Wildlife is common; anglers, kayakers and weekend boaters share the water, so learning local right-of-way and hazard recognition is part of the curriculum. This course is tailored to weekend learners who want efficient progress: Zoom hours on Saturday (9:00 a.m.–noon, 1:00–5:00 p.m.), an exam Sunday morning and supervised on-water training Sunday until mid-afternoon. Students should plan for layered clothing, sun protection and footwear that grips wet decks. No previous experience is required; the flow is beginner-friendly but paced so that by the end you can dock, navigate buoyed channels and respond to basic emergencies with confidence. Local operators like Sail Nashville bind safety training to Nashville’s boating scene: instructors are active lake users and stewards who teach local routes, low-impact anchoring and how to read sudden weather shifts in Middle Tennessee. Graduates enter a network that prioritizes shoreline access and responsible use. That community makes it easier to find rentals and crew opportunities after certification, while promoting proper wake management, etiquette that protects coves and shoreline habitat. For visitors based in Nashville, this two-day Powerboating Nashville course is an immediate skill upgrade and a springboard to exploring Tennessee’s lakes. Whether you aim to captain a family bowrider or just want to understand how boats behave on open water, the AB 101 course on Percy Priest Lake is a practical, instructor-led way to get there.