SIMPLY THE MOST EXCEPTIONAL SAILING SCHOOL.

It’s taken a whole year for me to process the impact of my experience in Portugal, but here goes…….

In winter 2024 I had a strange urge to develop my sailing skills and confidence by booking onto a Yacht Master course. After an hour or so trawling google, I contacted more than half a dozen sailing schools, some in the UK and some in warmer, but tidal regions, and how glad I am that I stumbled across RU Sailing.

The minute I received a response from Jules I instantly knew that they were the school for me, the others had all responded with a very much ‘off the shelf’ offer that didn’t really meet my needs, but Jules replied with curiosity, she wanted to know about me, about my sailing experience so far and why I wanted to follow this path, and armed with this information they created a bespoke experience based on my needs, which was a radically different approach to any other schools that I contacted.

Several months later in March 2025 I arrived in Lagos to complete two months of coaching, experience building and very memorable mileage trips. From the moment I arrived it affirmed that I’d made the right decision, the location and the training boats are perfect for learning, and learn I did! Day one saw us heading out in 34 knots of wind with the 3rd reef in the main and storm gib flying, ordinarily in these conditions I’d be hiding in a sheltered bay, but I felt completely at ease under their expert guidance, and this continued throughout my time there.

Now this wasn’t a ‘course’ as such, I was the only person undertaking this lengthy programme, but each week Jules and Rob had filled my itinerary with likeminded people who were at the same stage of development, and this approach worked perfectly for me and ensured that I was constantly learning with new people.

As the weeks passed by, the level of challenge understandably increased, as the Yacht Master Offshore qualification deserves. At times I felt pretty overwhelmed by the sheer amount of things to learn, and as the Yacht Master Prep week and exam loomed, I almost pulled the plug and deferred the exam to a later date, but Rob is one of the most skilful coaches I have ever met and encouraged me to just take it a day at a time, each evening providing reassurance and asking whether I wanted to defer the exam, to which I always replied, ‘maybe tomorrow’, until exam day arrived…….

It was tough, I’m not going to lie, but being a Yacht Master is a serious undertaking and the practical exam should reflect that, but thanks to Rob, Jules and the RU Sailing team, I was fully prepared, and after 14 hours and only a couple of small errors, I received the result that I’d hoped for – a pass!! Jules and Rob are so kind, they even turned up at the boat at 1am armed with a bottle of champagne (and a box of tissues in case of bad news).

If you are considering undertaking an RYA training course, want to develop a specific skill or just experience sailing, then you really shouldn’t look any further than Jules and Rob at RU Sailing. I’ve never met a couple of people who care as much about their clients, I was treated as family from arrival, and every aspect of your experience will be considered, from the cleanliness of the boat, and the fact that it will be stocked to the gunwales with food, to Jules bringing freshly roasted chicken, beautiful salads or one of her famous soups to the boat each day. The coaching is top level, the instructors that I worked with were all incredibly skilful, and Rob is just on another level, not only from a technical sailing perspective, but also his ability to calmly impart that knowledge onto others, and not to mention that he is just a downright decent human being.

The experience was about more than just a qualification for me, and more about becoming a more rounded, safer, more confident sailor and skipper, which I achieved that in bucket loads

My time in Lagos has left a massive imprint on my life, and I can’t thank Jules and Rob enough 🙂