It’s time for you to discover the exhilaration of sailing! This course is for people who have no prior sailing experience and who have always wanted to try it out. Come out and learn just how fun, and affordable, sailing can be!
Our Sailing Essentials course will cover knots, terminology, boat parts, boat handling and overall basic seamanship skills. A Sail Nelson certificate of completion will be awarded upon completion of this course.
For our Sailing Essentials course, you will spend a total of 14 hours out on the boat. Please see the specific schedules below for 2026 as we are also offering evening courses now. All of our courses depart from the Prestige Marina, located at 701 Lakeside Drive in the heart of Nelson. Once you register, you will receive further information via email.
This course is equivalent to the Sail Canada Start Keelboat Sailing course. Students have the option of purchasing a Sail Canada logbook and course seal for an additional $80 +GST.
2026 Course Schedule
- SE1 – Saturday & Sunday, May 2-3, 2026, 9 am to 4 pm
- SE2 – Saturday & Sunday, May 9-10, 2026, 9 am to 4 pm
- SE3 – Monday – Thursday, May 11-14, 2026, 5:30 pm to 9 pm
- SE4 – Tuesday – Friday, June 9-12, 2026, 5:30 pm to 9 pm
- SE5 – Monday & Tuesday, June 15-16, 20269 am to 4 pm – Guest Instructor Bassam
- SE6 – Monday & Tuesday, June 22-23, 2026, 9 am to 4 pm – Guest Instructor Bassam
- SE7 – Thursday & Friday, June 25-26, 2026, 9 am to 4 pm – Guest Instructor Bassam
- SE8 – Monday, July 6, 2026, 9 am to 5 pm & Tuesday – Wednesday, July 7-8, 2026, 6 pm to 9 pm
- SE9 – Saturday & Sunday, August 22-23, 2026, 9 am to 4 pm
- SE10 – Saturday & Sunday, September 12-13, 2026, 9 am to 4 pm
- SE11 – Saturday & Sunday, October 3-4, 2026, 9 am to 4 pm