Crew an Ocean Race Yacht, on this fast-moving, exciting day out. With a real hands-on focus you will have the opportunity to try all aspects of sailing one of these famous yachts. Take the wheel and steer the 60ft yacht as she speeds past the other yachts in the Solent or try your hand at winching as we put the yacht through its paces. It will be action packed and fun as you work together with other participants to get the most out of one of these powerful and fast yachts.

After meeting our crew in the morning you will be shown to your yacht where you will receive a short safety brief before slipping lines and motoring out into open water. Then it’s all hands on deck as we hoist the giant sails and set sail towards the Solent. There will be plenty of opportunity to put any existing sailing skills into practice and learn new ones as we put the yacht through its paces.

You will have the opportunity to work on the foredeck for sail hoists, drops and changes and in the cockpit on the winches as we trim sails and put the yacht through some maneuvers. Lunch is normally served under sail, racing style, before we cruise back to Southampton.

Useful notes:

Sails from: Southampton
Event time: 10am to 4pm
Maximum participants: 12

Boat: Clipper 60 Taeping for trips on a Saturday or Sunday April to December.
Whitbread 60 Blueprint for trips on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday from April to September

Participants must be at least 12 to come on this day and if they are 12 to 17 they must book with a parent or guardian. There is no upper age limit.

There are a number of steep steps on Blueprint and a short ladder on Taeping, if you think you might need assistance to move around, we would ask you book with someone who can give you a helping hand.

Most frequently asked question about this trip:

What is the difference between C-60 Taeping and W-60 Blueprint?

W-60 Blueprint finished second in a professional round the world yacht race and C-60 Taeping was a participant in an amateur round the world race. Therefore the systems, design and sail plan of W-60 Blueprint are more powerful and advanced than those on C-60 Taeping. W-60 Blueprint also has a very open plan deck incorporating “coffee grinders” (the upright winching system most famously seen on America’s Cup Yachts), whereas C-60 Taeping has a cockpit you can sit in. As for which is better, this is very much a personal decision – check out our galleries to see whether you are prepared to sacrifice the relative comfort of Taeping for the out and out speed of Blueprint.