British Virgin Islands or Mallorca?
Mallorca has long been viewed as the jewel in the Mediterranean for its spectacular coastline, crystal clear waters, delightful coves for overnight anchorages, tiny fishing harbours and bustling marina life; so it made good sense to start up a sea school right in the heart of its vibrant city of Palma, very conveniently just 2 hours from the capital cities of Europe.
Voyage Sea School is enjoying a successful operating year. Based in Palma harbour at Marina Alboran, the school has an impressive fleet of training boats, from the luxurious and spacious Voyage 440 catamarans to its Bavaria 42ft monohull. ‘Bonita’. The school has been busy even through the July and August season normally reserved for charters.
As the only Royal Yachting Association (RYA) recognised training establishment in Palma, Voyage Sea School run sail training courses from the two-day ‘taster’ of the ‘Start Yachting’ course to the Yachtmaster preparation courses where students refine their skills ready to take the Yachtmaster assessment, a highly prized qualification and the stepping stone to a career in the yachting industry.
When the school first opened its doors, the team had a very definite idea of what they wanted to achieve in terms of high levels of customer service. The instructors, from their past experience on the island, knew what worked well and what didn’t. For example, it was important to Voyage to have a spacious ‘state of art’ air conditioned classroom in which to instruct shorebased navigation courses to their students and it was also an advantage to have training boats large enough to offer four comfortable cabins, allowing students to enjoy the privacy of their own cabin during their training week onboard.
From the quality of the food and drink provisioning to the brand new Henri Lloyd wet weather clothing made available to each student, Voyage have set out to raise the standards of customer service and set new benchmarks for sailing schools in the Balearics.
The team at Voyage continue to build the relationships with their students, to continue their training and encourage them to set out on their own sailing adventures. As Voyage also offer charter holidays, both here in Mallorca and also in the British Virgin Islands, so the training in Mallorca allows the successful students to be able to charter their own boat, and enjoy holidays on the water for years to come.
With a view to chartering, Voyage Sea School runs assessments for the International Certificate of Competence, (ICC), which is similar to a driving licence for boats and the licence that British citizens require to charter a boat; the team is also often asked for career advice from people keen to start in the yachting industry. The team state that they will do their very best to help everyone who walks through their door, either with training that they can provide or with advice to help people get started.