Seafarer’s UK Refresher Courses
ONLY CHARTER ONCE A YEAR? SEAFARER HAS THE SOLUTION
As a person who drives a desk for much of the year, I know only too well after months off the water, the sheer terror of taking the helm of a £200,000 yacht in a crowded marina in a 20 knot crosswind with the gelcoat and your reputation (…to say nothing of the safety of your trusting crew) very much on the line.
Despite a true love for sailing, daily pressures and commitments mean that in the real world, many of us just don’t get anything like enough sailing and for too many of us, the first couple of days of our sailing holiday are spent re-gaining our confidence and re-discovering the secret art of Mediterranean mooring.
But do not despair loyal Seafarers, we at Seafarer world HQ have the perfect solution. In response to popular demand, Seafarer Training UK makes its debut in April.
Based in the Solent, we will be offering our clients the opportunity to join us for weekend refresher courses throughout the summer. Bookable by the cabin or on a full yacht basis, our weekend package with one of our experienced RYA qualified instructors will focus on practicing yacht handling in a variety of situations, as well as brushing up on sail trim, practical navigation techniques and generally helping you to progress your knowledge and experience to the next level.
These refresher courses will follow a more flexible syllabus to those in specific RYA courses, given the varying needs of our clients.
For those that have the experience but lack an official qualification, there will also be the opportunity to complete an ICC test, which is now a minimum requirement as skipper, to be able to charter anywhere in the Med.
For those that did their training in the non-tidal Mediterranean, this can also be the ideal opportunity to gain your tidal ‘stripes’ though the formal distinction has now been abolished.
Our main training yacht in the UK is a recent model 3 cabin Bavaria 36, equipped with radar and heating (this is the UK, let’s not forget) as well as full instrumentation.
Our weekend itineraries will include visits to places like Poole, Weymouth, Cowes on the Isle of Wight and Chichester. Guests will be able to join on Friday evening or first thing Saturday morning and we finish late afternoon on Sunday.
We will shortly also be releasing details of a full range of RYA courses from Competent Crew and Day skipper upwards as well as mile builder voyages across the channel to Normandy, Brittany and the Channel Islands. These will generally run Monday to Friday.
Last but not least, in these times of the popular ‘Staycation’ we will also be very shortly announcing dates for our ‘pop up UK flotillas available to charterers and private owners as well as being bookable by the cabin on the lead yacht.
We are all really excited about all of this here in the office and it will be a great excuse to escape and refresh our own skills, so we look to forward to meeting some of you on the water this summer.
2 day weekend refresher course:
- April, May & October: £199 pp*
- June – September: £249 pp*
Rates include:
All tuition and course materials
Yacht operating costs such as fuel & mooring charges
Breakfast & light lunch daily
Bedding & towels
Wet weather gear hire available on request
Marina parking in Southampton available on request (charges apply).
*Prices as of 2019
