Earn your sea legs with Grand Crew’s e-learning and live-aboard sailing school.

Are you ready to swim with the big fish? The Grand Crew sailing school is the perfect learning environment if you’re a beginning sailor with seafaring experiences that needs professional instruction by an experienced skipper, or if you’ve sailed before but as a novice, and you want to see if sailing is a hobby you can pursue. Maybe you’re considering this as your next career, to share the ocean life with others. Whatever your goal, Grand Crew offers complete sailing school curriculum covering all the important aspects of sailing yours or others’ boats. It’s great way to get sailing certified while seeing the world! Your Club Sailing Instructor is Skipper Scott Burkhardt, a seasoned sailor armed with 45 years of sailing experience and a robust list of credentials to help build a solid foundation and meet your personal sailing goals.

Courses Available

  • 7-day International Flotilla Skipper

  • 11-day International Bareboat Skipper

  • 5-10 day Sea Mile Builder

The Grand Crew Sailing School includes approximately 6 hours per day of instruction, with a 45-minute lunch break.

All participants are expected to study in the early morning and in the evenings for required tests, and over non-alcoholic sundowners, Scott welcomes discussion and questions that help you navigate your way through the coursework – a perfect chance to reflect, absorb, and unwind a bit.

If you do not own a boat and you’re planning to charter a boat, you will require certification. We prepare you for the experience you’ll need and plan your school curriculum accordingly. Our certifications are recognized in both Europe and the US.

7-Day –

INTERNATIONAL FLOTILLA SKIPPER

This 7-day Flotilla Skipper course aims to increase a student’s knowledge sufficiently to be a watchkeeper or a flotilla skipper. The student should have a basic working knowledge of sailboats and how to sail.

Upon completion, you will earn:

  • Flotilla Skipper Certification

  • VHF Marine Communication Certification

  • International Certificate of Competency (ICC) Certification

Before stepping on board, it is required to study and complete the theory portion of IYT’s e-learning courses on: 

  • Flotilla Skipper

  • VHF Marine Communication

  • International Certificate of Competency (ICC) 

Upon completing the theory examination of the above e-Learning courses, email your certificates to GrandCrew@TillersAndKites.com

Cleaning is an integral part of every trip and will be taught at Club Sailing School. This includes stainless, decking, galley.

 

Course Outline:

  • Galley and provisioning

  • Preparing a short passage

  • Responsibilities of a watchkeeper

  • Chart work and navigation

  • Magnetic compass

  • Dead reckoning and estimated position

  • Meteorology

  • Buoyage

  • How to use and recognize lights and shapes

  • Rules of the road – Collision regulation

  • Custom matters and legal requirements

  • Tides

  • Anchoring

  • Engine check, tools, spares.

  • MOB procedures

  • Safety on boat, equipment, crew checks

  • Anchoring

  • RIB handling

11 Day –

INTERNATIONAL BAREBOAT SKIPPER TRAINING

Students are expected to have a solid working knowledge of sailing. During this course you will log enough hours and sea miles to successfully earn the Bareboat certificate.

Course Outline:

  • Crew safety checks

  • Hull and rig checks

  • Machinery and systems checks

  • Fuel and water capacity and range

  • Responsibilities of a bareboat skipper

  • Menus and quantities for 10-day cruise

  • Float plan for 10-day cruise

  • Provision the vessel for 10-day cruise

  • Sources of meteorological information

  • Weather patterns

  • Sea and land breezes

  • Cloud types and formations

  • Pilotage and passage planning

  • Considerations when planning a passage

  • Routine for navigating a coastal passage

  • Passage strategy

  • Port regulations, customs, immigration

  • Pilotage plans

  • Catamaran Vessel handling in confined quarters versus monohull

  • Mooring, anchoring, coming alongside

  • Ropes, knots, care and use of lines, spring lines

  • General deck work

  • Tides and currents theory

  • Tidal heights, springs and neaps

  • Rule of “twelfths”

  • Position fixing, running fixes

  • Plotting the effect of tides and currents

  • Collision regulations and application

  • Lights, shapes and sounds

  • Advanced dingy handling

  • Reefing by wind strength

International Bareboat Skipper course is a 11-day course. This is not an entry level course where we will teach you to sail – students are expected to have a solid working knowledge of sailing. During this course, you will log enough hours and sea miles to successfully earn the Bareboat certificate.

During this course, you will earn:

  • Bareboat Skipper Certification

  • VHF Marine Communication Certification

  • International Certificate of Competency (ICC) Certification

Before stepping on board, it is required to study and complete the theory portion of IYT’s e-learning courses on: 

  • Bareboat Skipper Training

  • VHF Marine Radio

  • International Certificate of Competency ICC

Upon completing the theory examination of the above e-Learning courses, email your certificates to GrandCrew@TillersAndKites.com

During this course, we will be living onboard for 10 days. We start with the students preparing a float plan and menu followed by provisioning. After provisioning, we will cast off and complete the 10-day cruise.

Cleaning is an integral part of every trip and will be taught at Club Sailing School. This includes stainless, decking, galley.

5-10 Day –

SEA MILE BUILDER

Our mile-building cruises are designed to help you gain confidence in handling a larger yacht. You get the chance to visit foreign countries and gain sea miles at the same time!

We have developed a program to assist aspiring Captains and students in gaining certifiable Sea Miles that may be used for multiple certificates, including the Master of Yachts Limited, Bareboat Skipper or a USGC Captain’s license. The certified Sea Miles you earn will be signed off by a US Coast Guard Master Captain.

The cost for the Sea Miles Builder Program is offered at a much-reduced rate off our course rates, and depends on the passage we have open. The number of days depends upon your needs and our schedule. Depending on our available routes, you may sail in areas where the sun shines and there is no need for thermals and wet weather gear. Regardless, you’ll have the chance to earn miles while experiencing incredible and scenic foreign countries! See “Rates & Registration” for more information.

During your cruise, you will undertake qualifying passages for your ASA/RYA/IYT/USCG certificates. Distances of over 60nm nonstop as well as night sails will be part of the cruise. You will learn about sailing in a watch system, cooking at sea, and the fun of sailing in open waters. The trips have no official syllabus, so you will be part of an active crew, working and living together. If you have an ASA/RYA skippers certificate, then you will be given the chance to be responsible for the running of the yacht, under the supervision of the instructor. On stays of 6 days or more, you can optionally earn your certificate in VHF and ICC.

During your trip, expect to sail a lot and cover miles. In a 24-hour period, we can sail an average of 140 miles. By the end of your week, you should have logged 300-500 miles. There will be at least one night sail.

You’ll also learn about sailing a catamaran yacht fast: how to steer her at speed, off and on the wind. You’ll learn about sail changes and Code 0 Flying. You will have the chance to practice your navigation skills in a very modern navigation station. In short, expect to be part of a very active crew.