It’s easy to set sail: 7 reasons you'll love a sailing holiday with Sunsail

There's nothing like gliding under sail beneath blue skies with a cool breeze. Sunsail’s sailing holidays are stress-free, whether you’re an experienced skipper or a first-timer...

4 mins

1: Visit uncrowded islands

A sailing holiday lets you ease away from the crowds at your own pace, far beyond the land where even local ferries reach. Take Croatia, where Sunsail opens up the world-class wonder of the Dalmatian coast. You can visit the famous islands, like Hvar and Brac, but even then sailing allows you the freedom to break away and discover more remote coves and anchorages. Then there are the uncrowded islands it’s a privilege to discover on a Sunsail holiday. Take the Kornati Islands – just north of Sunsail’s base at Marina Agana, where 140 islands beckon, many of them uninhabited, most part of the pristine Kornati National Park. George Bernard Shaw once swooned, “On the last day of creation, God desired to crown his work and thus created the Kornati Islands out of tears, stars and breath.” You can enjoy sublime experiences like this across Sunsail’s network; rich cultural experiences and swathes of history as you ripple along under sail, too.

A Sunsail holiday can take you to remote coves and anchorages

A Sunsail holiday can take you to remote coves and anchorages

2: Join a sailing school

Thought learning to sail was an impossible dream? Well, Sunsail’s sailing schools are for everyone, whether you’re a complete beginner literally wanting to learn the ropes – or sheets as you will soon learn to call them – or just want to brush up on the skills you have been developing. Sunsail can also help you fulfil a lifelong dream and graduate as a fully qualified yacht skipper. You have a great choice of sailing schools too – perhaps in the Croatian Adriatic at Marina Agana? Or Lefkas further south in the Ionian Sea in Greece? All Sunsail instructors are RYA (Royal Yacht Association) qualified. You can choose from RYA Day Skipper, Coastal Skipper, Competent Crew, Yachtmaster Offshore and many more qualifications. There is a mix of practical and theory-based courses, depending on your experience. Look out too for Sunsail’s Sailing Schools App, which you can find in App stores or download on the Sunsail website.

Learning the ropes (or sheets) on a Sunsail holiday is easier than you think

Learning the ropes (or sheets) on a Sunsail holiday is easier than you think

3: Watch wonderful wildlife

You can discover a rich bounty of wildlife on a Sunsail holiday. It is a life-affirming experience under sail when a dolphin breaks the surface and leaps with your spirits out of the water. The range of what you can see on the water, under the surface with a snorkel, on land and in the skies is spellbinding. You will encounter a sweep of wildlife throughout all the countries Sunsail offers sailing adventures in. In Croatia, for example, you are often accompanied by all manner of dolphins, but you can also find Dalmatian turtles, the rare monk seal and whales, too. In the air highlights include osprey, vultures and the mighty white-tailed eagle, plus myriad migratory bird species. Greece also offers striped dolphins, sperm whales, loggerhead turtles and even basking sharks. 

Sunsail holidays offer you nose-to-fin encounters with wildlife

Sunsail holidays offer you nose-to-fin encounters with wildlife

4: Be confident in calm waters

Always been put off a sailing holiday by worries about being hurled about in rough seas or having to navigate across vast stretches of ocean? Well those are not concerns you need to have when you book any of Sunsail’s sailing holidays in Croatia and Greece. The Mediterranean may boast wonderful wildlife, myriad islands and epic scenery, but it is also a benign sea, offering particularly fine sailing weather from the end of May until the beginning of October. We are talking blue skies, plenty of sunshine and just enough of a breeze to help with sailing, but still keep the waters calm. Sunsail’s Mediterranean sailing options in Greece and Croatia focus on easy line of sight sailing so navigation does not become an issue or a stress either.

A Sunsail holiday to the Mediterranean is one through millpond-calm waters

A Sunsail holiday to the Mediterranean is one through millpond-calm waters

5: Find the right level for you

Sunsail really does cater to all types of sailor. Whether it's your first time setting foot on a yacht, or you’re just about to crack your skipper qualification, there is an option for you, ranging from private yachts and hiring expert skippers through to flotilla holidays for a sociable experience. For complete freedom a bareboat sailing holiday lets you decide what you want to do every day. Follow one of Sunsail’s suggested itineraries or forge out on your own adventure. A skippered sailing holiday meanwhile is a great choice for families, couples and friends. With someone else looking after you, you can do as much sailing as you like. You are still very much in control, with the skipper on hand with local knowledge to help plan or tweak your itinerary. If you want the support and reassurance of a Sunsail lead crew a flotilla sailing holiday is ideal, as you follow an itinerary along with other yachts.

Whatever kind of sailing holiday you're after, Sunsail can help you imagine it

Whatever kind of sailing holiday you're after, Sunsail can help you imagine it

6: Choose your company

One of the beauties of a sailing holiday with Sunsail is that you have the freedom to choose your own company, whether that be your close family, or the strangers that are soon to be good friends on a flotilla trip. A bareboat sailing holiday means you have exclusive use of the yacht, so you can choose who to have aboard. A skippered sailing holiday is perfect for families, couples and friends with less sailing experience who want to just relax. A Sunsail flotilla sailing holiday is a very sociable and fun option where you will meet kindred spirits who often become lifelong friends as you bond at sea and in the restaurants ashore at day’s end.

Meet like-minded seafarers on a Sunsail flotilla trip

Meet like-minded seafarers on a Sunsail flotilla trip

7: Let Sunsail take care of the details

Organising a holiday can be a stressful experience. That is never the case with Sunsail. They are experts in sailing holidays with a pedigree dating back to the 1970s. Today they offer over 500 yachts in over 20 of the best cruising grounds worldwide. And they have professional, knowledgeable Holiday Planners on hand to make sure every step of your booking journey is seamless. Sunsail can help you book flights (they have regular flights directly out of many UK airports to Greece and Croatia for example), the easy transfers, on board Wi-Fi and extras like stand-up paddleboards, as well as on-board food and drink provisioning. Travel insurance can be taken care of, too. That leaves you to just dream of your upcoming holiday escape rather than stress about the details your Holiday Planner is sorting out for you.

Sunsail takes care of the logistical details so you can concentrate on the holiday itself

Sunsail takes care of the logistical details so you can concentrate on the holiday itself

About the experts

Sunsail has been offering sailing escapes since 1974 and invented the flotilla concept. Their array of trips stretches to over 20 destinations worldwide, so the biggest decision you will have is where to begin. Sunsail’s choice of adventures is impressive too, whether you are looking to hire a skipper, join a flotilla or charter a yacht on a bareboat sailing holiday. Sunsail can tailor your holiday based on your experience and desires.  The choice is yours, with a dedicated team of holiday planners on hand to help you out. Sunsail offers full flexibility and by being ABTA and ATOL protected your holiday is in safe hands. Sailing with Sunsail is not hard to organise, or to do. The only limit is your imagination as you make your dream sailing trip a reality.

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