West Coast Exploration

Course Information

Joining Instructions: Please click here for course joining instructions

What is included in the cost:

• Yacht hire
• RYA Qualified Instructor / Professional Skipper
• Breakfast, lunches, snacks and evening meals (Two evening meals are taken ashore at the customers own cost)
• Tea, coffee & soft drinks
• Accommodation on board
• Marina berths & moorings at Premier Marinas only. Other marinas charges are split between all customers.
• Diesel
• Cooking gas
• Wet weather kit hire (not footwear)
• Hire of a Baltic automatic life jacket

We can accommodate most dietary requirements, including vegetarian, vegan, pescatarian or gluten free. Just let us know when you book.

Course Prerequisites: Ideally at least RYA Competent Crew or equivalent experience.

Minimum Age: No minimum but Under 16’s must be accompanied by adult. Persons aged 16+ can be unaccompanied subject to other pre-requisites having been met

Holiday Insurance: We recommend all our customers have suitable holiday insurance in place. Yachtsman’s insurance is available via Topsail Insurance and can cover cancellations and personal effects.

What we cover on the holiday:

You’ll visit West Country ports like Dartmouth, Salcombe, Plymouth, Falmouth and potentially the Isles of Scilly. The exact itinerary depends on wind and tide – that is part of the point. Alternative stops include Brixham, Torquay, Poole, Weymouth and Portland.

Each passage runs 50-80 nautical miles. That is proper sea time. You’ll plan each leg, handle sail changes in open water, and deal with real tidal gates.

Tom and Jonno say this about West Coast sailing:

We have been running West Country passages for years and they remain some of our favourite trips. The sailing is genuinely interesting – tide races, headland passages, and the occasional bit of proper open water when you head for the Scilly Isles.

What we hear most from customers afterwards is that they did not realise how much there was to see along the south coast. Dartmouth alone is worth the trip. You get into harbour after a solid day’s sail, tie up, and walk into a town that feels a long way from Gosport.