Pacific Sailing School

About Pacific Sailing School

Pacific Sailing School is one of Sydney’s longest-running sailing schools, teaching on **Sydney Harbour since 1977**. Based around **Rushcutters Bay and the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia**, the school offers a welcoming pathway for complete beginners, recreational sailors, aspiring skippers and experienced sailors working towards advanced RYA qualifications. Pacific Sailing School says it has taught more than **85,000 people to sail** since it was founded.

One of the strengths of the school is the variety of sailing available. Students can learn on small keelboats, move into larger cruising monohulls or catamarans, take part in yacht racing, complete liveaboard coastal training and continue through to RYA Coastal Skipper and Yachtmaster level.

## Sailing courses and training

For someone completely new to sailing, Pacific Sailing School offers a **Discover Sailing Experience** before moving into its Australian Sailing keelboat programme. Training takes place on Sydney Harbour, with students learning practical skills such as helming, sail handling, tacking, gybing and working together as a crew.

The training pathway includes:

- Discover Sailing experiences - Australian Sailing Start Crewing - Start Helming - Start Skippering - Competent Crew - Spinnaker sailing - Racing courses and race participation - RYA Competent Crew - RYA Essential Navigation and Seamanship - RYA Day Skipper Theory - RYA Day Skipper Practical - RYA Coastal Skipper and Yachtmaster Theory - RYA Coastal Skipper Practical - Yachtmaster preparation - Safety and Sea Survival - Marine Radio - Marine First Aid - Online and virtual navigation courses - Catamaran sailing and cruising courses

The Australian Sailing programme is particularly flexible. Lessons are normally delivered in three-hour sessions and are available throughout the week, allowing students to work through courses at their own pace rather than committing to one long block of training.

## Learning to sail on Sydney Harbour

Pacific Sailing School uses **Sydney Harbour as its main classroom**, with keelboat lessons operating around Rushcutters Bay.

Beginners train aboard J/24 keelboats, which are small enough to give students a good feel for how a yacht responds but large and stable enough for structured keelboat training. Each student gets the opportunity to practise different crew positions rather than simply sitting aboard while the instructor sails the boat.

Once the basics are in place, sailors can progress into skippering, spinnaker sailing and racing or move onto larger cruising yachts for coastal sailing and RYA qualifications.

## Liveaboard cruising and RYA training

Pacific Sailing School is also an **RYA training centre**, with practical courses available on both monohulls and catamarans.

Its RYA Competent Crew and Day Skipper practical courses are generally run as **five-day, four-night liveaboard programmes** with a maximum of five students aboard. This gives sailors the opportunity to experience the routines that come with actually living and cruising on a yacht, not just sailing for a few hours and returning to the marina.

During these courses, students can practise:

- Helming and sail handling - Anchoring and mooring - Navigation and pilotage - Passage planning - Weather interpretation - Boat handling under sail and power - Watchkeeping - Night sailing - Safety procedures - Crew management - Everyday life aboard a cruising yacht

Monohull practical courses operate between **Pittwater and Sydney Harbour**, while catamaran courses sail between Sydney Harbour and Pittwater. Both can include a coastal passage and a night entrance, with the final route depending on weather and the passage planning carried out during the course.

## Catamaran sailing

Sailors interested in cruising catamarans can complete RYA training specifically aboard multihulls.

Pacific Sailing School currently uses **Seawind cruising catamarans**, with its course information referring to Seawind 1160, 1170, 1260 and 1370 models.

Catamaran students can work through Competent Crew and Day Skipper training while learning the practical differences that come with a twin-hulled cruising boat, particularly manoeuvring under two engines, berthing, boat handling and managing a larger cruising platform.

For sailors planning to charter or eventually own a catamaran, this makes it possible to train on the same general style of boat they expect to sail later.

## Racing and building experience

Pacific Sailing School also has a strong connection with **yacht racing**, giving students somewhere to use their skills after completing a course.

Graduates can progress from J/24 training into harbour racing, twilight racing and longer events. The school participates in racing from the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia and runs opportunities during events such as the CYCA Winter Series.

Its larger racing yacht, **More Witchcraft**, is a **Dibley 46** used for harbour racing, short-haul and passage racing, as well as offshore training.

This gives newer sailors a useful progression from learning individual skills on a J/24 to seeing how those same jobs work aboard a much larger yacht with a bigger crew.

## The team

Pacific Sailing School was founded in **1977 by Terry Wise**, who remains actively involved as the school's Principal, sailing holiday leader and part of the wider school community. Terry has a background in competitive sailing and ocean racing, including Sydney to Hobart experience.

The broader instructional team includes **RYA Yachtmasters, RYA Cruising Instructors and Australian Sailing instructors**, with specialists in cruising, yacht racing and advanced RYA training. The school currently describes having more than six RYA-qualified instructors and more than eight Australian Sailing-qualified instructors.

Pacific Sailing School also deliberately uses different instructors throughout parts of its programme, giving students exposure to different teaching styles and sailing experience.

## The training boats

Pacific Sailing School has one of the more varied training fleets among Sydney sailing schools.

The fleet includes **J/24 keelboats** for its Australian Sailing programme, cruising monohulls for RYA training, **Seawind catamarans** for multihull courses and a dedicated larger yacht for racing and offshore training.

The school currently lists:

- International J/24 keelboats for harbour training - A 38-foot monohull used for RYA practical courses - Seawind 1160, 1170, 1260 and 1370 cruising catamarans used across its multihull programme - **More Witchcraft**, a Dibley 46 racing yacht used for racing and offshore training

This range lets sailors progress from learning the basics on a small keelboat to handling the larger monohulls and catamarans they are more likely to encounter when coastal cruising or chartering.

## Sailing holidays and adventures

Pacific Sailing School goes beyond formal courses with organised **sailing holidays and cruising adventures**.

Terry Wise has been running sailing holidays for more than 40 years, with previous destinations including Greece, Croatia, Thailand, the Whitsundays, New Caledonia, Fiji, Tonga, Turkey, the Caribbean and Tahiti. Current programmes include international sailing holidays where participants can take an active role aboard or simply enjoy the cruising experience.

For Sydney sailors, Pacific Sailing School offers a particularly broad progression. You can start with a three-hour introduction on Sydney Harbour, learn to crew and helm a J/24, move into racing, spend five days living aboard a cruising yacht, learn to skipper a monohull or catamaran and continue towards advanced coastal and RYA Yachtmaster training without having to move between different sailing schools.

Services and expertise

• Sailing academy / training

Service area: Sydney Harbour (Rushcutters Bay) and Pittwater

Confirm availability, scope and pricing directly with the business before making arrangements.

A closer look