Our Skills Week at the Caribbean base is the best way to spend time on the water and learn a new trick or two, polish your existing sailing skills and enjoy sailing in Antigua. It is a 5-day practical sailing week with other students and a RYA instructor on board, practicing helming, sail trimming, docking, anchoring, navigation, chartwork, theory review, and all types of maneuvers from man overboard recoveries to picking up mooring balls under sail.  We also including flotilla training skills including Mediterranean style berthing docking with slime/lazy lines.

Course Content

Skills week is best suitable for sailors who:

• Have some experience in sailing and are interested in improving specific skills on board
• Are looking to improve overall confidence in boat handling, navigation, manoeuvring etc.
• Want to refresh their sailing skills
• Need to add to their nautical miles and/or skipper a passage toward RYA certification
• Are looking to have a vacation time on the sailboat while enjoying active sailing
• Are not looking for RYA certification at the end of the course (already have equivalent certification from another country for example)
• Would like to have their sailing skills evaluated to choose their next steps within the RYA framework

In this liveaboard class in the Caribbean, you will begin at our base in Jolly Harbour on the west coast of Antigua and might sail both north towards our beautiful beaches and south to English Harbour and Falmouth, and possibly around the whole island of Antigua. There will be sightseeing, swimming and relaxing opportunities after a full day of sailing. There is also the chance to sail to gorgeous Barbuda depending on the weather and sailing skills and needs of other students.

There is no exam at the end of the Skills Week, as it is a continuous learning and evaluative experience during the week. You will discuss the program of your Skills Week with the instructor before starting the course and receive a debrief after the course.

All of our practical sailing courses are limited to four students on board.  This allows us to give you maximum individual attention and for our instructors to create a bespoke sailing experience for each and every one of our students.

Groups of 5 can be accommodated on our Dufour 44’ should you wish to book together and enjoy the course as part of a larger group.

Prerequisites

None just contact our crew and explain your needs and previous experience, and we will make sure to come up with a proposal best suitable for your skillset!

Next Steps

You can also take a 1-day special Skills Workshops:

Skills – Berthing and marina manouvres

Skills – Ropework

Skills – Astronomical Navigation

Following your Skills Week and depending on your level, you will be able to move towards according other RYA courses, such as:

RYA Competent Crew Practical 

RYA Day Skipper Practical

RYA Coastal Skipper Practical

RYA Yachtmaster Prep Week