Small sailing boats provide an exciting and cost effective way for the whole family to get afloat. Probably the quickest and easiest way to learn to sail, small boats are easy to handle and generally light to launch and transport.
The courses in the National and Youth Sailing Schemes can be taken in dinghies, multihulls or keelboats and are perfect for anyone wanting to learn to sail or develop their skills. Once you've mastered the basics, there's plenty of opportunity to continue improving with one of our advanced modules, foiling or racing courses.
So whether you want to potter about exploring your local stretch of water, join a sailing club full of like-minded people or learn to race, our small boat courses are designed to help you get the most from your time afloat.
Small, lightweight and simple to learn in, smaller dinghies can be sailed alone. Larger boats are designed to be sailed by two people.
Fast, fun and exhilarating to sail, multihulls are twin or three-hulled boats usually sailed by two people.
Larger and more stable than dinghies and multihulls, keelboats are sailed by two or more people and bridge the gap between small boats and yachts.
Whether you want to increase your knowledge of first aid or develop the navigation and seamanship skills for a longer day sail, there are a number of RYA courses ashore that you may find useful.
Foiling has quite literally taken off in recent years. Find out more about taking your first flights with an RYA foiling course.
Our Youth Sailing scheme is perfect for young people learning to sail. Find out more about our youth courses and opportunities for young people to get afloat.