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What to expect on your sail training course

Wondering about how our sail training courses are organised; just what might you do, where & when might you do it, quite what should you expect & prepare for...

We hope these notes will help answer your questions.

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Information about our sail training courses

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These notes are intended to give you an idea of how your sail training with us will be organised.

Practical sail training courses

The most obvious difference to what you may have experienced in the UK or considered at an alternative sail training centre is that most of our practical sailing courses run over 6 days/7 nights rather than 5 days/5 nights. This both gives you a little more time and practice during your course and also provides more days and nights afloat for your log, important for building experience towards higher sailing qualifications. The extra time also means there is usually time for swimming during or at the end of each day. Week-long courses also fit well with most people’s travel plans.

Our yacht base is a 5 minute walk, or a leisurely 10 minute stroll from where you step off the ferry from Piraeus, so once you arrive in Poros you are pretty much at the yacht. We will either meet you off the ferry if we know you are arriving on it, or be on the quayside preparing the yachts if you simply wander along.

Depending upon your arrival time, it is likely you will be able to go straight to the yacht once we have advised you which boat you will be taking your course on. This means you can drop your bags and in agreement with your instructor, pick a berth and start to settle-in. Those who arrive first are likely to get their pick of berths on the boat!

Your instructor will arrange a time for a briefing session for later in the afternoon/early evening and this is usually done in the shade of Dimitri’s quayside taverna (almost) opposite the yachts. Here you can enjoy an iced coffee or beer while your instructor discusses the week ahead. After that the evening will be yours to spend relaxing and eating in one of the many tavernas along the Poros waterfront. Remember though; you are on a sail training course, so not too many beers and not too late to bed!

Our sail training courses usually use either our northern Saronic sailing area or south western Argolic sailing area. Which area you sail in will depend upon the instructor and to an extent your input during the briefing meeting. There may be a reason for one route vs. another, or it may be open to you and your fellow students to decide where you go.

You will sail each day, usually from 9 or 10 in the morning until about 3 or 4 in the afternoon. Of course it depends on what you’re doing and where you’re going. Some days may be longer, others shorter. You may often stop for lunch, usually eaten aboard the boat and there may even be an opportunity for a mid-day swim.

Once you have arrived in a port and sorted the yacht, the evening will be yours, usually shared with your fellow students and the instructor. You can often find a local taverna or hotel will offer hot showers for a few Euros which allows you to freshen up and preserves the yacht’s water supply which can otherwise be in demand if everyone wants to take a shower on board.

Meals are usually taken ashore in one of the many taveras that you are liable to find often literally feet from where you are moored. You can therefore relax in the warm evening with some good food and the odd drink or two and talk through the day’s experiences.

You will arrive back into Poros on the afternoon of the Fri, after which students will be expected to clean and tidy the yacht, finishing by 6pm. This will effectively be the end of your course.

You will spend the Fri night on the yacht before leaving on the Sat morning for the ferry back to Piraeus and your trip back home, hopefully taking with you your course completion certificate, a camera-full of photographs and a head-full of wonderful experiences.

Shorebased sail training courses

Our shorebased courses are run in Poros. There is flexibility in where you stay and so we can accommodate you in anything from a rented room to a small villa. It depends upon what you’d like, your budget and of course availability.

Courses start on the Monday morning at 9am in our classroom near our office base, about two miles from the yacht base and run until about 5pm each evening. There is a break for lunch each day from approximately 12 until 1 and it is usual to bring sandwich or a packed lunch and eat in the classroom.

The evenings are your own to rest or maybe explore some of the town and island of Poros although there will often be ‘homework’ to complete before the next morning, if only learning key facts such lights & shapes.

If you are staying-on and planning to sail in your second week; possibly completing the practical part of the shorebased sail training course you’ve just completed, the Saturday is free as this is our yacht changeover day. We will be busy checking yachts in and preparing them for their new crews. Again, you may explore the island or maybe take one of the ferries and spend the day visiting Hydra, Aegina or one of the other pretty spots nearby.

Send an enquiry about sail training courses in the sun with Greek Sails


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