Learn to Sail

If you've never sailed, have limited sailing experience or haven't sailed in a long time, this basic sailing course gives you the skills and confidence to take the helm. The sailing instruction course content is the same at all locations with patient, caring instructors and classmates with remarkably similar interests to yours. Learn to Sail vacations are co-ed. You learn aboard award winning Colgate 26 sailboats – safe, exciting and ergonomically comfortable. Special women-only sailing instruction weeks are held periodically throughout the year at select locations.

Offshore Sailing School
Sailing brings people together and opens a whole new world of lifetime opportunities afloat. It's neither gender nor age-specific. If you like to learn, love the outdoors and being on the water, these Learn to Sail vacations give you a whole new perspective on life.

Prerequisite for Course: None Certification : Day Sailing Course Textbook: Fast Track to Sailing by Steve and Doris Colgate

This easy to read, full-color stand-alone book was written for the new sailor with big dreams and little time. To see sample pages, click here. Fast Track to Sailing is the comprehensive text for the Colgate Sailing Certification Learn to Sail course, and constitutes the first half of their famous Fast Track to Cruising® program. This book contains all the techniques and understanding one needs for daysailing alone or with crew. It will teach you the basics, including the language of sailing, how it applies to maneuvers aboard, and the theory and functions that make sailboat handling easy. You’ll learn not just how, but why. And the text and color illustrations provide everything you need to know to be a competent sailor. Your textbook is included with your course tuition for Colgate Sailing Certification, or can be ordered through our online bookstore. If you have chosen to purchase US SAILING Certification, you will only receive the corresponding US SAILING textbook (US SAILING Basic Keelboat).

US SAILING Certification is also available for this course. An extra fee is charged to cover the textbook, administration and membership in US SAILING.

How it Works
Our Learn to Sail course includes comprehensive classroom and on-water sailing instruction each day. It’s a terrific basic sailing learning experience that epitomizes the beauty of sailing -- intense, fun, challenging, relaxing and rewarding.

You’ll sail the dynamic COLGATE 26, America's #1 training sailboat. This carefully thought-out, award-winning sport boat has a huge comfortable cockpit, many go-fast adjustments, safety features and easy handling characteristics. No more than three other classmates and your instructor are aboard, insuring maximum individual instruction and a job for everyone at all times.

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Learn to Sail Course Schedules
Take the whole course in three action-packed days, or at a more leisurely pace over four to six days, depending on the location you choose. The three-day schedule includes 1-1/2 hours of classroom each day, followed by 6 hours of on-water instruction with a break for lunch ashore.

The five-day schedule (at some resort locations) includes morning classroom sessions and half-days of on-water instruction, leaving plenty of time to pursue other resort activities. On your last day, you and your classmates chart a course and sail on your own, without your instructor aboard. No other sailing school does this at the ''learn to sail' level; it's the ultimate test of Offshore's ability to give you what you came for and then some -- proof positive of your growing confidence in sailing skills.

The more leisurely four to six-day schedules (at some resort locations) include morning classroom sessions and half-days of on-water instruction, leaving plenty of time to pursue other resort activities. Your actual instruction is the first four days of the course.

Every course includes a practice sail where you and your classmates chart a course and sail on your own, without your instructor aboard. If you choose the 3-day schedule, your practice sail is held the last three hours of the course. Longer schedules include practice sail ranging from half days to full day sessions. No other sailing school does this at the ''learn to sail” level; it's the ultimate test of Offshore's ability to give you what you came for and then some -- proof positive of your growing confidence in sailing skills.

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