Route Detail

What its all about!

Our RYA sail training is provided in conjunction with Corfu Sea School, based in Gouvia Marina on Corfu. Corfu Sea School has been teaching in Greece since 2001, and is a well respected RYA training centre. We first teamed up with them in 2010 to provide certified training to meet the growing demand from people wanting to receive professional, structured training and to gain valuable qualifications…as well as sailing in the sun!

Our base at Gouvia is in a modern marina, complete with all the facilities you’d expect such as showers, supermarket, restaurants and a swimming pool. We use it as our gateway to the whole North Ionian, exploring as far as the Faraway Islands in the north, down to the Gulf of Amvrakia in the south. The North Ionian sea area around Corfu offers a versatile and diverse sailing area, and is ideal for teaching all aspects of both RYA Day Skipper & RYA Competent Crew.

All courses are taught on our dedicated training boats, the Dufour 36’s. These are spacious modern cruising yachts set up exclusively for teaching, and are equipped with all the essentials. We use proper ‘slab reefing’ main sails, so you can learn how to hoist, set and handle a conventional sail. The yachts are furnished with new modern instruments, such as GPS, chart-plotter, Navtax and wireless wind, speed, and depth transducers. They have modern galleys which include a double sink, a large fridge and proper oven. Each boat is fitted with clean, modern heads and a holding tank.

What to know?

There is no set route, and no two weeks are the same – we go “wherever the wind takes us”.

However, a typical week would look something like this:

Sunday –

Arrive in Plataria on the Greek mainland. You will be met by your instructor and shown to your yacht. We use this day for you to get in to the swing of things and relax. Typically students get up very early in the morning to catch their flights, so we take it easy after you arrive. Hence we do not sail on the first day, but instead show you where the beach and tavernas are. This is also a great opportunity to catch up on some last minute theory while sitting on the beach.

Monday –

Full Safety Briefing, running through everything above and below deck. We go through all the rigging and sail handling, getting you up to speed with terminology and finding your way around the yacht. Your skipper will then sail you to our base in Corfu, with plenty of tacking and gybing practise on the way.

Tuesday –

Gouvia Marina is the ideal to perform boat handling under power exercises. We spend the morning coming alongside, springing off, reversing up to pontoons and turning in confined spaces, before anchoring for lunch.

In the afternoon we brush up on our navigation and start putting the theory into practise. On passage to our next harbour you’ll be taking and plotting 3 point, running and GPS fixes. We usually drop the anchor in a quiet bay overnight and relax after a hard day’s work.

Wednesday –

By now you should be up to speed with the essentials and we start passage planning. This is where you’re in charge; you plan the route and take responsibility for navigation. We fit in some mooring and anchoring practise along the way, while getting as many short passages in as possible. This means visiting lots of different harbours and anchorages around Corfu and Paxos.

Thursday –

We continue to focus on passage planning, with you perfecting your skippering skills. We try to make the later passages slightly trickier, and focus on manoeuvres under sail. We’ll continue to explore many of the harbours around Paxos or Amvrakia or the Faraway Islands.

Friday –

By now you should be confident taking charge of the yacht and handling it under power and sail. We finish up with the last few passages and prepare for our night sail to Plataria. We leave harbour after dark and sail to our destination, mooring up at night.

Saturday –

We use the consistent wind in Plataria Bay to work on anything from mooring, anchoring to handling under sail and power. Any aspect of the course you feel you would like to go back over can be revised until you’re totally confident.

Sunday –

Unfortunately every good thing must end. Students leave the school boat and travel home. Unless of course you have chosen to spend a second week putting your newfound skills into practise skippering your own yacht on one of our flotilla holidays.

If you would like more information please give us a call on 020 8459 8787