RYA Training for Members

Chew Valley Lake Sailing Club is an RYA recognised training centre for dinghy sailing courses and powerboat courses. Training takes place on the lake in our fleet of training dinghies and RIBs, and in our dedicated training room. We have a friendly team of instructors ready to welcome you.

CVLSC is not a commercial training centre, so courses are only available to club members. If you wish to become a member, then please refer to the “Join CVLSC” page to see which membership option would best suit you.

Scroll down to discover the powerboat and dinghy courses that we are currently offering. For youth dinghy sailing courses, please see our Learn to Sail.

Adult RYA Dinghy Sailing Courses 2024

Beginners Courses Combined RYA Start Sailing Level 1 and Basic Skills Level 2

“I would just like to say how enjoyable the course was, and your instruction exceptional. Thanks again for taking up your weekends to teach us – it was much appreciated.”

Our RYA courses for adult beginners are available to club members age 17+. We are running 2 beginners’ courses in 2024.

The beginners course provides RYA Level 1 (Start Sailing) and 2 (Basic Skills) dinghy sailing training and are aimed at total newcomers to sailing.

They are mainly practical courses with some classroom-based background theory included. Students are provided with copies of the RYA’s excellent Start Sailing guide and the RYA Sailing Scheme Syllabus and Logbook to help them through (and beyond) the course.

The course is run to the RYA’s guidelines ensuring a maximum 3:1 student/instructor ratio to start the course. This may be increased to a maximum of 4:1 towards the end of the course at the discretion of the Senior Instructor running the day.

The combined course can be completed in ideal conditions in 4 days, but is scheduled over 6 days – 3 weekends – to allow some flex for the weather.

For further details on the content of each course visit the RYA website.

The cost for the Combined Level 1 (Start Sailing) and Level 2 (Basic Skills) course is £275 – payable via members’ Webcollect accounts.

RYA Better Sailing Level 3

The Better Sailing course provides RYA dinghy sail training for sailors who have gained their Level 2 qualification or can demonstrate sailing skills to Level 2 standard. Ideally, Level 3 candidates will have completed least 1 season’s practical sailing.

Students receive coaching to consolidate their Level 1 and 2 skills and enjoy taster sessions from some of the advanced modules of the RYA National Sailing Scheme: Performance Sailing; Sailing with Spinnakers; Seamanship; and Day Sailing.

After the course students will be more confident in sailing skills and techniques, and ready to progress onto the advanced modules.

The course will be arranged to suit students’ needs and to ensure a maximum student/instructor ratio of 4:1

For further details on the content of each course visit the RYA website.

Youth training courses >>

 RYA Dinghy Instructor (DI) Course

As we always need more DIs, we will try to organise DI training courses at the club whenever we can confirm have the minimum number of sailors interested – 6 suitably experienced candidates, all over 16.

Becoming a DI is extremely rewarding and allows you to develop your sailing in a whole new way. If you are interested, a good first step is to look at the pre-course requirements on the RYA website. This will help you to judge whether your sailing skills are sufficiently developed to give you the best chance of success on the course. Contact Dave for more information.

If you want to gain some experience and see more training first hand before deciding whether being a DI is for you, there is the option of becoming an Assistant Instructor.

RYA Assistant Dinghy Instructors (ADI) Course 2024

A great way to gain experience instructing is to become an Assistant Instructor. It is less demanding than the DI qualification so gives you the chance to have a go and gain some experience. The AI qualification involves approximately 20 hours of training. This typically takes the form of a 2 day course followed by “on the job” experience at the club.

The course includes basic teaching principles, club procedures, and familiarisation with the club’s fleet of training dinghies. It is delivered by one of the club’s RYA Senior Instructors with a maximum of 6 participants. You will be provided with a copy of the G14 RYA Instructor Handbook to support your learning and development as an Instructor.

Please contact Dave if you are interested.

NB: CVLSC is not a commercial sailing centre and so courses are only available to club members. If you wish to become a member, then please refer to the membership page.

For any questions on our training programme, contact Dave Orme, at training@chewvalleysailing.org.uk