We developed the sea school at Saracen over 12 years ago when our day trip clients asked us if they could spend more time out on the water learning how to sail. We thought that this was a great idea and set up a school and RYA Training center around 10 years ago. This was the second RYA sea school to be set up outside of the UK. Our clients progressed within the school and wanted to move on to bareboat charter ideally on a boat and in an area they knew already. So, we naturally developed over the years into a charter company and now have a fleet available for both tuition and charter. We have retained our focus purely on sailing so that we can offer the best possible service to our clients.

We offer a comprehensive range of RYA practical and shorebased courses. It is possible to either join a group course or to take your course privately. We very much enjoy what we do, not only because of the fabulous location but also because it gives us so much pleasure to see our clients coming away with many new skills to help them on their way with their sailing and also having had a wonderful time doing it. We sincerely hope that you will find what you are looking for and we would be pleased to answer any questions you may have.

Location – We have boats based in both Alcudia and Pollenca Bays that are in the North East of Mallorca. This is a perfect base from which to start sailing as they offer a beautiful and yet very sheltered sailing area. You will be heading for Palma International, which is coded PMI. You can find details of flights to Palma on our Flights and Weather page. From Palma you will find plenty of taxis available for the 40 minute journey to the boat or we can recommend other transfers methods when you are ready to book. 

The Boats- All of our yachts are privately owned and their owners spend their own holidays on their yachts. It is also important to note that Saracen directly manages the fleet on a full time basis and so we are in control of the standard of maintenance on the boats, ensuring reliability. Accordingly, you will find that the yachts are extremely well cared for and not excessively used, providing high levels of reliability and comfort. This also affords us a greater degree of flexibility with our booking schedule. We have 5 boats on the fleet that are equipped for training and all of the boats are coded for commercial use to Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) standards and are inspected and certificated by the Department of Transport (DoT). There is a maximum student/teacher ratio on all courses of 5 to 1. We also choose the boat for your course to suit the number of people on board, the make up of your group and which skills you are due to be learning. We will reduce the student teacher ratio for your comfort and level of tuition required. You can see details of each of the boats on our website under the charter section.

Instructors- We pride ourselves on the experience of our instructors who teach solely for Saracen Sailing. As dedicated sailing instructors they are in tune with our philosophy, have detailed knowledge and experience of our sailing area and know our fleet intimately. They all have many years of sailing experience with well honed seamanship skills are not recently qualified “fast track” candidates. You will find them friendly, patient and hugely knowledgeable with many years of varied experience both in teaching and the boating World in general. Although RYA instructors undertake frequent updates with the RYA themselves, we also run our own instructor update courses so that our instructors can share their knowledge with one another and also allow them the opportunity to spend some time with a senior RYA examiner. This ensures that they are delivering a course to you in the best possible way.

Course Format –we usually start a group practical course at around 3pm on either a Monday or a Thursday and finish at about the same time on a Saturday or Tuesday respectively.(Private courses can be set up to suit your requirements both in terms of timing and format.) When you arrive at the marina, you will be met by your instructor and shown to your boat and helped to settle in. After some light refreshments, you will be taken through a safety briefing, which a little like on an airline; we would ask that you pay close attention, as your safety on board is paramount to us. Weather permitting, you will usually then head off into the sunset for your first brief sail and to find a quiet place to anchor for the night. We find that this is a great way to settle in to being on board a boat and allow you to get to know your fellow crewmates. The following day you will then be all set for your first full day of sailing and, I have to say, there’s nothing quite like waking up in the morning and going for a quick dip off the back of the boat or eating your Shreddies whilst watching the fish swimming around the stern of your yacht.  From then on your course format will depend on which courses you are all taking, however, typically you will go for a three or four hour sail in the morning before finding a cove in which to anchor for lunch. You will get the opportunity to go for a swim before lunch and, typically, everyone then helps to prepare something for lunch together. Over lunch you will discuss the events of the morning sail with your instructor and he or she will assess how the course should be progressed during the afternoon. That evening you will either find a quiet anchorage or pull into a local marina. You can choose whether you would like to eat ashore or on board the boat and simply relax. You can expect to visit several different locations during your course and cover approximately 100 nautical miles in total.

Booking- you can either e-mail or call us any time on the 0845 3301357 telephone number. This number is charged to you at a local UK call rate but comes straight through to us here in Mallorca. We would be pleased to give you details of availability and pricing for your dates. If you need any other advice with regard, for example, to accommodation, car hire, flights and extending your stay beyond your course we would be pleased to help. If you then wish to go ahead and book a course with us you simply need to complete a booking form and send it back to us either by e-mail or fax. If you wish to book by post, please call us first to let us know that your booking form is on its way so that we can reserve your space in the interim. We will always try to be as flexible as possible so, if you can’t find a course date that suits you, please let us know and we will do our best to accommodate your requirements.

What is included?  We provide pretty much everything you will need once you arrive and you could easily not spend anything at all beyond your travel and course fee. You will have an experienced and fully qualified RYA instructor with you for the duration of your course. We also cover all boat expenses like berthing, fuel and gas and do not expect you to contribute. We provide your skipper with a kitty to cover these items and fresh bread, fruit and vegetables you may require along the way.  You will also find pillows, bed linen and towels on board for you. The boat will be provisioned before you leave the port with provisions for breakfast, lunch and dinner and all refreshments taken on board including a sundowner beer and some wine with dinner. Provisions include relatively simple and healthy food to prepare, such as pasta and cereals, fresh fruit and vegetables and snacks. If you would like anything else on board please feel free to either bring it with you or let us know your wishes and, yes, we have had the Champagne and caviar request and even once a request for green Tabasco! We will also cater for any specific dietary requirements. We include accommodation for the duration of your practical course. Also, for Learn to Sail courses you can choose whether or not you would like to stay on board during your “middle” night.

What is not included?  You will need to arrange your own flights and journey to our base in Mallorca. We would be pleased to offer any advice or help as required. We recommend that you take out personal holiday insurance and please ensure that this covers you for any activities you would like to take part. We also do not include dinner during shorebased(theory of navigation)training or those meals you choose to take ashore during your practical. We have found that clients like to take a variety of approaches to the accommodation during the shorebased portion of their courses and so we leave this open, however, we would be pleased to help you to find something suitable.

You will find full details on our courses on the website by clicking on the beginners and intermediate, advance or family sailing buttons.

Our 0845 3301357 is charged at a local UK call rate but comes straight through to us here in Mallorca. From outside of the UK you should call 0034 971509519. Call anytime.

We look forward to meeting you.
Kay and David