Are you looking for a worthwhile way of spending your time between school and university, or between careers, or during a sabbatical leave from a demanding job?

An offshore sailing adventure with training and qualifications is one of the best choices you could make. Read on for Gap Year Options.

This is an adventurous sport with plenty of personal challenge and excitement. It brings you close to nature and the elements. It offers travel opportunities beyond the limitations of cars, trains and planes. Acquiring the skills requires both physical and mental effort and commitment. The Royal Yachting Association directs a world class structured training scheme through which you can progress from beginner to sailing professional and enjoy a tremendous sense of achievement at each stage. It’s a team activity where you work, learn and have fun together with small groups of like-minded people. Its absorbing. Its refreshing. It’s a real break from routine.

If you have the aspiration, training to sail may lead you to an exciting new full or part–time career in the steadily expanding sailing industry.

If you plan to embark on or return to another career, the experiences you will have and the friends you will make provide a life-long source of inspiration.

About Elite Sailing

We are an established professional sailing school and RYA Training Centre based at Chatham in Kent – just 45 minutes from central London. Every year we train hundreds of people in big-boat sailing (cruising and racing) – from absolute beginner to professional skippers and crew. We specialize in adventurous sailing all around NW Europe and in professional skipper and instructor training and development.

Our basic training courses are run from our base at Chatham Marina and the sailing is in the challenging waters of the Medway and Thames Estuaries and the Channel. Our adventurous sailing and skipper development training is all around the British Isles (from the Isles of Scilly to Shetland) and NW Europe including Ireland, France, Spain and Portugal, Holland and Scandinavia. You don’t have to travel far to find adventure on the high seas. Its here on your doorstep. This is a challenging and fascinating environment, full of variety from the busy waters of the Dover Strait to the beautiful remoteness of the western Isles of Scotland or from the wild western coasts of Ireland to the Atlantic coasts of Spain and Portugal. After completing training in these waters you can make the world your oyster.

Our instructors have wide knowledge of the sailing industry and for Elite Sailing graduates who want to find temporary or long term employment we provide good objective advice on job search and introductions.

While sailing skills and qualifications are important and facing up to challenges brings special satisfaction, we never forget that sailing should be about having fun in company with other like-minded people. We work hard to create an environment which is safe and in which everyone can relax and enjoy themselves as well as achieve ambitions.

We are a comparatively small company where you can be sure you will be welcomed as an individual, enjoy personal service and be treated throughout as a member of our sailing team.

Gap Year Options

We offer a range of packages from a short adventure break to a 13 week programme of professional sail training. Minimum age is 18 years for all courses.

Adventure Cruise 7or 8 days About 300 Sea Miles Prices From £456

eg: “Irish Rover” – Around the West Coast of Ireland from Galway to Cork – a week of champagne sailing along the southwest coast of Ireland, with stunning scenery, clear Atlantic waters, beautiful anchorages, dolphins and, not least, a few lively ports with plenty of good music and ‘crack’ . Sail training is included and you get an RYA Competent Crew Certificate.

Further details of this and other adventures.

Day Skipper Training Package

19 days About 300 Sea Miles Price £1,390

This short training package will take you from absolute beginner to the RYA Day Skipper Practical qualification and the International Certificate of Competence. This first skipper’s qualification will enable you to sail a yacht as skipper for private use, charter etc. With a commercial endorsement you can work as a day sailing skipper and it is the first building block towards the yachtmaster qualification. The package includes courses and certificates in sea survival, diesel engine maintenance, VHF radio operation and first aid at sea.

Start and Finish Dates: 2006: DS Pack 1
24 September to 13 October
Other dates by special arrangement

Contact us for more information

Coastal Skipper Training Package

46 days About 1000 Sea Miles Price £3,250

This intermediate package will take you from absolute beginner to the RYA Coastal Skipper Practical qualification. There is an examination at the end and if you pass this you will get the RYA/MCA Coastal Skipper ‘ticket’. With a commercial endorsement you can work as a charter skipper or as a qualified mate (with restrictions on distance from harbour). The programme includes courses and certificates in sea survival, diesel engine maintenance, VHF radio operation and first aid at sea. From this complete foundation you can go on to build the additional experience needed to be ready for the Yachtmaster Examination.

Start and Finish Dates: 2006: CS Pack 1
24 September to 12 November
Other dates by special arrangement

Fast Track Professional Yachtmaster Course

13 Weeks Over 2700 Sea Miles Price From £6,950

This is the definitive course to become a capable and confident all-round skipper and gain the qualifications needed to work as a commercial yacht skipper. The programme takes you from beginner to RYA/MCA Yachtmaster Offshore. It includes 74 to 76 days training at sea and all the supporting training such as sea survival, diesel engine maintenance, VHF radio operation, radar operation and first aid at sea. This is a challenging, exciting and immensely rewarding experience. It culminates in a professional skipper’s qualification that has probably the widest recognition around the world.

Start and Finish Dates:

2007:

FT1 11 March to 11 June Places Available
FT2 13 May to 14 August Places Available

Click for Further Details of Fast Track Courses

RYA Instructor Course (Cruising Instructor)
5 Days afloat Price £410

 If you have achieved the commercial yachtmaster qualification, have above average skills and the ability to teach the subject, you can become an RYA Cruising Instructor. This course raises your own skills and shows you how to structure and deliver the training for beginners and Day Skipper students.

Dates: Any week by special arrangement. Call the office.