Adventure Sailing: family cruising, liveaboards and learning at sea

Adventure sailing started after my family returned from cruising, living and schooling onboard our family cruising catamaran.

My daughters were home schooled onboard but were craving friends and they decided they would like to settle for high school.

We first started operating from the Geographe Bay Yacht club but when an office became available in the Marina we jumped on it. The marina allows easy access to our fleet and allows year round operation in the protected waters of the Marina.

Geo bay is a sailors paradise. Strong southerly wins on a north facing coastline. Smooth fast sailing. Plus great yacht clubs and social sailing opportunities exist.

1st day if the catamaran course starts with an induction to the boat, allocation of bunks and our first session of traditional navigation. This is normally done the afternoon before the departure.

We then set out to learn to sail on a structured day of skills including steering, safe use of winches, setting sails, trimming sails, tacking, gybing and heaving too. We will also practice MOB under sail.

Students earn 3 different certificates whilst on our 5 day liveaboard course. 1 VHF radio licence 2. International Bare boat skippers certificate and 3. International certificate of competency. All certificates are issued by “International Yacht Training” The combination of these 3 certs allows the holders to charter yachts anywhere in the world.

She skipper and she sails were developed to allow women to learn in their own style without the macho chest beating getting in the way. All the girls have loved the relaxed non-competitive approach to learning and sailing.

Our commercial training courses are designed to help people get into working at sea. We offer both Coxswain and Master 24m training courses and assessments. We do these at sea onboard out 20m training ship. Hands on minds on learning, fully immersed in life at sea. Standing watches, navigating, vessel handling, cooking and lots of small boat driving. This is a fantastic course and meets all of AMSA requirement s to be issued with a certificate of Competency.

We try to offer these course in unique locations eg Abrolhos Islands and Geographe Bay. An adventure and a course.

Our company operates 14 boats overall. Ranging from 3.5m dinghy, 6-8 m sailing boats, a fleet of powerboats and our bigger craft Starsand and Queimarla.

Starsand is a 20m sailing ketch. She is built in a timeless manner showing lots of traditional timber and brass. She is like a beautiful classic car. Starsand can sleep up to 10 passengers onboard or she can accommodate 24 people for day sails.

Queimarla is a 13.85m performance sailing catamaran. She is a beautiful sailing machine and offers exhilarating performance. She can sleep 6 passengers or accommodate 10 people day sailing.

A typical day onboard starts with a swim and coffee. We then swing into our jobs for the morning. Cooking, navigation, engineering and preparing for departure. We try to move each day revising the skills we have learnt so far.

Our days are spent sailing and exploring before setting the anchor for the day and relaxing with a sunset drink followed by a delicious dinner. We try to include shore-based exploring and snorkelling.

Winter is always a challenging time on the west coast. We normally have beautiful light sailing days interspaced by raging gales. Both of our vessels are extremely seaworthy, and we do not run and hide from inclement weather unless we consider it unsafe. This is an opportunity to stretch your envelope whilst having professional lifelong sailors onboard with you.

Our instructor are all awesome. They do not get to work with us unless they have the skills we require. All our instructors hold as a minimum the following qualifications. Commercial coxswain, Australian Sailing, sailing and powerboating instructors, IYT instructor quals, 1st aid, Bronze Medallion lifesaving, Working with children approval, Radio operators certificates and bucket loads of people skills.

When looking for new instructors we look for the right sort of person. Friendly people people. We can offer all require training in house, so people skills are our most valued commodity.

We sail all year from Port Geographe. We sail to the Abrolhos Islands April through to June. We star again at the Abrolhos in August and September. We bring both of the big boats home from Geraldton around October. Ready for summer fun.

Most people worry about sea sickness, sailing overnight and sailing outside of the site of land.

Usually by the end of the course no one is that keen to leave.

What’s coming up in 2027.

Emma is developing more all-female courses. You can now do your Recreational Skippers ticket in an all-girl setting including your instructor. Plus over night She Sails liveaboard courses.

Starsand has had a new engine fitted offering stress free boating. She will be offering Abrolhos Island escapes in 2027.

We continue to work with WA indigenous sea rangers from Esperance to the Kimberly. Helping these young people gain skills and qualifications.

We are now offering 3-day catamaran sailing introductory course in Geo bay over the summer months.

Commercial course continue to improve and we still believe we offer the best maritime training in Australia.

We continue to work with Southern Ports offering staff training and VOC of staff members.

We will be offering school group Rec Skipper ticket courses. We already work with Hale, St Mary’s, Busselton High School, Steiner School, Geo Yacht Club, Fauna, Department of Water, O2 Marine, Main roads, UWA plus others.