Two of us, seven boats and a slipway on Church Quay in Flushing. Three to a boat, never more — and most people who push off with us have never held a tiller before.
Level, length and price on one line each. Prices are per person and include the boat, a buoyancy aid and waterproofs from the hut if you need them.
Rigging, steering, tacking and how to climb back in when you fall out. Ages 16 and over. You leave with the Level 1 certificate on the second afternoon.
Stronger wind, righting a capsize and coming alongside without drama. Level 2 certificate at the end of it.
Five days aboard the keelboat: pilotage, anchoring, and a night passage to Fowey if the forecast allows it.
Two to a boat with an instructor alongside. Out after breakfast, back on the quay before lunch, wet through and pleased with themselves.
One or two of you, working on whatever you want to work on — reefing, mooring under sail, night sailing, or nerves.
Start times follow the tide rather than the clock, so we confirm yours the week before your course.
Ask about dates
Most people who come to us have never held a tiller, and the beginner courses are built for exactly that. There is no theory to read first, no kit to buy and no club to join.
Four Wayfarers, two RS Quests and a 27-foot keelboat. Which one you sail depends on the course you have booked, not on what happens to be free that morning.
Steady, forgiving and roomy enough for an instructor and two students. Nearly everyone starts here, and most of the RYA teaching happens in them.
Lighter and quicker to answer the helm. The juniors sail these, and so does anyone who wants to be sat out on the side deck by the end of the week.
Four berths and a galley that works. She is the Day Skipper boat, and the one that goes to Fowey.
Two on the junior boats. It is the only class size we have ever taught, and the reason we turn people away in August.
Between the two of us we teach every course on this page. Nobody else takes your boat out. More about the school.
Parts of the harbour dry out, and the slip at Church Quay is one of them. Your start time follows the water rather than the clock, which is why we confirm it the week before your course instead of months ahead.
The other honest part: Cornish weather turns. We would rather move a day than hand you a bad one.
Ellen teaches the dinghies and runs the junior weeks. Tom takes the keelboat and most of the Day Skipper courses. We started with two second-hand Wayfarers in 2011 and have added a boat every few years since.
People who sat their Level 1 with us sometimes come back years later for their Day Skipper. That is the part of the job we like best.
Ellen and Tom Rowse, Church Quay
Tell us roughly when you are free and what you would like to do. We will come back with the tides for that week and what is left in the boats.