State of Sailing
2026

Sailing Virgins' rolling twelve-month picture through August 2026 shows a school built, first and foremost, for people who go it alone. Solo sailors made up 69.16% of bookings over the period, couples accounted for 30.12%, and groups just 0.72%. Repeat customers represented 10.51% of bookings, a share we read as a quiet vote of confidence from sailors who have already trained with us and chose to come back for more. The Caribbean sits at the top of the destination chart, with St Martin taking 37.1% of bookings over the trailing twelve months and the British Virgin Islands at 24.8%, while Croatia followed at 21%. French Polynesia drew 7%, Patagonia 2.2%, Thailand 1.4%, Greece and Madeira 1% each, and the Seychelles 0.7%. The spread says something about where new sailors most want to learn: warm water, steady breeze, and a shoreline worth exploring once the anchor drops. One number worth noting for anyone weighing a course is the average booking lead time of 84 days. That gives students plenty of room to sort flights, brush up on theory, and daydream properly, but it also means popular windows tend to fill well in advance. If a particular season or destination is on your list, planning early is very much the norm rather than the exception.