South England sailing school recommendation?

[danmcquhae]

So the wife and I are looking at relocating to the London area in the next 6 months. Since I'll have a bit of spare time on my hands I was thinking it would be a great opportunity to improve the sailing skills. Did a bit of research and there are literally hundreds of sailing schools in the UK and South England. I think finding a school that is based around the Solent would be a good starting point, and that narrows down my choices slightly to several hundred but still, how to choose?
My goals: The wife and I have have decided that retirement will have sailing and the ocean largely involved in at least a good part of it but have not defined that any further. I figure that learning to sail in/around the UK should prepare me/us to be able to sail wherever we land when retirement does eventually occur.

I'm planning on doing a fast track program (RYA coastal/ocean certification) as I'll likely be able to take 5-6 months off before I'll have to start working so really need to be able to pick a school that I'm happy with for the duration, as opposed to trying a few out and taking my time with it. I do plan on visiting a few when we do land, but once again, I'd really appreciate a little help on narrowing the search scope. Thanks!

Dan

[conachair]

It would be worthwhile asking on a UK based forum like Ybw as well, it can be a mine of info.
And to search through previous threads copy and paste this into Google..

"Site:www.ybw.com yachtmaster solent"

[muttnik]

Originally Posted by conachair

It would be worthwhile asking on a UK based forum like Ybw as well, it can be a mine of info.

Or they could do what they always do and tell the OP he doesn't want one of these new-fangled fasttack courses and that he should start with dinghies for a few years and then join a sailing club like 4 generations of their families did before them...

There's another thread I recently contributed some thoughts to here:
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ble-61590.html

In his parallel post on YBW Dan puts in the desire to learn on different boats and the suggestion of a particular school he's looked at. As a responder there suggested: phone up the schools and ask about what you'll learn on. Bigger schools would probably have a wider selection of boats although not sure I've seen a lot of schooners, ketches or cats wth sailing school logos in the solent so be prepared to compromise on that requirement: You can always use the month or two after the course and before starting work to find other boats to sail on. It's maybe personal preference but I'll repeat (from the thread I linked to) that if I had my time again and didn't have a personal recommendation for the actual instructor who would be assigned, I'd go for a school which assigned a variety of instructors in order to see different techniques and minimise the impact of a duff instructor, so that's worth asking about.

I note from their website that the school Dan mentions in his YBW post (which I'd not heard of before) has an arrangement with a delivery company for "mileage building". I'm guessing then that the delivery company gets free labour, sailing school don't have to devote a school boat and instructor to "mileage building". Maybe that could increase the variety of boats you see, but unless I've misinterpreted (which I may well have done) that would be an interesting one from a legal/coding point of view: maybe you have to sign to say you're doing that part as a "volunteer" and nothing to do with the course you've paid for or something dodgy like that.

Obviously being able to stay on board for the shore-based stuff will reduce your costs substantially.

To cut down a huge field then I'd start with the bigger ones, see who has dates and availability which suit you, then call them up and ask about variety of boats, instructors and ability to stay on board.

[danmcquhae]

conachair: Thanks for pointing me to the YBW forums. Great resource.

muttnik: Thanks for the response and advice. Good stuff. I'm thinking the best course of action is to get there (England) and spend some time at the marina's, clubs, etc. to best figure out how I want to proceed. Have nothing against learning on dinghies either, as that is something else I haven't done before. Probably would be a ton of fun learning the sailing basics on a small little boat, before moving up to the yacht size boat. And rather than go "all in" with one company up front on a fast track program, I can try different schools as needed or desired. Sailing (on many different levels) seems to be a deal in the UK so I shouldn't have any problem accomplishing my goals while we are there.

[sy_gilana]

UKSA no doubts!

A huge advantage is the live-in nature and collegiate atmosphere.

[muttnik]

Originally Posted by danmcquhae

I'm thinking the best course of action is to get there (England) and spend some time at the marina's, clubs, etc. to best figure out how I want to proceed.

Your call but given your situation as described here and on YBW, your time availability and the fact that your budget allows for the fast track course, don't chuck the first plan away: It really is the best way to cram a ton of experience and learning into a short space of time. You may get the impression on YBW that you can breeze into a random yacht club where a bunch of splendid chaps will be itching to share their years of knowledge, but not everyone has that experience.

An important point is that once you have a few qualifications and some experience you'll find it much easier to get a ride. Your sailing opportunities, whether crewing on deliveries, being the extra hand on someone's boat or skippering on a bareboat charter will be far more numerous after such a course than before it.

[Pete7]

You might look at the Cruising Association if you are going to be London based. Not only for training but a great source of reference material in there club rooms.

The Cruising Association

Pete

[Time2Go]

Not really in your target area but I highly recommend the
Shearwater Sailing School in Wolverstone
Mark & Bev are great instructors
Cheers
Neil

[Uricanejack]

If its what you want to do. Do the fast track.
I wouldn't advise it if you are not looking to find work in sailing or yachts of some type.
I certainly would advise going through a good well reputed school if you are looking to find a sailing job. Make sure the school can point to successful grads who have found work.
A good training establishment has contacts with employers. And can help with job placement.

If your wanting just to learn how to sail. Just do the basic course comp crew and day skipper. That's all you need.
Spend the money on a boat and go sailing. Get some experience of your own forget about dinghies and yacht clubs. Just get a small older boat and go sailing.
If you are still interested go back and do the yacht master stuff when you have the mileage.


PS I would avoid the Solent Schools which send their students in non-coded or limited code boats. Across the Atlantic. If they are doing this ask if boat is code 0.
There are schools in the Solent which do have code O boats which do the ARC and return.