Crew a yacht at sea
A friend has invited you to do this with them.
On a yacht at sea everyone has a job, from steering to sail handling to cooking, and on a live-aboard course you learn them by doing them. Neither of the standard beginner courses, the RYA Competent Crew in the UK and ASA 101 Basic Keelboat in the US, asks for any experience.
DemandingOver £500 / $650A few weeksOutdoorsWith othersUK and USSpring to autumn
Someone who has done it
Joanne Currie and Sue Smith sailed in the Clipper Race, which runs its own crew training; these courses are a separate first step.
How to start
- Read the course page for your country and find a school near the water you want to sail on.
- Ask the school what the price includes, what kit it lends and whether the course has a night sail.
- Book a short taster sail first if you have never been on a yacht.
Where to go
We opened these links on 19 October 2026 and found them to be what we say. Dates, places and prices are on the official page, where they stay up to date.
Plan this
Pick a day, or a month, and we will set out how to get ready, step by step, with a date and a reason for each. Courses and classes have start dates and can fill up, so the plan begins with finding and booking one. Kit comes after the first session, once you know what you need.
Read next
Dave Bell rowed from Peru to Kenya and did not set foot on land for 327 days
How a former Royal Marine from Bere Regis rowed more than 15,000 nautical miles alone, from South America to Africa, without a support boat or a single stop. What the row involved, and how to get from your first rowing stroke to a long, steady session of your own.
Fiona Govan joined the slowest group on a Greek swimming holiday, and booked another
Fiona Govan marked her 50th birthday with a guided swimming holiday from Sivota, in western Greece, swimming about 4 km a day in the slowest group. What a swimming holiday is, what the NHS and RNLI say about swimming and open water, and how to work up to one from the pool or the lake.
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