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Dinghy Sailing for Beginners

If you’ve never set foot on a boat before then you’ve got a lot to get excited about! Dinghy sailing is a lot of fun and not as hard as you might think, especially when our very own, and rather brilliant Royal Yachting Association (RYA) instructors are on hand to help you every step of the way.

Join our free ‘Start Sailing’ course and very soon (usually by your first morning) you will be sailing solo in your own dinghy, enjoying warm waters and a gentle breeze. It’s a very rewarding course, which generally takes place each morning for 2-3 hours over 4 days of your week. It’s lots of fun and very sociable too. After a week with us, you’ll go home a bonafide ‘sailor’ with lots of new skills to boast about and an internationally recognised RYA qualification to boot!

All our Sailing Courses

Our Sailing Dinghies

Dinghy Sailing for Improvers

The essentials

  • Free Level 1 Start Sailing course
  • Where: Free in Vassiliki; Pelion; Porto Heli; & Kos
  • Ocean Elements ‘Fast Forward’ learning groups
  • Dinghy races and regattas
  • Under 13’s: join our free Kids Clubs 
  • 8-13’s: Try our RYA Youth Squad
  • The finest RYA teaching standards
  • Lots of  great boats for you to sail

Inclusive tuition

Dinghy Sailing tuition and our excellent RYA courses* are included in the cost of your holiday, so if you’ve never set foot in a boat before join our Level 1 course. Our brilliant instructors will have you sailing your own boat on your first morning, enjoying the warm waters and gentle breezes that make our Beach Clubs a sailors’ nirvana. You can dip in and out of lessons during your week (depending on your energy levels!) and there's no need to pre-book tuition or courses. Just sign up to the sessions when you arrive at our clubs.

Just a lesson or two from us will equip you with the necessary skills to free-sail our great boats all week, in calm conditions. You can just sail for fun or complete all four mornings of our complimentary Level 1 course (which is still a lot of fun!) to go home with a new Internationally recognised qualification at the end of your stay. 

RYA Level 1 ‘Start Sailing’ course

  • Free and Inclusive: Vassiliki; PelionPorto Heli & Kos
  • RYA Start Windsurfing course: Runs over 4 half-days
  • Ocean Elements ‘Fast Forward’ Learning groups
  • Small group sizes: (6 pupils)
  • Ability after the course: Able to sail in light winds

If you’ve never set foot in a boat before, then now’s your chance! This course will teach you the basics. It’s a fun course with most of it enjoyed on-the-water, so expect lots of sailing in your own boat in fair conditions with instructors-to-hand to help you progress. By the end of it, you’ll have learned how to sail confidently in all directions and shared some great times on the water with fellow guests. We'll also cover rigging, capsize techniques, launching and landing.

This course is run in smaller group sizes and follows the Ocean Elements Fast Forward coaching technique with 10-12 hours tuition time. At the end of your week, you’ll have earned a new and Internationally recognised RYA sailing qualification. For ages 14+. Under 13's will join our free kid's club (5 days) with watersports tasters. 8-13's can join our Youth Squad.

Try our Level 2 course

What’s the course like?

Level 1 Dinghy Sailing is an exciting course and it’s easy for all fitness levels (young and old) to join in. Our instructors make it fun and enjoyable and we use our ‘Fast Forward’ coaching techniques with small group sizes (6 students to 1 instructor) to help quicken the learning curve. You’ll progress at your own pace whilst making new sailing friends in our sociable learning groups.

We run the course in the mornings, in calm conditions.. Most of the course is out on the water and your instructor with a support boat is always close by. Our modern and up-to-date boats make learning fun and easy. 

After your course, you’ll be able to sail a dinghy solo in light winds and have earned your RYA Level 1 ‘Dinghy Sailing’ certificate. If you’re staying for two weeks, then why not try your Level 2 as well?

The very best RYA Instructors

Over the last ten years, we’ve taught thousands of guests to learn to windsurf and sail. It’s our energetic, top-notch team of British RYA instructors that make it all so great! They run sociable learning groups using the Ocean Elements ‘Fast Forward’ learning principles. All our centres have the right conditions and kit to help you progress and we love teaching people to sail. Perhaps that’s why our instructors scored 98% ‘Excellent’ from our client surveys from 2018.

We pick our staff for their friendly and outgoing nature’s and they’re always on hand to help you rig up, get launched and teach you some tips - whether you’re in a lesson or not!

Where’s best to learn?

All our resorts offer the perfect conditions for beginner sailors and windsurfers, where reliable winds and warm waters (along with our free tuition!) help quicken the learning curve.

Learning has never been easier with our modern and up-to-date boats, kept in tip-top shape to help make learning easier, and sailing more satisfying. Our courses will run for 4-5 days a week. Beginner lessons generally run in the mornings when the breeze is light and the sea is flat, allowing you to free-sail our boats for the rest of your day.

The hotel Nautica Bay in Porto Heli. is our specialist dinghy sailing centre and has the greatest range of kit. But all our centres are ideal for beginners, especially Surf Hotel in Vassiliki which is similarly well-stocked and has lovely calm morning conditions.

view our beach clubs

Dinghy Cruising

Discover the adventurous world of dinghy cruising whilst on holiday with us. We will offer you the opportunity to take part in our dinghy cruises and enjoy the feeling of longer-distance sailing as you cruise in company to a nearby island or ‘secret-beach’ stopover with instructors and RIB support boats to guide the flotilla.

DInghy cruises generally take place at the middle of the week and they involve all craft from single and double handed boats to family boats with a few crew. 

You will learn about cruise planning, safety and basic navigation along with long distance sailing skills to give you a taste for this truly inspirational past-time. The flotilla will often cruise to another island for a mid-morning stopover, to enjoy a swim or a coffee and ice cream. 

Available in all our centres: Half to 3/4 day.

What to wear and bring

  • Wear shorts you can get wet 
  • Wear a quick dry T-shirt or Rash Vest (can buy these locally from us)
  • Do wear sunglasses (can buy an elasticated band, locally from us)
  • Do wear plenty of sun cream
  • Some sailors wear a sun hat or cap for extra protection
  • No need for wetsuits - the water is very warm - even in May!
  • We supply buoyancy aids and helmets for kids

Top tip:
We sell sailing gloves, rash vests, quick dry T-Shirts, sunglasses bands at all our centres

The Best Holiday Ever!

“We came here on our summer holiday for a week. The holiday was one of the (if not the) best holidays I’ve ever been on. All of the staff are so kind and helpful. Always smiling and happy. We learnt to dingy sail over the course of the week where with thanks to Harry our teacher I was able to gain my Level 1 Sailing certificate. Also the ability to use the equipment was a huge bonus as I was able to take out kayaks, paddle boards…”

Trip Advisor Reviewed 5 August 2018

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