TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands BVI/USVI Sailing Schools

Looking for recommendations for a couple who want to go to sailing school. Two newcomers to sailing hoping to become charter boat captains one day. BVI and USVI location preferred but not essential.
Thanks !

John, do they have a boat yet? Once upon a time I was a certified instructor and am in Tulsa.

In BVI Rob Swain at Nanny Cay is good for school. But to really learn to sail, they need to learn on small boats and learn seamanship on big boats. Offshore in BVI teaches on smaller boats.

I recommend buying a 15 Coronado or Capri 14.2 as perfect learning boats, when you know how to sail, you sell the boat for probably what you paid. I have found the problem with sailing schools is unless you practice in varied conditions you don't really learn.

Mike makes a really important point. A small boat is a much better tool for learning basic sailing skills. Big boats and especially cats give very little direct feedback and what you get is muted. Getting tossed into the water in a capsize is excellent reinforced learning!
G

Mike/GeorgeC1 - Thank you for the advice, i'll pass it along. They live in Houston and have a small boat in Galveston. I'm a landlubber who's only boating skill is to catch mooring balls on friends boats! We have a house on VG -beer some time in Tulsa ?

If in the states, I can recommend Emerald Coast Sailing in Pensacola for a couple that wants to learn. Not sure where your friends are from but if they are close to Pensacola we found it to be a great place to learn together.

Obviously not as nice as the BVI but I was all about the instruction and learning during my courses, not the location. My wife and I felt more confident getting in multiple repetitions being the only two students with one instructor, and they gave us more then the required time for the courses to get more time on the water.

We CYOA Yacht Charters have a sailing school that teaches on our boats in the winter time. They do cabin charters and teach ASA. You can contact them directly about availability for this season. Brenton and Paul are the instructors and do a great job.

Black Rock Sailing

Jay

We went thru Virgin Islands Sailing School out of St Thomas last year.

Here's my trip report from my time with Rob Swain Sailing School.

http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/s...mp;Main=1516302

It was a great trip, but I would do the Black Rock option with CYOA. They are ASA vs. US Sailing and the BVI ferries are a pain.

Cheers, RickG

John:

See the trip report my wife made of our sailing school we took in July:

http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/s...rue#Post1657600

The Maryland School uses Island Packets out of Red Hook and offer courses throughout the winter in the VI - previously they kept an IP Celestial here in the winter and taught courses for offshore passages on the South and Northbound deliveries.

http://www.mdschool.com/Caribbean.htm

I have found their instructors to be excellent.

If they haven't already researched the charter captain dream ---Your friends should realize they will need USCG Captains Licenses to operate with paying passengers aboard - a minimum of 360 days underway at sea on a USCG Sea Service document and quite a few other certifications, STCW, CPR etc. - things that are well beyond the scope of the Sailing Schools.

A number of sailing schools from the mainland offer winter learn to sail courses in the BVIs.

I have done my basic and intermediate courses on two separate trips from two different schools to the BVIs (in 1999 & 2014). One happened to be where I live and the other was not. It doesn't really matter where the school's home base is located as long as they have the certified instructors, teach the course you want to take and, quite frankly,you trust them enough to hand over money 5-6 months before you go.

I live in Canada so I look for courses that are affiliated with the CYA (Canadian Yachting Association) which is the equvalent of the ASA.

If you do a course and are planning to write an exam and get certification from it, I would make sure the organization you go with has the courses aligned with the national body of where you live (Canada, the U.S., etc). To that end, the skippers/instructors have to be certified as well.

cs

I used Offshore Sailing a really long time ago. I enjoyed it and learned a lot.

Just got back from 8 day ASA 103/104 course. Black Rock Sailing School partners with CYOA out of STT. There were 3 students on the 49' Beneteau. We did several hours of class instruction and then sailed every day. We all got plenty of opportunity to practice. Our instructor, Capt Paul Sullivan, was excellent. Throughout the week we were able to meet all of the courses objectives and still have time to snorkel and explore the islands. If you are looking to gain more knowledge or get your ASA certifications, I would highly recommend Black Rock Sailing School and Capt Paul Sullivan.