“I have just come back from my second training week at the Sunsail base. I first attended in 2019 to complete my Competent Crew qualification, and when deciding to do my Day Skipper licence, it was an absolute given that I would go back again, as the first experience was so good. This year’s Day Skipper course was no different – it has been brilliant.
Firstly, our instructor, Tadek, was extremely experienced and excellent at demonstrating, listening if anyone was struggling to understand something, and using many different teaching techniques to make each task clear. He worked tirelessly in difficult conditions to get the course content covered — no easy task when the weather meant we lost an entire day in the marina. That time, however, was used to its full with theory, boat safety, rope handling, and anything else he could think of that we could do on the dock.
This did create a delay in practical skills, but he made sure we caught up, which was very much appreciated. He’s a really nice person, fun to be around, and made the whole experience a really good one. He also ensured the boat was well-provisioned daily so that we always had what we wanted to eat. He was very knowledgeable about the local area — not just from a sailing perspective but also when it came to restaurants. We all ate together each night with the other training boat, which made for a really nice social experience.
This course is not to be looked at as a holiday! It’s extremely full-on, with little to no downtime, so my advice would be to make sure you’re prepared for that. It’s very different from when I did my Competent Crew course, where there were only Comp Crew students on board and things were much slower-paced.
We all thoroughly enjoyed our week. It was hard work, but we knew that would be the case and fully embraced the level of effort and commitment required. Tadek was excellent at troubleshooting a few technical issues we had on board and working around the weather challenges.
We had a fabulous night passage, which is my highlight of the week — surfing down waves in the dark, following nav lights, and watching the water crash over the bow, lighting up our port and starboard lights. We even managed a cup of tea and some chocolate underway, which is always appreciated on night watches!
We anchored for three nights, moving once due to an unexpected swell. That created an additional night passage, which we all found great fun — especially as it happened after we’d all gone to bed, another fond memory.
We had fantastic sailing conditions with unexpectedly good winds and plenty of opportunities to practise motor skills. I’ve picked up a lot of new skills and gained a much better competence and understanding of things, such as power handling, anchoring, and making docking decisions – all things required to make a good day skipper.
I made new friends and have nothing but good things to say about this sailing school. Everyone we met was fun, friendly, and professional, and the flotilla looks like great fun too! The boats were very luxurious — I’m more used to stripped-out racing yachts, but this one was very comfortable, with air conditioning, heating, hot water, lovely showers, comfy duvets and beds and even electric toilets (who knew!!). Above deck, there was even an electric winch and speakers for music (if you had the time!).
Thank you for a great week!”
