Learn to Sail – Beginners

Are you ready to try sailing? There are many ways to learn to sail, but we also want to help you fall in love with the whole experience. There are specific skills to learn and and practice with good instruction required, but we never forget the romantic aspect of being on beautiful boats, on the sea, surrounded by nature and wonder. Imagine being able to travel the world, powered by a carbon free combination of wind, teamwork, camaraderie and a bit of courage?

No Experience Needed – Learn to Sail Holidays

Classic Sailing has never aimed our activity holidays exclusively at sailors. Since 1997 we have introduced thousands of people to sailing and travel under sail. Our skippers will teach you to sail, and we will teach you very well, because we can’t go anywhere without you.

You are the crew and on traditionally rigged vessels it is all about teamwork, so don’t worry about whether you are tall enough, strong enough, agile enough as there are important jobs for all abilities. Like any new outdoor sport or adventure activity there is a lot of jargon to learn, but even on a three day voyage you will leave feeling and sounding like a sailor.

Sailing Courses for Beginners

There is a progression through the RYA cruising scheme courses from beginner through to skippering a boat. Even if you have sailed a bit before, or started with dinghies, the Competent Crew course is an comprehensive ‘hands-on’ course worth doing. It will give you a solid base of good seamanship, safety awareness and that sailing language that will turn you into a useful crew member that can fit in on any type of yacht or tall ship.

How adventurous can I be ?

There is nothing to stop an adventurous beginner from signing on as crew for a 3 week Antarctic Sailing Expedition, or an epic crossing of the Atlantic, but we would like to point out that once you leave port, you cant get off. If you feel seasick or suddenly realise you like a bit more privacy than a shared cabin, then you will have to tough it out until you reach your destination.

Luckily we have a lot of voyages that include high adventure and exotic destinations, that will be less of a big jump.

Where can I sail as a Beginner?

If you want to sail and be able to snorkel over corals reefs then you can join an island hopping voyage in the Caribbean, Cape Verde, Australia or the South Pacific. Try out a week or 10 days as ships crew on vessels from big tall ships to medium size sailing luggers. Get a great tan and see if you like the sea gypsy, pirate life.

If one day you want to sail off into the sunset or race around the world why not try one of our short ocean passages like Azores to UK or Canaries to Cape Verde. You will still be in a watch system, sailing the ship day and night, but it might only take a week rather than a month to know you can become an ‘ocean sailor.’

If you love wildlife why not try the Outer Hebrides, Isles of Scilly, Iceland, or even Antarctica or Greenland for polar bears? If you really want to tread lightly on the planet then you can get really close to nature by sailing and wild camping with one of skippers as your adventure buddy in a small boat without an engine.