Girls for Sail Information

Girls for Sail was the UK's only sailing school for ladies running RYA sailing courses, holidays of a lifetime and world class racing events for women in the Caribbean, the UK and everywhere in between since 1999. For 19 years GFS pioneered women at the helm, encouraging thousands of women to be confident Skippers & crew, happy on the water. In 2016, Parkwood Leisure acquired the Company in order to expand its fantastic, exciting leisure opportunities to more women and girls. Sadly, in 2018 the remarkable, passionate owner died suddenly. As a result of the consolidation of the Parkwood business, Girls For Sail was closed down late 2018 seeking new leadership GFS was a leading sailing school providing Royal Yachting Association (RYA) sailing courses for women in the UK and the Caribbean. GFS also offered fantastic holidays, racing in world-class regattas, trans-Atlantic passages, focused skill-building weekends and fun day sailing. Girls for Sail sailed at some truly amazing events like Antigua Race Week (18 times!!) , Cowes Week, Round the Island Race, Cork Week and many more! Sailing is a sport that can be enjoyed regardless of age - they had ladies from 16 to 70-something regularly joining the courses and events - it's definitely NEVER too late to start. They employed the best, female skippers in the industry giving women opportunities to teach, including a fledgling Dee Caffari, awesome Vicky Ellis and the amazing Nikki Henderson. They had three rules that helped them to success: "We operate calm boats with no shouting allowed; There's no such thing as a silly question; We always operate as a team, making sure we take care of each other and maintain a safe environment. Sailing should be fun!" Their simple values live on: Encourage, Support, Challenge and Respect If you are a women needing help or support with starting to learn how to sail, please get in touch OR contact https://themagentaproject.org getting women to the TOP!!