There are lots of ways to get more experience sailing, depending on your experience. In this page we cover:
- Courses
- Crew wanted/available registers
- Dinghy sailing
Courses
The Royal Yachting Association (“RYA”) has designed a number of courses to help people get into sailing – both yacht sailing and dinghy sailing.
Some of the yacht sailing courses you can do are summarised below:
| Course | Type | Overview |
|---|---|---|
| Competent Crew | Practical – 5 days | Practical course designed for beginners wanting to gain more hands on experience – by the end of the course you will be able to steer, handle sails, keep a lookout, assist in all day to day routines on board. |
| Day Skipper theory* | Classroom – 40 hours plus exam | A comprehensive introduction to chartwork navigation meteorology and the basics of seamanship. Invaluable for learning how to start making decisions on board and if you are considering taking the Day Skipper practical course. |
| Day Skipper | Practical – 5 days | This practical course assumes a certain level of existing knowledge, although some of this can be gained on the course itself. The course gives you the opportunity to take charge on short passages under instruction and improve boat handling and seamanship such that can skipper a small yacht in familiar waters by day. |
| Yachtmaster theory* | Classroom – 40 hours plus exam | Some revision of the Day Skipper shore based course plus more advanced skills in offshore & coastal navigation by day & night, pilotage & meteorology. |
*First Class Sailing occasionally run these courses in Deloitte so if you are interested in doing either of these courses keep an eye out for emails.
Both Sunsail and First Class Sailing run all of the above courses.
You can also use the RYA website to find places running courses near you.
http://www.rya.org.uk/coursestraining/Pages/default.aspx
Crew available/wanted registers
There are a number of places where you can find boat owners looking for crew or advertise yourself as available – just be honest with your level of experience, a lot of owners out there are more than happy to take beginners on board and train them up, but being reliable and honest will help secure those kind of places even more.
With all of these routes, you can’t guarantee what the people are going to be like – do not be afraid to ask to speak to someone on the phone or suggest meeting for a drink/coffee (if possible) in order to check what they are like. Some sensible questions to ask might include:
- Do you supply all crew with lifejackets?
- What is your experience?
- What is the experience of other people on board?
- What sort of financial contribution are you looking for?
- Do you have wet weather gear you can lend me until I get my own?
Dinghy sailing
There are a number of dinghy sailing clubs in and around London – which no doubt run courses and also have people looking for crew. Some examples are
. Welsh Harp – North London www.welshharpsailingclub.co.uk
. Ranleagh Sailing Club – Putney www.ranelaghsc.co.uk
. Datchet Water Sailing Club – Datchet www.dwsc.co.uk
. Datchet Watersports – www.datchetwatersports.co.uk
. Queen Mary’s Sailing Club – Queen Mary’s reservoir www.queenmary.org.uk
. Docklands Sailing & Watersports Centre www.dwsc.org
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