Learning to Sail in Australia

[Dragon Lady]

Yeah, interesting.
Good skippers generally have no problem finding crew, but the bad ones, well you know.
Beware of skippers who are always looking for crew there may be a good reason for that.

[Dragon Lady]

Originally Posted by Mr B

The whole length of the East side of Port Phillip Bay in Victoria is crawling with sailing clubs and off the beach sailing schools,

From little Sail boats and cats, right up to very large Mono's and Catarmarans,

You can be taught any thing here, all the way up to master mariner and all the radio and navigation certs as well.

My first mate and I both had a private full day VHF class yesterday, From scratch, I think we both passed our certificates, But wont know for sure till they have been checked by The Govt dept that runs it in 10 days time,

and we dont have big ships to worry about coming in and out like Sydney Harbour, Hahahahahahaa

Try Pittwater, no big ships and great scenery. We won't talk about the tricky wind shifts though LOL!

[ozskipper]

Originally Posted by Herakleios

wow, thanks for all answers, they are very helpful with the tips for the cities and names of sailing schools.

@Paul: I'm german origin, have been living in the UK for the last 2 years

So Sydney is the choice of most of you but some recommend Perth strongly. These two were already my top in my list where to live first so you don't make my choice more easy

Does it make sense to book any courses in advance while I'm in UK or should i just wait and go for the direct approach when I'm in australia?

Are there any other things I should do before starting in a sailing school?


The idea just going to a sailing club and getting on a boat of a friendly sailor sounds very exciting, are they really so open to total newbies?

May the wind be on your side!

Ask how many students they take at once. If its more than 4 youre not really going to be as active on the boat than with say two or three.

Also you dont have to do it all in one city. You could do your Competant Crew cert in one city, then plan to do Inshore Skipper cert at the next.

[waikikin]

Originally Posted by ozskipper

Yeah I worked for Pacific sailing school too. The boats were small (which is a good thing) and the atmosphere at the CYCA is pretty good with plenty of opportunities to get a ride on the race days.

Just wish we all got paid a decent rate lol.. but hey, thats the marine industry

Hey Ozskipper, that makes us members of a very exclusive club
All the best from Jeff.

[Herakleios]

Thanks for all the great answers guys, you were really helpful! Nice Forum, I'll definitly stick to it as my favourite sailing board.
Can't wait to get to australia and starting with this whole new experience! After your recommondations I'm going with Sydney as a starter, but Perth will be definitly on my list later!