State of Sailing
2026

The typical Sailing Virgins student arrives alone. Over the rolling 12 months ending September 2026, solo travelers made up 69.65 percent of bookings, couples accounted for 29.65 percent, and group bookings came to 0.71 percent. That pattern is the signature of the liveaboard format: step aboard on your own, and within a few days the boat starts to feel like a crew of old friends. The Caribbean sits at the heart of the program. St Martin led the destination table with 36.2 percent of bookings across the trailing 12 months, followed by the British Virgin Islands at 26.1 percent and Croatia at 20.7 percent. French Polynesia claimed 6.8 percent and Patagonia 3.1 percent, while Thailand at 1.4 percent, Greece at 0.9 percent, and Madeira and the Seychelles at 0.7 percent apiece round out a chart that stretches from the Mediterranean to the South Pacific. Students are planning well ahead and coming back for more. The average booking over the 12-month period was made 85 days before departure, enough time to sort flights, time off work, and ASA coursework before stepping aboard. Meanwhile, 10.44 percent of customers were repeat sailors, a reminder that for a meaningful share of graduates, one course is rarely the end of the story.