Sailing in the lake district

Key Facts
Availability
Details
Typical Session
Activity Days
Why do it?

Key Facts

Locations: Coniston or Windermere.
Progess to: RYA courses, Level 1, 2 seamanship skills, using spinnakers, performance sailing, Day sailing.
Duration: ½ or full day activity
Minimum Age: 9
Bundles: Can be included in a family bundle but surcharges may apply.
Per person prices: prices

Learning how to sail a dinghy is a real wind in your hair experience. Its easy to pick up the basics and your instructor will be with you all the while, so you can have fun being captain on the open waves!

Sailing Availability

There are currently no sessions running that have spaces available on. We will run any session on a date to suit you - please send us an enquiry or call us to check availability of your preferred date(s).

We have availability to run a sailing course in July/August 2010. We have the possibility to run a sailing course which would give you all a great opportunity to obtain RYA Level 1 and 2 as well as learning valuable Seamanship Skills along the way. It would be run in conjunction with a local RYA centre on Coniston water. Learning to sail in the Lake District is particularly convenient with fresh water venues and stunning scenery. The boats used would be hawks, wayfarers, toppers lasers, picos etc. The course runs for a period of 3 days and costs £350 per person including instruction, equipment, VAT, RYA log books and certificates and hot drinks. Lunches can be added as an extra cost. If you are interested in saling courses then please contact us and we can secure dates and details.

Sailing Details

You will be instructed in the use of your craft of choice (Sport 16, Wayfarer, Topper, Pico, Laser, Omega, RS Vision) by an RYA qualified dinghy instructor, departing from one of 4 venues on either Coniston or Windermere. Instruction will be done with as much on-the-water tuition as possible. Quite often the instructor will be in the double-hander with you, if you are in a single hander the instructor will teach the basics from the beach then usually accompany you on the water from a safety boat. You will be instructed and not left! All abilities are catered for from complete beginners, right through to the club racer.

You will be provided with a wetsuit to keep you warm, as well as buoyancy aids and helmets if it is particularly windy.

What do we do in a typical Sailing session

In general, all our outdoor activity sessions aim to include elements of fun, learning new skills and going on a journey. However, each session will generally have one of these elements as its main focus either because the activity naturally suggests it, (eg. Walking a journey), or to tailor the session to the groups aims. Be sure to let our office/your instructor know if there is something you would like to do or learn (or not learn as the case may be!). We will always remember that you are doing the activity as part of your time off and so your enjoyment will always be our priority.

Adventure Days

Sailing Course

We have availability for you all to learn to sail properly, so that you can either hire out, or buy your own boat to enjoy independently. We have the possibility to run a sailing course which would give you all a great opportunity to obtain RYA Level 1 and 2 as well as learning valuable Seamanship Skills along the way. It would be run in conjunction with a local RYA centre on Coniston water. Learning to sail in the Lake District is particularly convenient with fresh water venues and stunning scenery. The boats used would be hawks, wayfarers, toppers lasers, picos etc. The course runs for a period of 3 days and costs £350 per person including instruction, equipment, VAT, RYA log books and certificates and hot drinks. Lunches can be added as an extra cost. Within the course you will be given excellent tuition but also the opportunity to enjoy a sailing journey to put your newly learnt skills to good use!

This activity day involves some or all of the following activities:

Sailing

Swallows and Amazons Canoeing

Canoeing is a dry option (unless it rains!). On Coniston Water, we can run our Swallows and Amazons adventure day in our extra wide and very stable boats. We explore the lake taking a journey from the beach which is situated next to a beautiful field that is featured in the Swallows and Amazons film. We also visit Peel Island, which is Wildcat Island in the books, on the way for a break and a hot drink and sometimes play a game or two. From Peel Island, we can raft the boats together and, if the weather is favourable, hoist a sail – a very relaxing way to travel, but still one that everyone can be involved in. Come along and discover some of the views and excitement of Swallows and Amazons on our fun trip on Coniston Water.

This activity day involves some or all of the following activities:

Why go Sailing in the Lake District?

The Lakes! The lakes of the Lake District lend themselves to sailing very well due to their size, especially the two we have chosen which receive a sea breeze in the afternoon around 2pm when there is warm weather giving quite reliable and often steady winds. Coniston and Windermere also benefit from the prevailing SW wind blowing from end to end of the lake (5.5 miles on Coniston).