It is generally accepted that people who learn to sail in a dinghy make better sailors. Sailing a dinghy is all about getting wet - there's no getting away from that! Things happen more quickly and generally more violently that you will experience in a yacht which all in all leads to you becoming more in tune with the environment. After you've capsized a few times you'll begin to see the benefit in reading the weather on the water and seeing wind shifts before they hit you. As such you'll be able to make adjustments to make the best advantage of any given situation. All of these things are valuable skills which should you choose at a later stage to take on sail cruising, will stand you in very good stead.

There are a wide variety of dinghy sailing schools across the UK where the RYA presence is most strongly felt as well as a variety of other countries around the world. As such it's not too difficult to get on the water whether it be coastal or more likely a lake somewhere. Courses are generally from 2 to 5 days in length in general.

The RYA Dinghy Syllabus was re-vamped for the 2004 season and is split between Adult, Youth and Multihull courses.

We're currently reworking our RYA Guide section, and more comprehensive information will follow shortly. We apologise for any inconvenience.