We provide sailing courses for boys and girls from 7 to 16 years of age. Our courses are designed for beginners through to the experienced junior wishing to improve and build on existing skills.

Childrens Holiday Programs

Are conducted Monday to Friday, from 9.00am until 4.00pm during the school holidays and are specifically designed for children 9 years and above. Includes a total of 35 hours of theory and practical, and on the water coaching.

Course Bookings

Our sailing courses are extremely popular, so to secure you a place, we require a FULL payment two weeks prior to the commencement of the course.

What to bring with you

Shoes - Two pairs, one enclosed (no sandals or thongs) for the water, aqua booties or reef walkers are great and one dry pair for on land.

We find that it is good to bring two sets of wet sailing clothes each day as there is a reluctance to get back into wet clothing after lunch.

Like more information before booking?
Get the holiday program documents.


If you have any other queries please call the school on 6273 4777 or Email


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The Tackers Program is designed for school children aged between the ages of 7 to 10 as safe, fun games based learning in specially designed Optimist Dinghies. All Canberra Yacht Club staff are qualified instructors through Yachting Australia. The Tackers levels range from Level 1 “Having Fun”  and then progress to Level 2 “Tricks and Techniques” in finally Level 3 “Sailing Fast”. All these programs will be conducted over the term and Canberra Yacht Clubs’ successful Holiday Programs.

The Canberra Yacht Club Sailing School operates a number of Junior Sailing Programs. The levels progress from a basic introduction to sailing, to an introduction to racing to finally a full racing program. The first four levels of this program are taught through the Youth Sailing Academy and the Tackers program, the final level is taught as part of either the Optimist Race Squad or the Junior Youth Race Squad.

Tackers 1 – “Having fun”: Participants will learn the basics of sailing, boating safety, and confidence in the boat. The boats are sailed two-up, with sailing games replacing traditional theory.
Tackers 2 – “Tricks and Techniques”:  Participants will learn to sail single-handed, rig and launch independently as well as skills such as stopping, coming alongside and sailing backwards.

Tackers 3 “Sailing Fast”: Focuses on sailing faster through boat and sail trim as well as racing skills and how wind shifts, tide and current affect the boat.

Get the Tackers Documents