Sailing in the Solent – the Perfect Destination for Yacht Training

First Class Sailing offers an extensive range of RYA practical yacht training courses, suitable for sailors of different abilities and levels of experience. Set along some of the UK’s most beautiful and diverse coastlines, our courses allow you to build upon your existing sailing knowledge, and learn new skills. Training is an essential part of becoming a safe and competent sailor, and our yacht courses have been continuously refined over the years to ensure the best possible experience whilst training.

The Solent

The Solent is the stretch of water between the UK mainland and the scenic Isle of Wight. It has long been a popular destination for yachting, because of the area’s fantastic scenery, interesting ports and variety of harbours. Over the course of your training schedule, you’ll see a huge number of sailors and boat owners enjoying some of the UK’s prime coastal waters, sailing in the Solent.

The geography of the Solent area provides a variety of different wind and tidal conditions, making it the perfect destination for yacht training. During your course, you are likely to experience all sorts of conditions, allowing you to put what you’ve learnt to practical use. The Solent is also famous for offering interesting tidal challenges and has a number of headlands, ensuring that you will enjoy varied sailing.

Our Shamrock Quay base provides easy access to Southampton Water and the entire Solent region. It is also conveniently located for anyone wishing to travel along the coast to other yachting hotspots including Dorset, Devon and Cornwall. For those wishing to travel further afield, the location is also convenient for trips to France and the Channel Islands.

First Class Sailing Courses

First Class Sailing courses are offered at regular intervals, making it easy to find one that will fit in with your schedule. Our RYA Yachtmaster Coastal and RYA Yachtmaster Offshore Practical Prep Courses are aimed at experienced sailors, and bring participants fully up to speed before they take a MCA/RYA Certificate of Competence exam.

There is no set syllabus for either the Yachtmaster Offshore prep course or the Yachtmaster Coastal prep course. This means that your training can be tailored to suit your unique needs, and you can concentrate on the areas about which you are most concerned. Your skills in a variety of disciplines will be enhanced, including boat handling and skippering, navigation, sailing ability, seamanship, and safety awareness. Your knowledge in certain areas – such as signals and meteorology – will also be tested.

During the course of your training, you will enter and leave as many different ports and harbours as possible, in order to ensure that you have experienced a wide range of conditions and scenarios. If you are considering taking the MCA/RYA Certificate of Competence exam, it is strongly recommended that you complete the relevant prep course beforehand in order to polish up your skills and highlight any areas in which you need to improve.

Posted by: First Class Sailing