Performance Catamaran Course
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- Performance Catamaran Course
Performance Catamaran Course
7 days
Martinique
Medium, Hard
From: $5,880
From $ $5,880
From $ $5,880
Details +
7 days
Duration
Martinique
Location
Medium, Hard
Physicality
- Advanced Courses
- Beginner Courses
- Catamaran Course
- Family Friendly
- Intermediate Courses
- Performance Courses
Our newest release, this 7-day fast-track performance catamaran course turns monohull skippers into Catamaran-endorsed skippers. All prices are per person.
| DEPARTURE/RETURN LOCATION | Marina du Marin, Le Marin, Martinique | |||||||
| DEPARTURE TIME | Sunday at 9:30 AM | |||||||
| RETURN TIME | Following Saturday at 12 midday | |||||||
| WEAR | Comfortable athletic clothing, boating shoes, hat, rain jacket and sunscreen | |||||||
| INCLUDED |
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| NOT INCLUDED |
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Course Preparation
| PREREQUISITES | ASA 104, NauticEd Bareboat, RYA Dayskipper or comparable sailing experience is recommended although not required | ||
| ONLINE COURSE PREPARATION | About 10 hours, course material will be provided after booking your course. | ||
| INCLUDED CERTIFICATIONS |
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Who is a Performance Catamaran Course for?
We started our school with the belief that people under 50 want a sailing experience that is more athletic, more exhilarating than your typical cruising course. Our strong growth last year and perfect five star ratings on Tripadvisor, Google and Facebook suggests we’re onto something. Here is a bit more about us.
This course follows our guiding principle, that sailing is one of the coolest, most exhilarating, athletic things you can do. Catamaran courses are often held on tired old cruising boats. We have a TS42. This thing is fast. Made by Marsaudon Composites, it’s the boy-racer of catamarans. 15 or more knots is to be expected on a week with typical Caribbean trade winds.
How many people can go on a course?
On this boat we can take six students. We have one to two instructors throughout the week, making sure everyone gets both boat and instructor time.
What are the instructors like?
Your instructor makes or breaks a sailing course. Ours are the best in the market. If you are older, wanting someone to take things a bit slow, and keep the music down, our instructors would not be right for you. We can recommend some schools if that’s the case.
To be a Sailing Virgins instructor you need to have at least two seasons as a lead skipper for The Yacht Week in the Med and Caribbean, plus have at least a couple of ocean crossings under the belt. These guys can sail like nobody’s business. And they can get on with anyone.
Catamarans or Monohulls?
We like them both. The main thing is to get out with your besties on the water. The spoiler here is that it’s not about the boat so much as the crew. Nevertheless they have their pros and cons. And given we’re on a catamaran page, we can safely say that cats are faster, have more living space and are more stable than monohulls in most conditions. We cover this in more detail here.
I still need convincing. Why Sailing Virgins?
To see if we are a fit for each other, check this page.
Additional information
| Months | February, March, April, May, June, July |
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Itinerary +
1
Day 1 – Sunday 9.30AM
Arrive at Kokoarum Restaurant, Le Marin, Martinique to meet your fellow students and instructor. Le Marin is near to many AirBnB and HomeAway accommodation options. Once you have settled in, your instructor will conduct a safety briefing and take you through the course plan. Shortly afterwards you will be on your way! A popular first stop is Grande Anse where you will be able to have a snorkel and enjoy a fantastic locally sourced dinner. Every day you will moor or anchor up for the night, finish the official course activities at around 5pm and either cook aboard or go ashore to have dinner.
2
Day 2 – Day 6
Wake up to the sounds of the sea. You will get your sea legs as your instructor continues to teach you going through the course syllabus. All the modules in the course outline will be covered. The instructor will take time with every student to make sure they have a good level of competency at the end of the week. The locations visited during the course can change on short notice due to weather and other conditions, but for your reference they will most likely include: Fort-de-France, Grande Anse, St Pierre, Le Marin, Anse Noir. Students are encouraged to do their NauticEd course work before commencing the on-board component.
3
Day 7
On the last day we sail back to Le Marin, tacking up the main channel. Once back ashore we will finish the course at the Kokoarum Restaurant. There will be a debrief with your instructor.
We can occasionally provide accommodation for the nights surrounding your course for an extra fee. Contact us for options.
Location +
Martinique
The Catamaran +
Your catamaran is most likely a TS42. Occasionally it will be the larger TS50, but for the majority of the time it is the 42.
These are performance cats – faster than any cruising cat on the charter market. The TS series will happily sit on 12-15 knots in a decent breeze. Made by Marsaudon composites, the TS42 comes in at a weight of just 5.8 tonnes. When you compare this to the high performance Outremer 45 at 8.7t, you can see how this bad boy is able to take off like it does.
The designer of the TS42, Cristophe Barreau, is in fact the same designer as many Outremers and Catanas.
You can see the layout of the TS42 below:
The interior is minimalist, and looks something like this:
On the water she flies. Here are two shots of the TS42 under sail
Thanks http://interestingsailboats.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-pogo-cat-ts-42.html for some of the images
Photos +
