Sailing courses in Cork, Ireland

Ever wanted to try Sailing? Come to Gecko Adventures in Courtmacsherry, Cork, and learn to sail with the best! One of Cork and Irelands most beautiful coastal villages, and a fantastic sailing location for beginners and intermediate learners!

Winter Sailing Academy

Fully engage with Sailing with our new program for teenagers in Courtmacsherry, Cork, Ireland. Get a taste for the outdoors with a lifelong skill, or begin your journey towards becoming a Sailing Instructor

What is it?

The Winter Sailing Academy is our sailing instructor developer program for teenagers that runs alongside our regular multisports Academy (focused on kayaking and windsurfing) and is designed to bring teenagers through the Irish Sailing skills levels, while developing skills in water safety and rescue, weather and tide reading and application, leadership and teamwork, knots and ropework, planning, organising and self-determination, as well as other practical and theoretical skills.

The Water Skills Academy is our Instructor Developer program at Gecko Adventures. It is a dedicated program we have proudly put together to engage teenagers (13-17) with adventure sports and give them access to training at a high level in order to fully engage with the sports and, if desired, go on to become adventure sports instructors.

Sailing Academy

Duration: 6 Months (Sep-Oct-Nov & Mar-Apr-May)

Schedule: First Year program runs every Saturday at Gecko Adventures

Cost: €1200 (Can be paid in instalments)

Location: Gecko Adventures, Courtmacsherry

Booking: There are 6 spaces available, contact us to reserve a spot.

Overview:

The winter sailing academy program is our instructor developer program designed to guide teenage participants towards excelling in all aspects of dinghy sailing and powerboating and progress towards an Irish Sailing Instructor qualification, as well as the national powerboat certificate.

The program follows the Irish Sailing training pathway, and compliments these skills with theoretical and practical skills in other areas and includes an introduction to other water sports such as kayaking and windsurfing.

Other skills developed include water safety and rescue, weather and tide reading and application, knots and ropework, and other practical and theoretical skills such as planning, self-confidence, communication, teamwork, water confidence, leadership, risk assessing and more.

Learning objectives/goals:

These are the learning outcomes the group will work towards achieving throughout the program. They may vary according to weather and tide conditions, group preference and ability.

Year One

Level 1 Start Sailing
Level 2 Basic Skills
Level 3 Improving Skills
Understanding of weather systems, how to interpret weather charts and forecasts and apply them to on the water sessions and safety
Introduction to powerboating (Age 16+)
Understanding of tides, their application in different areas
Taste of kayaking, windsurfing and other water sports

Year Two

Advanced boat handling
National Powerboat Certificate (Age 16+)
REC 3 First Aid Certificate
Guidance on pre entry and instructor training
Taste of kayaking, windsurfing and other water sports

Prerequisites / requirements

Candidates must demonstrate a desire to learn and progress in the sports, and work together as part of a group.
Age 14+ (note: to be certified for national powerboat participants must be 16, and for dinghy instructorship participants must be aged 16 1/2)
Training in adventure sports requires a certain level of personal responsibility in order to ensure the safety of themselves and the group and this must be demonstrated to an acceptable level throughout the training program
Personal equipment
- Outdoor rain/weather gear for all conditions
- Booties or appropriate footwear
- Personal wetsuit is desired but can be provided
- Watch and whistle
- Notebook

Included

All training days (plus subsidized overnight sailing trip on the Ilen, Irelands only surviving wooden cargo sailing ship, subject to conditions and availability.
Standard multisport buoyancy aid
2 week Summer work experience
Softshell Gecko Academy Jacket
Dry bag

Instructor Training

As participants progress through the levels we arrange instructor training courses so they can become qualified instructors, opening up exciting job and career opportunities around Ireland and the world. Almost half of our current staff came up through our instructor program, which we are incredibly proud of.

As well as becoming proficient at these exciting sports, participants will also learn self development skills such as how to work on a team, assume a leadership role and take responsibly for planning safety and rescue for themselves and others.

They will learn self awareness, group awareness and will be trained to develop their own skills, ability and knowledge through guided self reflection.

Being placed in leadership roles also helps youths develop self confidence and communication skills as well as self management and problem solving abilities.

Join here:

Download Academy registration form:

To register for the Winter Academy Sailing program, download the registration form here and email it into us at info@geckoadventures.ie or drop it in at the front desk. Feel free to get in touch about any questions regarding the program.

Sailing

Sailing Courses are available for booking now!

We are an Irish Sailing Training Centre and run our Sailing courses in line with the Irish Sailing syllabus. Our teenage courses are 5 days, Monday to Friday, and mixed levels are run concurrently. Assessments are ongoing throughout the courses as participants tick of the skills required of their current level.

Level 1: Start Sailing
Level 2: Basic Skills
Level 3: Improving Skills

Sailing Level 1

Start Sailing

This is the starting point for sailors with no previous experience. They will learn all the basics of rigging, safety, launching and sailing with the assistance of an instructor

Sailing Level 2

Basic Skills

Focus on boat handling, safety and sailing without an instructor in moderate to light winds

Sailing Level 3

Improving Skills 1

Improving Skills (Level 3) is building on previous skills in order to sail your boat effectively at a higher level and in moderate conditions

Junior Sailing

Young Sailors

For younger sailors to come and try their hand! Coming soon!

Adult Sailing

Weekend Course

2 Full days learning the basics of sailing and getting a feel for the wind, water and tides, and taking control of your boat.

Shorter sailing classes are also available both as part of a group or in a private 1 on 1 setting

Sailing Academy

Winter Sailing Academy

The winter sailing academy is a 6 month winter programme build to fully immerse teenagers in the sport of sailing with an end goal of developing towards instructor qualifications, or simply taking on a new lifelong skill

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Our about

Courtmacsherry Sailing Club partnership

Courtmacsherry Sailing club was founded in 2019 with huge community support, and has been incredibly successful. Unfortunately the booked out 2020 season had to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The following year (2021) we were delighted to have been given the opportunity to run sailing skills courses on behalf of the sailing club, and we have continued to grow sailing in Courtmacsherry from then!