RYA vs ASA Sailing School: What’s Best?

I want to leave my opinion of my learning lesson with Steele this past week. The boat was in good condition and very clean. The (short) week was fruitful and I feel I learned a lot. The best part was Steele. He was always eager to answer our questions, repeat his instructions when necessary, and explain the whys and the hows of every action required. Steele made the learning trip a pleasant one. He was always in a great mood, always positive, and always ready to engage with his students. Needless to say that Steele knows sooooo much about sailing. In sum, Steele is an incredible guy, nice to spend time with, and extremely knowledgeable. Would I recommend your services? I already did 😊. Congrats on your operation. You created a great company. People like Steele make the difference. In these times, having good team members has become harder.

We decided we wanted a more simple lifestyle and we sold our house and all its contents to move onto our 42′ Fountaine Pajot catamaran. Neither of us had done any sailing so we were pretty anxious about taking such a huge step and knew we needed some real hands-on experience.. Lucky for us, we went to the class in Marsh Harbour, Bahamas on a 40′ Island Spirit with Stephen and Estelle Cockcroft. We were totally immersed in every aspect of sailing and living on board a catamaran, which is what we needed. The Cockcrofts went above and beyond “teaching” us. They provided us an understanding of catamarans that would have taken us a very long time to discover on our own – that experience is invaluable for novices. When we went home we knew we could handle whatever was thrown at us i.e., how to manage the sails, how to live comfortably on board, and what to expect with all the systems on board. We can’t say enough about the incredible experience we had with them. We highly recommend sail school and if you’re lucky enough to get a couple like Stephen and Estelle you won’t regret it.

From the start of the class, we knew we had made the right decision. Both Stephen and Estelle introduced us to life as liveaboard cruisers. Estelle took us through provisioning for the trip and establishing a level of “comfort” while aboard and Stephen introduced us to the “single sheet” per-person use of the head. Each day we would work, learn, and sail the boat as if it we were ours and we were making our own passage. Having a destination for each day made the learning fun and challenging. Each of the four students received hours of hands-on experience at each sailing position and the learning and confidence gained was invaluable. During the course, we all were given ample time to earn our “Plonker” status and the constructive reinforcement from Stephen and Estelle served to further our confidence that we could handle ourselves safely on the water. Anyone who has the opportunity to spend time with the Cockcrofts knows that their experiences as blue water cruisers are worth the price of the course. We have stayed in close contact with the Cockcrofts since attending our first BWSS course and today, we value the Gurus as some of our closest friends. We have learned so much from them and are looking forward to working with Stephen and Estelle as we prepare to purchase our own yacht and begin our life with our family on the water.

I give Steele Greyling a 10/10 rating. He taught me so much about yachting. I am a seafarer for 12 years , sail and motor. Steele is an exceptional teacher and knows how to get his knowledge across to a novice and experienced sailors alike. He was professional and taught me both the practical and theoretical aspects of yachting. Thanks Steele!

I have been working with Steele for a few years now and I still get excited every time I see him on the dock. Steele has an infectious love of life and you'll always find him smiling. Even when the winds get rough Steele just gets rougher and rises to any challenge. He has a great way of sharing all the knowledge he has and his students walk away having a great time and having become better sailors.

Steele is a very knowledgeable instructor with great teaching skills. I learned a lot from him in the three months he instructed me. He has a lot of patience and always goes that extra mile. He is a very nice guy to be around. I am currently in the yachting industry and a big part of that is thanks to him. I wish him the best of luck and would recommend him to anyone.