RYA course booking information

How to book:

We run 5 day cruising courses almost every week from the beginning of October until the end of May. Bookings are taken on a first-come-first-served basis on receipt of your deposit.

Email us with your preferred dates and we will fit you onto an available course. We are always very happy to offer advice regarding the best course for your experience and skill level. Once you have paid you deposit there are no admin fees for date changes at least 4 weeks in advance.

Students with different skill and experience levels can very effectively be taught together. For example Competent Crew and Coastal Skipper courses can be taught at the same time on board, with crewing skills being learnt by one person with another person being taught to skipper the same crew. This works really well because everyone gets up-skilled very effectively through seeing things from each other’s perspective.

We run with between 2 and 5 students on board. Individuals, couples or groups are all welcome to book onto any of our courses. We’ve always found that cruising sailors, whether young, old, experienced or novice get on really well and provide each other with stimulating, and enjoyable company. Making new friends and learning new tricks (even for the instructors) are great aspects of our courses.

Course prices:

All 5 day live aboard practical cruising courses cost $2295 NZD inc GST. This includes:

We can also arrange for you to sit the RYA Yachtmaster Coastal or RYA Yachtmaster Offshore exam aboard one of our boats at the end of the RYA Yachtmaster preparation course. Cost to sit the exam, including exam fees, use of the boat and examiners expenses is $1500 per person.

Price includes:

  • Fully equipped boat, maintained to RYA and MNZ safety standards.
  • All food for the week
  • All fuel
  • Loan of waterproof jacket and trousers (if required)
  • RYA instruction and course completion certificate, where applicable.
  • All marina and berthing fees
  • Pillow and clean pillowcase supplied

At Sail Nelson we are proud to consistently receive great feedback from our customers and it is personal recommendations that keep us so busy. Whether returning to sail with us again or enquiring for the first time we look forward to hearing from you soon.

Email us now: enquiries@sailnelson.co.nz