Sailing Lessons and Sailing Classes
Join our over 115,000 Graduates and let our Sailing Lessons give you the confidence to enjoy sailing to the max! At Offshore Sailing School, you can learn to sail with our sailing course in just three days, go from beginner to cruise-ready in one week, gain skills for long distance cruising, and get into racing for the ultimate thrill. See all the sailing course options we have to offer below. Learn how Offshore Sailing classes can change your life today by scrolling through our sailing lessons below.
Our guarantee
After you complete a course at the Colgate Offshore Sailing School, if the instruction you received was not up to your expectations, let us know right away and we will arrange to give you the same course over again, tuition free.
Join us and be inspired, change your life goals, have fun!
Call us at 888-454-7015 today. In the U.K. 0808-234-4681.
"Offshore Sailing School has been a pleasurable learning experience which I would highly recommend to any discerning person. From their back office operations, to classroom, to on-water instruction; they exceeded my sailing course expectations."
Bruce Haydu – Oakhurst, NJ
Fast Track to Cruising®
This is the most popular and rewarding of our sailing lessons - the fastest way to become certified for bareboat cruising and big boat sailing. You’ll go from complete novice (or rusty former sailor) to cruise-ready in just one week. Fast Track to Cruising combines our accelerated Learn to Sail sailing course with our Bareboat Cruising Preparation or Live Aboard Cruising course, with the ultimate reward - Bareboat Cruising Certification. This Colgate Offshore Sailing School exclusive is the fastest way to achieve competent, confident cruising skills. See individual courses below for more details.
Learn to Sail
This sailing lesson takes you from beginner through intermediate level on our fleet of award-winning Colgate 26 sailing school boats. This course is also a great refresher if you’re just getting back into sailing and is the most comprehensive learn to sail sailing course there is. Three to five day schedules available at all Offshore Sailing School locations.
Bareboat Cruising Preparation
The next step after learning to sail, gets you ready for cruising in five days at many of our resort locations and four days in New York Harbor. You’ll gain Bareboat Cruising Certification with the confidence, skills and techniques to start bareboat chartering or sail your own cruising boat with ease. Taught on 38-49 footers while living ashore at a glorious resort or commuting from home.
Live Aboard Cruising
This fabulous experience on big cruising monohulls or catamarans gives you the same certification, confidence and skills as Bareboat Cruising Preparation for big boat bareboat chartering and ownership. You live aboard throughout the course, learning as you cruise from port to port, island to island in five days in Florida and the British Virgin Islands (BVI), four out of New York Harbor.
Catamaran Live Aboard Navigation
After achieving Bareboat Cruising Certification, you can take our comprehensive Coastal Navigation course while sailing a big catamaran in the British Virgin Island location. You'll learn about cruising catamarans, while concentrating on the nuances of piloting as you navigate from island to island. Lots of problem solving, lots of real hands-on navigating. The most complete Coastal Navigation sailing class you’ll find.
Coastal Navigation
This four-day classroom course gives you a solid foundation and sailing certification in piloting. It's the same sailing course content as taught on catamarans (above), totally in a classroom setting. It is also the precursor to Coastal Passage Making.
Fast Track to Coastal Passage Making
This ten-day sailing class includes the four-day Coastal Navigation course taken ashore, immediately followed by the six-day live-aboard Coastal Passage Making course on a 51’ cruising yacht. Taught in Florida and the British Virgin Islands, it includes sailing at night, standing watches, cooking underway, landfalls and much more.
Colgate Offshore Accelerated Sail Training
COAST® is the fastest and most economical way to master sailing in one year. Takes you from novice to skilled passage maker in a two-step curriculum that includes course tuition for five certifications. Tuition rates and a special discount are locked in for special savings.
Private Courses for Two
You can choose just about any Offshore Sailing School sailing course and turn it into a private experience - learning to sail and cruise as a team. This is the perfect experience for couples, friends, and a parent and sibling who want to share gaining skills aboard with confidence - just the two of you.
Private Family Courses
Here's one of the special sailing classes that brings your family to learn together in an unforgettable bonding experience. Choose any Learn to Sail, Bareboat Cruising Preparation or Live Aboard Cruising course and bring your family: Two parents or one parent and a sibling of at least 17 years of age, plus the rest of the family ages 7-17. Maximum five or six depending on course level.
Performance Sailing
For the more analytical sailor with go-fast spirit, this terrific course takes you beyond Learn to Sail with advanced training in sailing a Colgate 26 daysailer to its maximum potential. You’ll get extensive spinnaker work and learn more about what to do when problems occur, quickly and confidently.
Offshore/North U Performance Racing
The only course of its kind, anywhere – Performance Racing combines expert seminars and video analysis from North U and unique on-water instruction from professional Offshore Sailing School racing instructors. Six days/seven nights of exciting training and competition with more starts than most racing sailors do in a full year, and short courses to test quick reactions and retention. Lots of fun, serious learning, plus prizes awarded.
Team Building and Leadership Programs
Our Corporate Sail-Race Challenge® offers small and medium-size groups the opportunity to experience a special synergy between sailing and business. Find out how managing a sailboat, making it go in the right direction efficiently compares to achieving goals with peers and bosses back in the office. Whether your focus is team-building or leadership development, these tailored programs provide proven, positive results. Plus, they are fun! Half, full and multi-day programs available in Florida, New York Harbor and the Caribbean.
Royal Yachting Association Novice to Cruiser Courses
RYA courses provided by Offshore Sailing School are taught on 43-51-foot sailing yachts in the British Virgin Islands, allowing you to by-pass small boat training. The first two levels - Competent Crew and Day Skipper - allow you to learn together even if one of you is a complete novice and the other has had some basic training. Coastal Skipper is for those with solid sailing skills, similar to those required in the Offshore Sailing School Coastal Passage Making course. All students learning together on the boat must be at the same level.
Celestial Navigation
This four-day classroom sailing course is the precursor to Offshore Passage Making, available to take alone if you have strong Coastal Navigation experience. You’ll learn how to use a sextant, HO249 tables and the Nautical Almanac to calculate a sailboat's position based on the sun, planets and stars.
Offshore Passage Making
If the sea calls out and you can’t seem to get enough of it, this six-day sailing course might just be your ticket to true blue water sailing. You must have all necessary certifications, including Celestial Navigation and be ready for the rigors of non-stop ocean sailing. Taught in six days on 51 footers in the British Virgin Islands.
Fast Track to Offshore Passage Making
Combines our four-day Celestial Navigation course with the six-day Offshore Passage Making course. Taught only in the British Virgin Islands, this thrilling offshore adventure is for those with strong sailing skills, the stomach for blue water sailing, and all the necessary pre-requisite certifications. This is the most intense of all of our sailing classes.
Two-Day Learn to Sail and Learn to Cruise Adventures and Two-Hour Lessons
If you don’t have much spare time and just want to get started try our Two-Day Learn to Sail Getaway and learn on a Colgate 26 in two four-hour on-water sessions. Choose any two days you like. Want to get into cruising? Our Weekend Learn to Cruise Adventure on a big cruising boat gives you that big-boat thrill in 14 hours of instruction. If you just want a taste of sailing, our two-hour Sailing Lessons will whet your appetite for learning more.
Click here to read what you learn in the Offshore Sailing School Courses.
Book your sailing lesson or call 888-454-7015 to talk to one of our friendly sailing course advisors.
