Experience Caribbean sailing while developing skills at your own pace — or take a certification course.

For some people, a formal, certification course is a good choice and we deliver these with the care they deserve on the chartered monohull or catamaran of your choice. For others, a formal course — especially if it needs to be concluded in just one week — can become a stressful chore because of the need to stick to a fixed curriculum and, of course, study for and take written exams. If you try to cram it all in ‘zero-to-hero’ style, the week-long experience becomes more about ‘ticking boxes’ as fas as possible and taking the required exams.

Personal skill development, on the other hand, is private coaching with more of an emphasis on developing and improving  practical skills rather than ‘teaching to the test.’  It’s training on your terms — a more hands-on experience with your personal, on-board coach. This type of instruction frees us to focus on you and what you really need to know to confidently sail in the Caribbean — and to do so at your own pace and comfort level on a modern chartered vessel or your own.

So, if you want or need to take the certification route, we are a affiliated NauticEd practical training school and can coach and certify you to their high standards or any charter boat.

Alternatively, provided that you have some basic keelboat sailing experience and are interested in a getting formal skipper certification through the American Sailing Association we can put together a personalized custom course for you and/or your family on a chartered boat of your choice–monohull or catamaran, newer or older, bigger or smaller.  Depending on your level of prior experience, this 7-day course would be endorsed by the ASA through one of the several ASA-affiliated charter companies that we work with in the British Virgin Islands where we are based.

One-on-one personal coaching without the distraction of strangers.

Whether you want to get a recognised skippers credential or brush-up on existing skills, one-to-one coaching is the bespoke experience that allows us to personalise training sessions around your needs and interests. Lessons can be tailor-made to individual requirements. For some it might be a it might be as simple as breaking a few bad habits to make docking a less stressful exercise for two people. For others, it might be a matter of instilling more confidence to take longer, overnight passages in more exposed waters. The boat will be dedicated to just you and your party so you’ll have the undivided attention of your coach to demonstrate techniques and encourage you to achieve your personal best– and without strangers on board judging how well you’re doing!

Although the focus might be one-on-one, at no extra tuition cost, you could bring friends and family along* to acquire some skills as well.

We are happy to teach a certification course or bespoke skill development. It’s your choice. Our instructional fees are the same for both so we are not biased to one or other format. It really depends what you want to accomplish and whether you need to have formal certification.

So do I need certification? Does my instructor?

If you have recent and relevant on the water experience, you may not need formal certification in order to charter a bareboat in the Caribbean. For recreational sailors, formal certifications are desirable but mostly voluntary.  You could sail your whole life–even reach the highest levels of achievement — without a single piece of paper to your name. This is not the case for commercial skippers–including your instructor. Whichever sailing organization, or whatever boat you choose, your on the water instructor is the most single most important factor to you achieving a successful outcome.  Because not all good sailors are good teachers, every professional sailing instructor needs to be credentialed by one (or more) of the recognised teaching bodies. Wherever you choose, you should not be shy in asking to see your instructor’s teaching credentials and check that they are still in date and valid.

We’re happy to talk to you about whether taking a formal course is right for your goals and we’re proud to show you all of our credentials if you’d like to see them.  And to help you decide which route might be best for you, just get in touch.  Head Coach Michael Domican will email or call you back as soon as he can–you won’t be contacted by a salesperson. He might suggest a week-long experience or we might be able to meet your needs over a one-day or two-day ‘clinic’ if you own your own boat.

Don’t hesitate to get in touch.  We enjoy sharing what we know about Caribbean sailing with people who want to learn from us.

* Tuition costs are per day and are in addition to any requested certification course fees and charter-related costs.  Up to four active participants on a certification or personal skill development course. More friends or family are welcome as passengers if the boat chosen has enough cabins. See pricing page for more details.