Warm and Sunny Dayskipper Practical

[MacMan]

Hello all,

I (and SWMBO) are looking to do our RYA Day Skipper practical (Tidal) in the Canary Islands in October or November. From searching on the web, we have only found 4 possibilities so far. Has anyone got any experience (good or bad) of any of these? Any other recommendations?

Sunsail: www.sunsail.com (Tenerife)
Canary Sail: www.canarysail.com (La Gomera)
Canary Islands Cruising School: www.sailtrainingcentre.com (also via Marsbrook Boating)
Club Sail Sea School: www.clubsail.com (Tenerife)

Thanks in advance



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[Phoenix of Hamble]

MacMan,

I was out last week at Puerto Calero on Tenerife (sadly not sailing), and was impressed by what is a very nice, clean, safe and well equipped marina..... there are several charter companies there, and also an RYA training centre with whom most seemed to have some kind of relationship.....

try www.canariasyachtcharter.com as one of the companies there....

As an aside... the Canaries is often pretty breezy the time of year you are planning (regular 30Kts plus).... perhaps you might also consider some of the med destinations?

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[MacMan]

NAS,

Thanks for your reply - I hadn't realised about the wind and will have to look into it further.

The main reason for NOT going in the Med is that we wanted a Tidal course.

Our plan is not to "waste" time in our UK sailing season on our own vessel and also get some nice Sun later in the year.

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[GazzaUK]

There are a few RYA centres in and around Gibraltar. They are tidal and the weather should be ok at that time of year.

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[Phoenix of Hamble]

MacMan,

Sounds lovely!..... Winter sun and sailing... mmhhhhh

Agreeing with GazzaUK, Gib would have been my immediate first reaction... and also no language difficulties for the assessment!

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[beachbum]

Also Portugal - I did CS there in February and the weather was reasonable, early autumn should be great.

Look at the list of Registered Teaching Establishments, Europe, on the RYA website

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[AndrewB]

Don't worry too much about the wind. It does get strong in places between the islands - the acceleration zones - but is generally moderate inshore and light on the sheltered, southern side of islands. And it seems like everyone speaks English.

 

[muminator]

We did our DS in Gib this April, with Trafalgar Sailing. Excellent experience, great weather.

In addition to getting our "bit of paper", we swam from the boat, and sailed for an hour one day accompanied by a pod of about 20 dolphins diving under our bows. Unforgettable.

Busy traffic in Gib Bay is good practice if you are a Solent sailor, too.

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[saltyanchor]

I can tell you that www.canarysail.com were on TV a few weeks back in a sort of relocation documentary. I.e they are Brits and relocated. Sorry can't remember which channel it was on ( I only have 5 channels so it had to be one of those though) in case you can drag up a past copy of programme.

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[Dave99]

think it was channel 4

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[riojasailer]

We did DS in Portugal too - look at Schooner sailing at Portimao - great old boat -really good instruction - warm and well looked after.

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[beachbum]

Actually it was <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.schooner-sailing.com/>Schooner Sailing</A> I went to too - definitely an eye-opener for anyone raised on AWBs!

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[ColdFusion]

If considering Gibraltar then I wouldn't recommend Straits Sailing in Marina Bay. A good friend did her Dayskipper with them earlier this year and the instructor seemed inexperienced and consumed large amounts of alcohol every night - often until the early hours. There are several other sailing schools in Gibraltar though and I'm sure they are more professionally run.

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[tome]

<consumed large amounts of alcohol every night - often until the early hours>

Sounds pretty normal to me!

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[ColdFusion]

Our friend loves a drink as much as anybody else (I can vouch for that!) but the instructor regularly stayed up on deck drinking until 4 or 5 in the morning. The early start the following morning(s) kept changing due to "weather" (AKA as a hangover). Apparently other crew/students were not entirely happy either. Can only pass on what has been told to me - I have no first hand experience of this sailing school.

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