WHY IS MILE-BUILDING IMPORTANT?

Offshore passage making does not make you eligible for anything in-particular but many budding sailors want to sail offshore for a number of reasons:

• To gain experience at sea.
• To gain sea miles for an RYA yacht-master or coastal certificate.
• To achieve a personal goal.
• To experience heavy weather at sea.
• To become a better skipper.

It is a big jump from sailing within sight of land to when you decide to sail further a field; away from the coastline and further offshore. It is really hard to get a good amount of sea miles to allow you to go on to achieve your goals.

You need quality, tidal sea miles that will count; give you confidence at sea and go towards your own logged experience and your next RYA qualification. Miles where you will learn something and that will really build on your experience in heavy weather and sailing offshore.

Sailing Excellence can help, and Cadiz, is the perfect place to start building those valuable miles needed for your next step towards become an experienced skipper certificate. With Morocco, to our south and Portugal, to our north some good mile-building can be done but for some real sea time we go as far south as the Canaries & Malta and as far north as La Coruna and into the infamous Bay of Biscay.

That is why when you are mile building with us you won’t be just there to “enjoy the ride” you will be involved in all aspects of the passage; theoretical – (passage planning, weather mapping, offshore routing tactics etc..) and practical – (navigating, helming, deck-work, watch keeping, helming and if we get the weather right we hope to have some good use of spinnakers!

All our mile building trips are non-stop, (24hrs a day) you get real experience offshore, working a yacht at sea, working watches and all conducted by a qualified RYA yachtmaster instructor with a wealth of knowledge and experience. We aim for 250-400 nautical miles every passage, weather permitting of course.

Trips are running throughout the year, all marina fees, fuel, wet weather gear and safety equipment are included as will be all food and drink onboard during passage.