Live Aboard Cruising Course Testimonials
I have taken all US Sailing courses with Offshore Sailing School. It’s been an awesome adventure and experience. Instructors are awesome!! Lots of knowledge and experience where you can’t find anywhere in books. Our instructor was awesome!! I took courses before and I thought I was a brand new student. He explained things where I don’t have full grasp and he had so much knowledge it was like talking to Jedi Master YODA!!
Sam Hahn (in green shirt) – New York, NY
Catamaran Live Aboard Cruising – British Virgin Islands – May 2018
Wonderful experience from initial contact with Will through completion of course with Randon. The course exceeded my expectations and I will recommend this course/company to others. Katie was very genuine and helpful – went above and beyond. Instructor, extremely knowledgeable, professional, friendly, patient and passionate about sailing. I would specifically take another course from Randon. His teaching style and approach were practical and applicable.(Emily took the course with her Dad.)
Emily Thomas – Grapevine, TX
Live Aboard Cruising Course – Captiva Island, FL – May 2018
My wife and I have been sailing 20 years, and have bareboated 6 times. This was our first formal instruction. AWESOME! Our instructor was detailed, patient and encouraging. We have sailed a long time, but he really taught us new skills/finer points of sailing. Great patience. FANTASTIC. And Molly wrote: My overall experience exceeded my expectations! Diana, our sailing advisor, was very helpful answering our questions. The textbooks were easy to understand. The Catalina Morgan 44 is a roomy sailboat. Kelly Davis is the best! He is professional, confident and knowledgeable. Kelly was able to identify areas that needed improvement and focus our attention on these concepts until the light bulb went off! He was extremely patient and always calm.
David and Molly Barry – St. Louis, MO
Live Aboard Cruising Course – St. Petersburg, FL – April 2018
Our cruising boat was beyond expectation. Brand new, beautiful, clean, spacious, 4 berths and 4 private bathroom with showers! Jeanneau was very easy to sail, very responsive. Easy to learn on. Engine very accessible to check every day. Our instructor was WONDERFUL!! Great knowledge, great patience!!!! Did not tire of re-explaining concepts. Great educator, i.e. if you were not getting a concept he would explain it in another way that he thought personally you would get. A real gem of instructor.
Heather Brownell – Winnipeg, Canada
Live Aboard Cruising Course – Captiva Island, FL – April 2018
I had a great experience! Course was packed yet relaxed. Plenty of time to ask questions and practice skills. Jack was the best! Patient, knowledgeable and teaches well.
Rommel Racelis – Ann Arbor, MI
Catamaran Live Aboard Cruising Course – Cape Coral, FL – July 2018
Excellent learning experience! A lot of information packed into a short time. It was an amazing experience to be on our own the last day, chart our course, sail and arrive at the dock within ten minutes of our planned time. Dutch was excellent. He was both instructor and ambassador to the BVI. He showed us excellent mooring areas and restaurants and taught us how to sail to them. A winning combination.
Stephen Buie – Asheville, NC
Catamaran Live Aboard Cruising – British Virgin Islands – April 2018
Great experience! Learned a lot . . . totally confident in my ability to handle a large cat on my own now. Jack clearly knows his stuff. He also demonstrates a lot of patience with our endless stream of questions.
John DiToro – Cordillera, CO
Catamaran Live Aboard Course – Cape Coral, FL – April 2018
Also participated in Colgate Sailing Adventures Belize Flotilla – May 2018
Antonio wrote: Even though I’m not fluent in English, I felt 
comfortable and learned a lot. The cruising course exceeded my expectations. Cheyenne is an excellent instructor with a strong personality, huge knowledge, and a lot of patience, He was balanced enough to manage the coexistence between the students and the instructor living together. Maria wrote: Our overall experience was very good. As English is not our mother tongue, the experience was challenging but rewarding in the end. We were also happy with the rest of the crew, we built a good team together. Our instructor impressed me, he was very calm and patient, coped with my difficulties without losing temper; and he built confidence with the crew.
Antonio and Maria Marta Caballero – Buenos Aires, Argentina
Live Aboard Cruising Course – Captiva Island, FL – 2018
Stephen (in red shirt) wrote: I took Learn to Cruise at City Island in
1983. It is a much different, and much better course now. The textbooks (both Colgate and US Saling) are great. After 20 years of non-sailing, I am happy to return to Offshore. Patrick is amazingly knowledgeable, patient, and a raconteur, so fun to listen to. And to top it all off, he has the Club Med mindset! And Oleg wrote: Great Course. I felt confident I’d come away knowing the material required of me. Patrick is a wonderful instructor; not only did he explain the material, but he made sure that we could apply it practically on the boat.
Stephen and Oleg Mihans – Ann Arbor, MI
Stephen, Susan and Oleg Mihans in Live Aboard Cruising Course – Captiva Island, FL – February 2018
So much information in a short period of time, outstanding experience!!! This course is a great way to learn about sailing since the student is away from the office and can focus on sailing 24/7. I plan on taking additional courses due to the professional instructor staff and experience. Patrick was always teaching and giving true sailing experiences which was great. He was very patient and always ensured we understood the material. I would highly recommend Patrick to any future student!!
Gregory Heines (on left in gray shirt) – Stafford, VA
Catamaran Live Aboard Course – Cape Coral, FL – 2018
Jacek was a terrific teacher. He was always “on” and displayed a tremendous amount of professionalism and patience. He basically did everything right. All 4 of his students were current or former teachers so our standards and expectations were very high. He far exceeded them – “blew them out of the water.” Diana was extremely helpful explaining the course to a novice like me. The biggest mistake of my sailing career was taking my Basic Keelboat Course in the New York City area with another school (Manhattan Sailing School) and not Offshore. We learned very little and most of our experience came from our fellow sailing club members (we belong to Hoboken Sailing Club). For any future sailing courses/learning experiences I will turn to Offshore first. Bottom line is that from my experience Offshore rocks and is the Harvard, Princeton, Yale (take your Ivy League pick) of sailing schools.
Keith Bloesch – Hoboken, NJ
Live Aboard Cruising Course – St. Petersburg, FL – 2013
Jim was great. My wife and I learned a lot. A couple of the hard weather days were physically and emotionally draining but it was totally worth it. The feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment after taking the boat out and back on the last day was the perfect end to the week. His wife, Kimberly Votrubga-Matook wrote: Jim was extremely patient and flexible with his teaching strategies so that each student benefitted and, by the end of the course, could bareboat cruise! It was a very rewarding week. I’m grateful for the entire experience and I look forward to using my new sailing knowledge to cruise and enjoy another way to explore and experience the world.
George Matook – Framingham, MA
Live Aboard Cruising Course – Captiva Island, FL – 2013
Great sailing course. Instructor Liz was knowledgeable and able to give clear instructions; trusting students to control the boat. BVI is a great place!
