RYA Sailing Courses

The Watersports Academy offers a wide range of RYA sailing courses from our headquarters on the famous Sandbanks Peninsula. Our RYA training centre is located at the harbour's edge and provides not only first-class tuition but changing facilities with hot showers!

Our RYA-qualified instructors will build your skills, whether you are a complete beginner, or just require a "refresher" – enabling you to master the essentials of sailing and gain the knowledge and experience these internationally recognised courses provide.

Long, sandy beaches and waist-deep waters make Poole Harbour the perfect setting to learn, or improve, your skills – the harbour is naturally sheltered from the elements, and provides a flat surface and safe environment crucial to building the confidence sailing requires.

Sailing Courses

Start Sailing – Introduction
Duration: 2 hours Price - £55 per person £10 per additional person.

An ideal way to see if sailing is for you. In the idyllic setting of Poole Harbour you will sail with an instructor who will show you over the boat and teach you the fundamentals of sailing.

RYA Start Sailing Course
Duration: 2 days Price: £165

Learn to sail in the amazing setting of Poole Harbour. Whether you have never set foot in a boat before or you have forgotten everything then this is the course for you. Over the two days your RYA instructor will be building your skills to a level to enable you to sail dinghies solo with confidence.

We will also aim to give you the opportunity to team up with others on your course and have a go at putting your new-found skills to the test in one of our two-man boats. Once you have completed your Start Sailing Course you will be ready to move straight on to the RYA Basic Skills Course.

RYA Basic Skills Course
Duration: 2 days Price: £165

Once you have got to grips with the fundamentals of sailing the Basic Skills Course is the next step towards mastering true sailing performance. The aim of the course is to coach you on ways to get the best performance out of your boat. You will start to master how to use correctly the five essentials of sailing:

• Sail setting
• Centre board setting
• Boat balance
• Boat trim
• Best course of Sail

You will also get the opportunity to learn the basics of racing and a few new manoeuvres such as man overboard recovery and picking up a mooring.

RYA Start Sailing and Basic Skills Course Combined
Duration: 5 days Price: £280

This is the perfect course to get your sailing knowledge and experience to a confident and safe enough level to enable you to hire a boat and sail on your own or to put you in good stead to buy your own boat.

During the course you will have the opportunity to try all of our boats whilst covering all of the Start Sailing and Basic Skills course syllabus. During the week we will also take you on a day’s sailing to explore the heart of Poole Harbour stopping at one of the harbour’s secluded islands for a picnic lunch.

Booking the five day combined course will not only get you out on the water much quicker but will also save you a total of £50 on the price of the Start Sailing and Basic Skills Courses when booked separately.

Hard Grafters RYA Start Sailing Evening Course
Duration: 2 Weeks

This course will cover the RYA start sailing syllabus over four evening sessions spread across two weeks. So there really is no excuse not to come and join us for a go at sailing.

Dinghy Hire

Whether you want to practise your new-found skills or take the children for a sail, our sailing area is large and safe and you can relax knowing there is a safety boat always on hand.

Laser Pico: £20 per hour (1 man boat)
Topaz Omega: £40 per hour (2 man boat)