Sailing lessons in the British Virgin Islands

There are several ways you can get bareboat certified in the British Virgin Islands. And it is one of the nicer places to go for sailing lessons. You can choose to go for your ASA (American Sailing Association) certification or bareboat/coastal training. As long as it is done by someone who the charter compaines will recoginze as a qualified sailing instructor.

One way is to book a course with one an instuctor for a complete week or long weekend of sailing and training. This can be handled as an individual who attends class and then practical sailing with a group of people. This could include just day sails or involve nights spent on the boat. That is a good thing, because there are systems you need to understand on larger boats. They don't have electrical panels on Hobie Cats!, so you need to get familiar with the systems.

Also, if you want to you could bring the whole family down for the classes, which gets everyone up to speed on sailing, handling the lines and docking procedures. This is really a good thing, it makes the whole charter experience easier on the family. We all know that dad will be the captain, which means he's got to give orders to everyone else. So this allows for everyone to understand what needs to be done, so there is less...er, loud communication.

Believe me when we say that it is better for everyone to have a grasp on running the boat. We were at White Bay on Jost Van Dyke a few years back and everyone but 2 people were on the boat. I was snorkeling the others were at the Soggy Dollar Bar. Apparently the anchor started to drag and the two people on board where the ones who didn't learn how to start the boat! Fortunately, a neighboring boat was good enought to dink on over and help out. From that time forward, everyone learns how to start and stop the boat.

Another way is to either get a crewed sailing charter or just a captain who can show you the ropes as you go. In many cases, the captain provided, at a fee, will get you up to speed and when they think you have got the basics, will depart the boat and leave you on your own. Captains are about $100 per day, 1st mates about $50 per day.

Bottom line here is, you've got to be reasonalbly skilled to take a half million dollar boat away from the dock for a week. I'm not saying you have to be able to circumnavigate the globe, but you better know how to free a stuck winch or know when to reef in the sails.

Here is a great source of companies who provide sailing instruction in the British Virgin Islands