Yacht Racing Practice Weekend

Price: from £350 (Finance now available)

Location: Starts from our base at Premier Gosport Marina and sails around the Solent and further offshore

Duration: 2 Days

These practice weekends are a great way to see if yacht racing is for you or to gain a bit more confidence and experience. We will put you on one of our fleet yachts with an experienced racing skipper and take you out into the Solent and further afield for race practice. You’ll learn how to tack and gybe faster, the use of race crew communication and hand signals, working the helm, close quarters sailing and a lot more. These weekends are also a great way to get practice in before any yacht races take place and hone existing skills or tactics.

Booking details

    No dates currently available. Please contact us for more info.

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Event Information

Joining Instructions: Please click here for event joining instructions

Recommended Reading: Sailing magazines, RORC website, ISAF website, any books or magazines on yacht racing

Event Prerequisites: At least RYA Competent Crew with some sailing time

Minimum Age: 18+

Holiday Insurance: We would advise ALL our customers to ensure they have suitable holiday insurance in-place. Yachtsman’s insurance is available from a variety of souces like Topsail Insurance and can cover things like cancellations and personal effects cover.

Numerous sailboats surround the iconic Needles Lighthouse near white cliffs on a clear day, creating a picturesque maritime scene.
Two sailboats with colorful sails race on the sea under a partly cloudy sky, with multiple people aboard, cliffs in the background.

Who is the event for:

This event is for any competent sailor who wants to get additional practice in before a race! So as long as you are at least RYA Competent Crew trained, or have suitable sailing skills, are fit and agile and can adapt quickly during a race this may be the event for you.

This practice weekend will give you a taster of offshore sailing, close quarters sailing amongst other yachts (par for the course in the Solent!) and will improve your tacking and gybing skills, along with giving you an edge at the helm and generally a flavour for what it takes to go racing.

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What we cover on the event:

The weekend will cover a general skills review and practice/refresh, typical racing techniques, safety considerations and drills, crew positions and jobs, communication and hierarchy, technical brief and strategy, weather monitoring and considerations and other elements which will all make up a safe and run race. 

This practice weekend is designed to hone existing skills, look at where you may need to focus, be that on practical skills, your own fitness or working together as a yacht racing crew.

It’ll involve some long days and possibly even an overnight sail, so no marina stops! It’ll be a taster of a mini offshore race in itself, which may include bad weather, or focus on areas like the start line, sail handling, tactics and race sailing techniques.

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Three people on a boat enjoy a sunny day sailing. The ocean is calm, and numerous sailboats are visible on the horizon.
A group of people on a yacht sail in a large regatta, with numerous other boats visible under cloudy skies.

Event formats & details:

This event runs in a single format:

  • 2 consecutive days: (Saturday to Sunday)
  • Also available mid-week

These weekends will typically be scheduled in the weekends leading up to RORC offshore races

Our Principal says this about the Yacht Racing Practice Weekends:

These weekends are a great way to see if competing in an offshore race is for you, or for gaining a bit more confidence before a big race. You’ll have to get involved, as this is no pleasure cruise weekend. It’ll be pretty full-on and will aim to give you a good guide as to what you can expect, or where you need to focus on to achieve your goal.

You’ll be part of a yacht racing crew who will be steely-eyed on gaining results, from that perfect start over the line, to impeccable sail handling, fast tacks and gybes that leave your fellow competitors in your wake.

These weekends are also quite a lot of fun and a great introduction to a different type of sailing. Forget cruising, now you are racing!

Your race Skipper will take you on an intensive training weekend where you’ll learn about race procedures, safety and how to react to quick tacks and gybes, the communication needed on board and how to act as a close-knit race team! It’ll also be a guide to the challenging waters around the Isle of Wight and offshore, including hazards and features, plus tactics to be employed on race day!

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Four people on a sailboat are navigating water near a coastline, enjoying a sunny day. The background shows a distant shoreline.

Booking details

No dates currently available. Please contact us for more info.

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    Customer reviews

    Exciting Channle islands exploration!! This will be my third time with Commodore, no regrets. 😁 Such a great trip exploring the Channle islands and northern France. We got to see lovely towns in Guernsey and Jersey as well as a fab market in Cherbourg. The sailing was so great! Over 350 miles covered and well over doubled my night hours. Big shoutout and thank you to our amazing skipper Ed who always had to the best recommendation and was so flexible to what we wanted to do as a group. He was an amazing support through out the trip, gave great MOB training and help in passage planning. Boat was great as always. Amazing experience and can’t wait to go on similar trips with the company.

    Orla Simpson Avatar Orla Simpson
    29th August 2025

    We did a mile builder channel crossing with Karen. She was absolutely brilliant, a great combination of confident and relaxed to help us build our feeling of confidence. Would highly recommend the mile builder with her. Overall a tiring but extremely rewarding experience. Thank you Karen!!

    Ana Sofia Almagro Avatar Ana Sofia Almagro
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