The course runs over 4 x 3 hour sessions – plus 3 x 3 hour club sails to practice what you have learned. Sessions usually run Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

You can hop on and off to suit your other commitments. Most students complete the course over six to ten weeks – a fun, no pressure timetable.

The desired outcome is that at the end of the program the candidate will have basic boat handling skills, and understand basic sailing theory and safety.

Upon successful completion the candidate is awarded an Australian Sailing certificate.

Syllabus Overview

1. Safety Equipment, clothing and safe practices

• Understands the correct use of safety equipment, lifejackets etc on board
• Is aware of hazards on a boat and understands how to avoid them

2. The Boat

• Has basic knowledge of sailing terms, can identify parts of a boat, rigging and sails. Can set up, hoist, lower and stow sails

3. Ropework

• Can tie the following knots: figure of eight, bowline, round turn and two half hitches
• Has basic knowledge of the use of sheets, halyards, winches, clutches, mooring lines and cleats. Can coil and stow a rope.

4. Sailing Skills

• Understands the theory and basic principles of sailing including tacking and gybing. Has basic wind awareness.
• Can steer and trim a boat on all points of sail under supervision

5. Man Overboard

• Understands the correct action to be taken to recover a MOB

6. Rules of the Road

• Has awareness of the basic rules of the road
• Can maintain a continuous lookout

At Allsail we conduct the course on our Hunter 33 cruiser and our 7 metre Bavaria B/ONE and exciting Flying Tiger 10 metre “Sabre” open cockpit trainer/racers.

The course runs over 4 x 3 hour sessions plus 3 x 3 hour club sails to practice what you have learned. Sessions usually run Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. You can hop on and off to suit your other commitments. Most students complete the course over six to ten weeks – a fun, no pressure timetable.

The desired outcome is that at the end of the program the candidate will have further developed and practised their boat handling skills, and progressed their knowledge of sailing theory and safety to an intermediate level. They can then go on and develop their crewing and helming skills with practice.

Upon successful completion the candidate is awarded an Australian Sailing certificate.

Syllabus Overview

1. Safety Equipment, clothing and safe practices

• Understands the correct use of lifejackets and safety equipment on board
• Understands the importance of appropriate clothing and footwear
• Knows the location and correct operation all safety equipment on board

2. Sail Handling, rigging and ropework

• Can prepare the sails and rig the boat
• Knows correct use of halyards, sheets and deck hardware
• Can tie the following knots and know their use: figure of eight, bowline,round turn and two half hitches, clove hitch, reef knot
• Can reef sails and shake out reefs whilst underway

3. Sailing Skills

• Can helm and trim sails effectively on all points of sail
• Can tack and gybe effectively as helm and heave to
• Understands the effect and importance of heel and trim

4. Man overboard

• Can recover a MOB under sail as helm

5. Rules of the Road

• Has a working knowledge of the General, Steering and Sailing rules and their application and can source local regulations

6. Meteorology

• Understands where to obtain a weather forecast

7. Emergency situations

• Knows how to raise the alarm in the event of an emergency

8. Anchoring

• Understands how to anchor a boat