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With the prospect of exciting adventures on their home waters or at sea, thousands of budding recreational skippers start sailing training every year. Without giving it much thought, most of them choose the nearest sports boat school to get the necessary skills and prepare for their licence test.
The plan works in the vast majority of cases - but not always. Some people have been annoyed by hidden costs for exams and teaching materials that were not mentioned at the beginning. Or about sailing instructors who bluntly reel off their teaching programme without responding to the individual needs of their students. During practical training, displeasure often arises because the boat or equipment turns out to be quite old or because the skipper is good with a yacht but not with his students. Such experiences can spoil a new hobby before it has even begun.
Sports boat schools, clubs, private individuals- the offer to learn to sail is large
That's why it's advisable to take a closer look at which provider you'd like to use. The problem: there are countless. In addition to commercial sailing schools, clubs, associations and university sailing departments also provide training. Private individuals also offer their services as sailing instructors. The range of courses on offer varies greatly. Sometimes courses are only held for the standard inland and sea sailing licences (SBF), sometimes also for the sport coaster licence (SKS) and higher licences. At other times, practice on the boat is limited to the hours and nautical miles required to pass an exam. Sometimes sophisticated skipper and manoeuvre training can be booked. And then there is also the option of completing theory and practice with different providers.
In short, there are virtually no fixed rules or even legal requirements for the sailing school industry in this country. The associations therefore endeavour to at least provide guidelines to help with the selection process. For example, the German Sailing Association (DSV) trains sailing instructors and certifies schools that fulfil certain criteria in terms of their equipment and training quality.
The "Quality training in water sports" seal for certified sailing schools
The Association of German Sports Boat Schools (VDS), the Association of German Water Sports Schools (VDWS) and the German Motor Yacht Association have also established common quality criteria. By awarding their QAW seal, they certify that sailing schools provide "quality training in water sports" to a predefined, high standard. The DSV and VDS websites have lists of schools that have been awarded one of these seals of approval.
Conversely, this does not mean that all other schools are worse. Even providers that are not certified by an association or skippers without a DSV instructor licence can be good at teaching others how to sail. They may have different, but not necessarily lower, standards when it comes to the quality of their training.
If you clarify the following points when looking for a suitable provider, you will avoid unpleasant surprises later on.
This is how a sailing school should be equipped
Collision prevention rules, coupling location, cardinal signs: At first glance, the theory for the licences can seem hair-raisingly complicated and the legislation yawningly boring. Modern classrooms, reliable and modern technology for face-to-face and, if necessary, online lessons as well as informative teaching materials make learning easier. Although the training content for a particular driving licence is the same everywhere, the way in which knowledge is imparted can be done in many different ways.
For example, a slightly better inflatable boat with a 17 hp outboard motor fulfils the minimum requirement for practical training as part of the SBF See. "However, this does not provide truly qualified training for sailing a seagoing vessel," says Eckhard Mikulski from the Frankfurt Sailing Centre. According to the experienced sailing instructor, it also makes a difference whether lessons are given on the Mittelland Canal, the Flensburg Fjord or the Elbe.
In Germany, yachts used for training for the SKS and higher licences must meet the safety requirements of the Berufsgenossenschaft Verkehr - formerly known as See-BG - and be approved. Abroad, they must fulfil the country-specific safety requirements if they are not sailing under the German flag.
"We teach in Germany and other countries in Europe. All of our boats sail under the German flag and have BG Verkehr approval. This means that customers know that they fulfil the safety requirements," explains Markus Seebich from the Sailing Island sailing school in Mönchengladbach.
Some schools exceed these standards
Sailing schools exceed the standard set by the professional association when they place importance on familiarising students with various rescue and recovery aids, for example, as well as with the technology on board that is useful for a ship on a cruise. "A personal AIS in the lifejacket, Jonbuoy, life raft and rescue hoses are always on board during our trips. An Iridium telephone is also included on other trips," reports Hans-Christian Bentzin from the German Ocean Sports Association Hansa (DHH). The provider, which is organised as an association, is one of the largest sailing training institutions in Germany.
Other sailing schools also do more than they have to. Sometimes they equip their ships with catch-and-lift systems, sometimes they have rescue dummies on board to practise man-overboard manoeuvres as realistically as possible and therefore in a practical manner.
Whether a school organises training cruises on its own or chartered boats does not necessarily make a big difference at first. In addition to safety, the decisive factors are the maintenance condition of the yacht, an appropriate size for the crew - and also the performance. On a fast yacht with sails that can be trimmed cleanly and a rudder system without play, you are more likely to get a real sailing feeling than on a "soul seller".
Duration of the sailing training
The SBF Binnen or See is supposedly quick to obtain: some providers suggest that going through the questionnaires and one or two hours of sailing practice on a nearby body of water are enough to pass the test. That may be true. But it certainly doesn't put you in a position to steer a boat safely and really understand collision prevention rules, light guidance and complex navigation.
"We require at least three 30-minute sailing lessons for the SBF See, preferably more," says Robert Eichler from the yacht school of the same name in Hamburg, adding: "An important criterion is the frequency, not the duration. This is the only way to ensure that the boat can be mastered in different winds and currents." For Eichler, the number of sailing lessons and theory units is therefore an important quality feature of a training programme.
This applies even more when obtaining the SKS. Although you have to prove 300 nautical miles in the wake for this licence, you can also collect them lying in the cockpit in the sun. The SKS within a week, as some providers promise, sounds tempting, but: "That really only works if someone can already sail," says Richard Jeske from the Well Sailing school in Hamburg and Neustadt. And even then, everyone on board would have to be at the same skill level. In practice, however, things usually look different.
The focus of the sailing school
It is not uncommon for a skipper to have five or six students on board, half of whom can hardly sail at all. So endless knots have to be practised and numerous harbour and rescue manoeuvres have to be performed. There is hardly any time to learn to sail properly.
"That's why we don't offer SKS training for less than two weeks, because that's not enough input for the student," says Eckhard Mikulski. Like many other owners of sailing schools, he takes into account the fact that most SKS candidates take the licence in order to really learn something. "Personal safety, ship safety, handling the ship and all manoeuvres, even those not relevant to the exam, including anchoring, are on the programme," says Mikulski.
Robert Eichler puts it in a nutshell: "We don't base our SKS practice on the exam. It is more the by-product of good training and not the goal of what we do." For example, in addition to sound sailing practice, it is important for the crew to learn how to use electronic navigation, although this does not play a role in the exam.
For both theory and practice, the focus should not be on obtaining a certificate quickly or even being advertised by the school. It is crucial to be able to acquire the necessary knowledge without time pressure.
How to recognise good sailing instructors
The term "sailing instructor" is not protected. The range of skills and knowledge behind it can be correspondingly wide. Very few instructors who teach sailing do so full-time. Whether you are a student or a tax consultant, anyone who feels called to do so can pass on their maritime knowledge to others. And: in addition to professional qualifications, it is at least as important that an instructor can engage with their students and teach with fun and empathy. "That's why our instructors also learn rhetoric, didactics and methodology, and they complete teaching tests for theory and practice before they receive their licence," reports Dr Germar Brockmeyer from the DSV.
Most schools and clubs offer the opportunity to take part in a taster session of theory lessons. You should take advantage of this to get a first impression of who is teaching the material and how they do it. This is somewhat more difficult with practical lessons. On the way to the SBF, a couple of driving lessons on a motorboat may still be acceptable. But at the latest with the SKS, practical training stands and falls with the skipper.
He or she must be professionally, didactically and personally suited to teaching experienced sailing and keeping a crew together. Not an easy task. Training cruises in particular can bring together very different characters. Managing alphas, shy souls, experts and those who think they are - they all present the skipper with a difficult task. If he does not succeed in turning the heterogeneous group into a crew, the fun and learning effect will inevitably fall by the wayside for one or the other.
Communication training and pedagogical training for sailing instructors
Good sailing schools therefore attach great importance to ensuring that their skippers are not only suitable for the job professionally, but also personally. They ensure that they undergo further training and exchange ideas with each other. Richard Jeske from the Well Sailing sailing school reports on his training concept: "Our skippers take part in communication training and learn under the heading of 'crew resource management' how to deploy each and every individual on board in such a way that the individuals become a team in which no one feels over- or underchallenged.
At least once a year, all of its skippers also receive further training, such as intensive safety training with real man-overboard manoeuvres. They discuss what they want to practise together beforehand and then evaluate what they have experienced and the knowledge they have gained. Anyone who needs to learn more can practise port manoeuvres or attend courses in medicine and technology. Such train-the-trainer measures should be part of the repertoire of every good sailing school.
Taster courses give an impression of the sailing school
Anyone who leads a training cruise must also be familiar with the theory and should be able to answer all questions - and at least hold a recreational sailing licence (SSS). Incidentally, many skippers who teach independently as a sideline also have this requirement. When looking for a sailing school, it is perfectly legitimate to enquire about the qualifications and possible further training of the instructors.
Some sailing schools offer the opportunity to book a taster trip before deciding to enrol on a course. You should also take advantage of this, even if it is not the future instructor who will be in charge of the boat. This is because many providers attach great importance to having a standardised training style in their schools, which in principle should make it irrelevant which skipper later sails the practical cruise.
How much does a sailing licence cost?
The prices for training vary greatly at first glance, but are not always transparent. Particularly favourable offers can quickly double as a result of additional costs for teaching materials, practice or examination fees. Alternatively, the number of teaching units is calculated by the provider to be very tight.
Training boats and ships may be rather poorly equipped or not even have a licence from the BG Verkehr, the instructors may be insufficiently qualified or - this is also part of the truth in sailing training - work in precarious employment relationships at dumping wages.
Good sailing schools employ qualified staff and invest in appropriate equipment. They have to rent rooms and berths, insure their boats and voyages, skippers and crew, regularly renew their equipment, maintain their own boats and organise training courses. This costs money and is inevitably reflected in the price of training. But it also affects the quality.
Time is also money. If you opt for a speed training programme, you can be pretty sure that you won't end up with a sound knowledge of sailing. You will need to invest a few weeks of time for this. Even after two weeks of SKS training and passing the exam, there is still a lot to learn and literally experience - on your own keel, with friends - or in further skipper training courses.
Further tips for a good sailing school
When clammy clothes and two previously unknown people have to come to terms with each other in cabins, a ship can feel a metre smaller every day. Anyone standing on tiptoe over the shoulders of others watching the line work during harbour manoeuvres or climbing over six legs pushed into the cockpit at 20 degrees quickly realises: when it comes to crew size, less is more.
Sailing schools also realised this during the coronavirus crisis when they were not allowed to occupy every last berth on their ships. Most of them confirm that they want to stay with smaller crews. Then everyone can learn more and the mood remains good even after a long day of manoeuvre training.
Whether men or women learn among themselves or in mixed crews is a question of preference. There are corresponding offers for every model. Incidentally, most skippers say that the trips with mixed crews are the most enjoyable.
It is difficult to understand what is on offer from freelance skippers who teach independently of sailing schools or clubs. They set the standards for their training themselves. It may well be worth keeping your eyes and ears open in this direction too, because word gets around about what they can do.
However, if you go sailing with them, you should make sure that the boat has BG Verkehr approval, the skipper has an SSS and suitable liability insurance. If you are asked to pretend to be a guest instead of a sailing student in the event of a police check, you are on the wrong boat and risk ending your trip prematurely if it is confiscated.
Whether in theory or practice - the general rule is: if you don't feel well and safe or are under stress, you should pull the emergency brake, talk to the skipper or the sailing school and stop if necessary. Sailing is first and foremost fun and ideally makes you happy. This can and should also be the case during training.
Buy a sailing licence online or on site?
Learning at home - online learning is becoming increasingly popular. However, it requires good technical equipment and discipline
Around 55,000 people take their recreational boating licence every year, and many go on to take the SKS. However, the coronavirus pandemic is a major obstacle to regular course attendance. Learning sailing theory in a virtual environment is therefore experiencing a boom. Many recreational boating schools now offer purely online or hybrid courses in addition to conventional face-to-face lessons, in which all or part of the learning takes place at home. Based on experience to date, the success rate is equally high for all three methods.
E-learning portal
In cooperation with the Association of German Sailing Schools (VDS), Delius Klasing Verlag has developed a learning software for obtaining a recreational boating licence that is now used by more than 250 training centres in Germany. In the virtual course, an instructor explains all topics including navigation. Nautical chart excerpts and the official question catalogue complete the programme. The e-learning portal can be accessed by registering with a recreational boating school. You can then learn either in addition to the classroom lessons or exclusively with the programme at home. Some schools are available for telephone counselling - nobody should despair of the theory. The exam questions can be practised on the go using an app.
Webinars & online lectures
When teaching and learning live online, interactive webinars or lectures on individual teaching units are ideal. Anyone using this special type of knowledge transfer, which is still quite new for many, must not only have good didactic and technical qualifications but also be familiar with the special features of teaching on screen. After all, it is a different matter whether you are sitting together in a room and seeing questioning looks or smoking heads or whether you are literally just looking at the participants' heads. In addition, the sailing school must have technical equipment suitable for this type of teaching, which allows the participants to take a close look at the nautical chart and course triangle during the complex navigation tasks, for example. Because the fact is: Most people fail the navigation tasks in the exams.
Small groups
Whether digital or analogue: If learning is to be interactive, questions asked and solutions worked out together, this works best in smaller groups. In courses with two dozen or more participants, however, a trainer can hardly respond to individual questions and comprehension problems. Therefore, when choosing the training method, always clarify how many others will be present.
The best books for learning to sail
Practical guides that belong in the on-board library
Manoeuvre boards
All the manoeuvres required for the inland and sea sports boat licence examinations. Clear drawings show the correct positions of the boat and the actions of the crew on board, including the correct commands.
Practical guide to cruising
For sailing beginners and advanced sailors. Contains everything that is important for the first sailing trip. The manual is structured around typical questions and provides lots of tips: from choosing a boat and dealing with weather and wind forecasts to the sailing equipment needed for longer trips.
Practical knowledge for the skipper
A reference book for regular use on board: everything a skipper needs to know, from the correct sailing technique to correct mooring manoeuvres under engine power, safe anchoring, navigation procedures, weather, radio and help in emergencies, all presented in a compact format.
Yacht logbook
The quick reference book for questions about regulations and on-board practice. From rights of way and navigational aids to navigation and weather - it provides brief and competent information on these and many other keywords.
Port manoeuvres step by step
Optimal assistance for owners and charterers for harbour, anchoring and towing manoeuvres. Various man-overboard manoeuvres are also described.
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