Sunsail Beach Club Holiday

Does anyone have any experience of these?

I have a 2^1/2 year old, a non-sailing wife and am new to small boat sailing. I see one of these holidays as a way to get some decent experience and maybe a qualification whilst still having a family holiday.

Will I get what I want?

Are there any alternatives? Apart form Mark Warner who only seems to operate July, August and September.

Hi Luke,

I went to the Sunsail site at Kos nine years ago and had a fantastic time, as did my two sons who were aged 25 and 21. We were all experienced sailors and windsurfers.  My wife, who is not interested in sailing, was not impressed due to all the sailing talk all the time.  The Kos site is no longer a Sunsail site as the accomodation was very basic and, I believe, the company wanted better, with air conditioning, etc. All of the sailing/windsurfing equipment was excellent and there were very good facilities for child minding, all day, for all ages, so both of the parents got chance to sail or learn to sail.

You have not said when you wish to go.  Just at the moment, Sunsail have some good offers on for Club Colonna in Antigua, in January, for £999, for two weeks, half board. I have not stayed at this resort but I visited it about five years ago and it seemed great.  It is situated in the very north of the island and, when I visited, there were strong winds.  Antigua is a small island and you can drive around it in a day if you rent a car. Y & Y did an excellent feature on the resort but I can't remember how long ago it was.

Minorca Sailing is a great place with fantastic equipment but it is expensive and, I think (without checking) that is a 'summer' place.  Again, I have not stayed there but have visited it.

Neilson would be another option and there are sites all over the Mediterranean and I understand that they are very good.  I have a friend who has worked there for the last three summers, whilst he was at university.  He was at Mar Menor, Vassiliki and has just returned from Bitez. I have visited the site at Grand Anse Bay in Grenada, which was an 'all year round' venue. I was staying at a hotel in the next bay and used to sail amongst the Neilson clients, most of their boats were Lasers, 2000's, 3000's and Dart 16's or Hobie Waves. I don't think that the site is open this winter due to the damage caused by the hurricane.  I think it may open again in May but I am not certain.

I hope that this helps.

Ian  (Yorkshire Dales S.C.)

Thanks for all the great input so far – I was a little nervous about posting the question but am glad I did now. I have some more detail to add and then a couple of additional questions.

We’d be looking to go May 05 and at the moment Galini is looking favourite. Reasonable flight times, good price and we’ve done flotilla in the Ionian so know the area.

What me wife will be interested in a reasonable pool to sit around and read her book plus the option to escape for a bit of an explore now and then as a family.

Cost is a key consideration – I’ve got to sell this as not much more expensive than a normal package. This makes Minorca Sailing a little expensive and Neilson doesn’t have prices available yet.

Questions:

Will the instructors be able to cope with a beginner who knows (at least thinks he does) how to drive a yacht?

Will our little “terror” have enough to do to stop him going stir crazy?

Will the other guests/staff look down on my wife because she doesn’t sail?