The courses are intended to provide students with all the necessary skills and knowledge to safely and competently sail a small dinghy in moderate weather conditions.  On completion, participants will understand how to control and manage a small dinghy in light to moderate sailing conditions. The courses also include basic understanding of weather, tides and general safety procedures, as well as fundamental sailing rules.

Adult and Youth Dinghy Learn to Sail

This course is suitable for youths (16+) and adults and caters for those with no sailing experience but those with experience will also benefit from learning sailing skills with plenty of time on the water.​

The course is based on the Australian Sailing Start Sailing 1 & 2 course which is the early stage of the Sailing Pathways. We use RS Feva and Vision sailing dinghies which are excellent training boats.

Sailing is a fun but sometimes physically demanding sport and so all participants must be able to swim and be capable of hoisting themselves back into a sailing dinghy from the water in the case of those inevitable capsizes.

​The courses are run on a Saturday afternoon from 12:30 to 3:30pm.

COST: $520 for (18 hours including boat usage)

Click here to sign up

Private Lessons

If you prefer to choose your own session time or wish to have individual tuition, our private lessons may suit you better?

Lessons are offered in 2-hour modules, and most choose to complete their course over 4 weekends.

Saturday and Sunday Time Slots are arranged by appointment. Weekday lessons are also available by special arrangement.

The following are packages of 4 2-hr lessons delivering the Yachting Australia

curriculum and cost $650, or bring a friend for $970. Club Membership is included in this fee.:

Start Sailing 1 (8 Hours) – The basics of sailing, including rigging, steering, crewing, tacking

Start Sailing 2 (8 Hours) – The above, plus further introduction to gybing, points of sail, capsize recovery, launching and landing.

Better Sailing (8 Hours) – Building on the foundation, more advanced boat-handling techniques, introduction to sailing rules and basic meteorology for sailing.

Start Racing (8 Hours) – Further building on the foundations in previous courses, participants are also exposed to race-like situation and conditions, including course layouts, starting signals and racing signals.

Other Opportunities

Graduates of our LTS programs are invited to join in regular club sailing activities.

With a well established yacht racing division, the DSA can place you with a crew for twilight and weekend racing. Join an existing crew, or start your own.

If dinghies are more your style, we have many classes racing regulary including the Hartley TS 16, OK Dinghy, 16ft Skiff and Cherub).

Please feel free to discuss these options with your instructor or DSA Management.