Adventure Sailing for ages 13 – 19 yrs

Voyages for individual young people during the school holidays. Have fun, meet new friends and work towards RYA qualifications. All voyages start and finish in Plymouth, unless stated otherwise, and can count for your DofE Gold Residential – always check with your DofE Leader first. Voyages follow the RYA Cruising syllabus.

Voyagers participate in every aspect of life on board, under full instruction from our professional sailing staff learning about navigation, helming, cooking, making sail, weighing anchor… part of the ship, part of the crew!

DofE Gold Residentials

To achieve your Gold DofE Award, you need to complete an additional Residential section. You can choose from a range of residential activities, one of them being sailing.

Join us for a five day and five night voyage on board one of our beautiful traditional wooden ships. You will participate in all aspects of life on board, from helming and navigation to cooking, getting the sails up and rowing ashore. Make new friends, visit new places, learn new skills and above all have fun!

DofE Bronze, Silver and Gold Expeditions

Join us on board Gaff Yawl Moosk for your Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Bronze, Silver or Gold Expedition. We offer open sailing expeditions where you can join other like minded participants to form an expedition group. For a school or group wishing to undertake an Expedition together, the group would need to be 7 participants in total. The Practice and Qualifying modules are run back-to-back for a duration of 3 days Bronze, 8 days Silver and 9 days Gold.

Some previous knowledge or sailing experience on yachts or dinghies would be advantageous.

Gaining RYA qualifications

We are a Royal Yachting Association (RYA) Recognised Training Centre. We offer a range of RYA Sailing courses for young people and adults.

A week sailing on board one of our vessels can be enough to gain an RYA Certificate, part of an internationally recognised vocational training scheme; This can lead to Professional Sailing Qualifications such as a Yacht Skipper, 1st Mate, 2nd Mate, Cook or Deck Hand.

Beginners practical courses for Schools, Groups, and independent teenagers are also delivered on board all our vessels.

RYA courses can count for your DofE Gold Residential – always check with your DofE Leader first.

Please contact us for more information and availability..

School and Group sailing

Voyages for groups of young people from schools, home education networks, and youth organisations are available from March to October.

Group voyages can be tailored perfectly for your group’s needs and we have extensive experience of working with a diverse range of young people with specific educational, physical and behavioural needs.

Our staff are highly trained, making a week’s voyage, a safe, challenging and exhilarating, personal achievement.

Please contact us for more information.

Ocean Discoverability day sails

Day sails supporting young people, some with life-limiting conditions, from additional needs schools and day centres in Plymouth, Devon and Cornwall. These voyages provide new experiences, joy, wonder and challenge in a unique environment.

On these trips, they will learn about the Ocean, what lives in it, what we do with it and the impacts it has on us and we have on it. They record what they see in our specially written guide, which they keep. Depending on ability, other educational activities include a word search, identifying mystery objects on board, calculating the sail area, learning about sailing the vessel, taking an active role in setting and handling sails, steering and trawling for plankton.

Please contact us for more information.

Sailing adventures for the Home Educated

During school term time we run several Sail Training voyages exclusively for Home Educated youngsters between the ages of 12 to 18, which follow the same itinerary as our adventure sailing voyages, and are crafted for those who are capable of benefiting from sail training without special care requirements. Voyages follow the RYA Cruising syllabus and most include the option to gain or further RYA qualifications.

Please contact us for dates or more information.

Small Ships Races

The Annual Small Ships Cowes Race is held each year on the first weekend of October. A short but extremely popular youth event. Small Ships Races is for smaller vessels, usually under 24 metres long with up to 16 trainees on board, and are run under the rules of the Tall Ships Races.

Racing is hard work and challenging. It is exhilarating, rewarding and builds a real sense of teamwork.

This is a friendly race for young people aged between 13 and 25 years old.

Sailing and Wild Swimming for adults

Enjoy some wonderful sailing and wild swimming along the South Devon and Cornwall coast. We’ll put up the sails and sail away to find the perfect spot to drop anchor and swim from the boat.

No previous sailing experience is necessary. There will be the opportunity to learn about sailing the boat, which will include raising and lowering the sails, helming, navigation and much more. The swims are intended to be a relaxed affair taking in the beautiful surroundings, enjoying the sea, and the companionship of the group.

Adult voyages and courses

Every so often, when our youth sailing programme allows, we run a small number of coastal voyages, day sails and sailing and wild swimming trips for grown-ups on board Johanna Lucretia and Moosk. Everyone is able to get involved in running the boat, from raising the sails, pulling the anchor, navigating and steering.

Throughout the sailing season we run a number of RYA courses for adults on board Moosk – Competent Crew, Day Skipper Practical, and Yachtmaster Preparation & Exam, or you can join the course to hone your skills and build miles.

Johanna Lucretia and Moosk are also available for private hire. Please contact us for more information.

Private and Corporate Group sailing

To support our charitable work we also run voyages for private groups and commercial organisations seeking a team experience. Our well qualified and experienced Crew will instruct and guide you in the sailing and everyone will learn new skills and make lasting memories, whatever the weather.

Please contact us for more information.

Hire our Tall Ship for Film and Television work

Our traditionally rigged wooden sailing vessels are available to hire for film and television work at any time of the year, whether the genre be times gone by or present day.

Get in touch

Please phone us on 01752 823007, email info@theislandtrust.org.uk, or use the enquiry form below: