Intermediate Catamaran Course

Arrive at Village Cay, Road Town, Tortola to meet your fellow students and instructor.  Village Cay also provides accommodation the night before and after the course should you require it. Once you have settled in your instructor will conduct a safety briefing of the catamaran and take you through the itinerary.  Shortly afterwards you will be on your way! A popular first stop is Peter Island where you will be able to have a late lunch and a swim. With the formal course activities finishing at around 5pm, you might want to check out Willy T and either eat a [surprisingly good] meal there, or cook on board.

The Sailing Virgins morning routine is legendary, and this morning you will have a chance to see what it’s all about. Purely voluntary, we start with Wim Hof breathing (great for freediving), then have a meditation session, then get into a 7 minute workout – all before breakfast. After breakfast we work on sail trim, then practice by sailing upwind to Cooper Island for lunch (and an affogato – if you don’t know what one is, you are in for a treat), then on to Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda, where we drop anchor for the night. Dinner can be on board or at the excellent Coco Maya restaurant.

This morning we have an early, 6am start, so we can enjoy the famous Baths, with the best light of the day and before anyone else. Returning to the boat, we will have our morning routine, breakfast, then work on passage plans. We then prepare a passage to the next stop, in Virgin Gorda’s North Sound, where we will refine alongside mooring with a catamaran. North Sound also affords us a fantastic opportunity to practice drills, getting muscle memory down. We will be eating dinner on board tonight.

After our morning routine and perhaps a swim off the boat, and a healthy breakfast of Caribbean porridge, we will be working on weather, and in particular the idiosyncrasies of weather patterns in the Caribbean, including acceleration zones and lava-lamp effects of the islands. A short stop off Necker Island, then it’s a beautiful reach across to Anegada, where we will pick up a mooring ball (or anchor). Sundowner drinks in Anegada are particularly enjoyable, with the sensational sunset never failing to impress. If lobster is your thing, Anegada is famous for it.

For those who wish to try a bit of kite-surfing, a morning at Anegada is the place to do it. We have partners who can provide lessons and gear if needs be. Back on the boat, after morning routine, we will go deep into navigation, giving students a thorough understanding of this so they not only pass their ASA exam, but have skills, and methods of remembering them, that will last for years afterwards. Today’s sail is a long, downwind sail, to Jost van Dyke. If we leave sufficiently early we may be able to catch the end of Soggy Dollar drinks, and double up with a night at Foxy’s Bar.

After morning routine we have time for a final study before exam time. The ASA exams require not just solid practical knowledge (which we prepare you for), but a good awareness of the text (which is up to you to read). Fortunately the ASA texts themselves are clearly laid out, presenting sailing concepts and terminology in easy-to-understand format. Following exams, we sail to Norman Island, stopping for a snorkel/freedive at the Indians if we have time. Dinner is on board tonight.

This morning we sail back to Village Cay, Road Town. The course finishes on or before midday on the Saturday. You will receive a course debrief and receive your certification. Alums receive great benefits such as discounts on Sailing Virgins branded Zhik sailing gear and on charter rates worldwide.

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Arrive at Red Hook, St Thomas to meet your fellow students and instructor.  Once you have settled in your instructor will conduct a safety briefing of the catamaran and take you through the itinerary. Shortly afterward you will be on your way! Become familiar with the legendary Sailing Virgins morning routine, including Wim Hof breathing, meditation, and 7-minute workout. Have a swim, have breakfast, then settle into the day structure of some theory in the morning, sailing, then stopping in a beautiful bay for lunch and a swim/relax. After lunch, we rinse & repeat, with some theory followed by practical skills, and wind up in another beautiful bay for sundowners and dinner. Every day brings a different bay: the formal courser activities finish at around 5 pm. A typical location we visit on the first day is Sunday Great Lameshur Bay, St John. For dinner, you will either cook aboard (two nights in the week) or go ashore to enjoy a local restaurant.

Wake up to the sounds of the Caribbean sea, and if you feel like it, have a pre-breakfast swim straight off the boat. You will find your sea legs as your instructor continues to teach you going through the course syllabus. Each day you will progress further through the course outline. 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. As a guide, they will most likely include:
Monday: Cinnamon Bay, St John
Tuesday: Cruz Bay, enjoy an evening in the main town of St John
Wednesday: Magens Bay, St Thomas
Thursday: St James Bay, St Thomas.
On Friday we will head back to American Yacht Harbour, Red Hook, USVI, for the night. If you are doing the ASA program there is a written test to be taken towards the end of the week. If you are doing the NauticEd program you will do all exams online prior to joining the boat.

The course finishes at 9 am on Saturday. You will receive a debrief and be anointed an ex-Virgin! Ex-Virgins receive a huge amount of benefits such as discounts on Sailing Virgins branded Zhik sailing gear and on charter rates worldwide.

If you’d like to read what others say about us, click here to review our reviews on TripAdvisor. We are proud of our perfect track record!