Flotilla for beginners

michele-p

Hi all, my husband and I are looking into a flotilla holiday this summer. We are both sailing beginners, with only 1 day experience on a previous holiday, but love the idea of arriving in a different place each evening, and having the company of the other boats in the evenings too. We would not want to have another couple on board, just the 2 of us.

I've looked at many itineraries, and it looks like Greece would be best for us, but we have already had 2 holidays on Lefkada and in Parga, both of which we love, but there is a flotilla around Paxos and anti Paxos, which calls into Parga, which I like the sound of.

The website at sailingholidays.com states that we can do this with no qualifications, maybe have their skipper on the boat on day 1 to literally show us the ropes, most other companies want a RYA course, which involves a week long course on a shared training boat. Don't like that idea!!

Has anyone done this sort of holiday? Anyone used Sailingholidays - or a different recommendation? I did really fancy Croatia, but they definitely require the RYA course as law.

labp04

Some friends of ours went with sailingholidays about 10 years ago with no previous experience, got "the bug" bought a small cruiser and have never regretted a minute since. It may be worth your while (read: you may get more out of the holiday) if you were to get some prior experience eg a pre-flotilla course and the RYA website has a wealth of information to draw on. Whatever you decide, we would recommend sailing to any and everyone; enjoy!

michele-p

Thanks for the reply, just had a quick look round the RYA website - but maybe will call the flotilla people to check they are happy with beginners! The ideal would be to join the flotilla on the first holiday, rather than a training week first then the holiday.

labp04

Hope the RYA can help. "Courses" aren't always a week's duration eg there are taster sessions of an hour or two, through a couple of days and longer. Some companies offer "specialist" pre-flotilla 2/3 day courses which aren't all "cheek by jowel" based on the training boat and which, will provide the opportunity to learn some basic skills which will add to the enjoyment of the holiday . Obviously don't know where you are based but the London Boat Show begins this weekend and there will be a whole host of info on holidays and sailing schools available both there for those who can get there and on the show's website. A quick look shows that sailing holidays will be exhibiting (http://londonboatshow.com/exhibiting/sailing%20holidays). We're both pretty excited at visiting the show and, no, we aint exhibitors or organisers, just keen yachties! Hope it all works out :beer:

michele-p

Hi Labp04 - thanks for the boat show idea. We live in Norwich, so near the broads - thinking of visiting the boat show on Tuesday next week, as we are only 1.5 hrs from London. Have you been before? Is it worth it for non boaties looking for a holiday?

I'll need to look for a discount code for the tickets now.

labp04

Hi again, yes, we've been to the boat show a number of times and, yes, it probably is a good place to get answers to any questions. For non-boaties, there's plenty going on and plenty to see. Do let us know how you get on etc ⛵️