RYA Sailing

Royal Yachting Association (RYA) Sailing

CYE runs a wide variety of sailing courses, for all ages from 8 upwards. All our courses are run by our highly qualified and caring Instructors and are run under the Guidelines of the Royal Yachting Association.

We strive to run our sailing sessions with exceptionally high instructor ratios, typically operating with between 2 and 4 students per instructor to enhance the quality of training we provide.  This, coupled with a wide selection of the best training boats available, is a perfect way to try sailing for the first time or pick up from where you left off.

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The Youth Sailing Scheme

Our courses run within the framework of the RYA sailing schemes. You will be placed in a small group, with people of similar experience, led by one of our highly qualified instructors. Under their guidance you will progress your sailing onto the next level, whether that means giving you your first ever experience of sailing, or planning around the harbour in one of our high performance racing boats. Depending on your aspirations for the week, we can work towards that next certificate, or just have fun on the water.

Our courses are split by age, for kids, teenagers and adults. Our children and teenager courses (8-12 and 12-15) are run within the RYA Youth Scheme, and we can provide RYA Youth Stages 1-4. Using our fleets of single handed boats that young people can sail on their own, or with a friend including Hartley 10s and RS Zests, as well as larger dinghies that allow young people to sail with their instructor in the boat with them. Our instructors are always close to hand to provide assistance launching, tuition from powerboats as well as on-shore teaching and briefings.

Not sure which stage to book? See what each stage is all about here

Just want to have a go? Our multi-activity days are just the thing – experience all of our activities, including sailing, to see what you enjoy.

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Instructing

Want to share your passion for sailing with others and become an instructor? We run Instructor courses and can also provide you with all the prerequisites you will require before attending a course.

Dinghy Instructor Pre-requisites:

RYA First Aid – a one day course including a module on hypothermia and drowning.

RYA Safeguarding & Protecting Children Training – click here for more details

RYA Powerboat Level 2 – a 2 day course covering the essential elements to basic powerboat handling and usage.

Dinghy Instructor Pre-Entry Training and Assessment – a skills based assessment with an optional day of training 

RYA Dinghy Instructor Course – A five day course designed to develop your coaching skills and knowledge of an effective teaching progression. This is an intensive course requiring good personal preparation in advance. Full details of content can be found in the RYA coaching handbook G14.

Minimum age for dinghy instructor training is 16.

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Training Courses

Our RYA Modules are designed to let you experience the fun of sailing and take your sailing to the next level, but are more focused on learning specific skills than the Youth Sailing courses.

Seamanship Skills: A chance to perfect your sailing manoeuvres and learn new skills including, picking up moorings, anchoring, sailing without a rudder and picking up a ‘man over board’.

Day Sailing: Go on a day trip to one of the beautiful beaches or bays within Chichester harbour and learn everything you need to safely plan and undertake trips on your own.

Spinnakers: Adding a 3rd sail to the front of a dinghy (the spinnaker) transforms the speed of sailing away from the wind. You will learn how to handle and control this sail under the expert eye of one of our Advanced Instructors.

Performance Sailing: Turbo charge your sailing with high quality coaching from our advanced instructors.  You will be pushed to your limits to get the most out of our high performance dinghies.

Level 3 Better Sailing: An opportunity for you to progress beyond basic skills, to recap if you have done basic skills but not sailed for more than a year and to bridge any gaps in knowledge before moving onto the more advanced modules – eg Performance.

Start Racing:  The focus is on general sailing ability, but in a racing context. This introduction to racing will provide you with the skills, knowledge, tactics and strategy to start racing at a local club. 

Upcoming Events (click for details)