Home / Schools / Queensland / Whitsundays / Catamaran courses
Catamaran courses in the Whitsundays
If you are chartering here, you are probably chartering a catamaran. Train on one.
The Whitsundays charter fleet is dominated by catamarans, for obvious reasons: they are flat, roomy, shallow-draft and comfortable at anchor. It also means the boat most visitors are handed is not the boat most Australians learned on.
The three things that catch people out
- no heel, so no instinctive warning that it is time to reef — you reef by wind speed instead
- enormous windage, which makes a crosswind berthing approach a different manoeuvre entirely
- sailing around the anchor rather than sitting to it, which is what a bridle is for
None of these are difficult. All of them are much easier to learn with an instructor aboard in a breeze than to discover on day one of a charter with your family watching.
Twin engines are a gift and a trap
A catamaran will turn in its own length on its engines, which makes it superb in a marina — right up until the wind gets under all that windage and takes charge. Practise in a breeze, deliberately, before you need it.
What the Whitsundays teaches
The Whitsunday passage is protected by the islands and the Great Barrier Reef beyond, so conditions are usually moderate — but tidal range is significant and the anchorages are the real skill test.
Anchoring is the defining competence here. Most Whitsunday cruising involves picking an anchorage for the forecast wind direction and moving when it shifts, which is exactly the judgement charter companies want to see.
Catamarans dominate the local charter fleet, so multihull-specific handling is far more widely taught here than in the southern capitals.
Schools listed in Queensland
These are the dedicated sailing schools verified in Queensland. We do not yet hold verified course lists for every one of them, so this is not a list of schools teaching catamaran courses — it is where to start asking. If you run one of these schools and want your course list on file, tell us.
Southern Cross Yachting
RYA training centre at East Coast Marina since 1996, with one-day to five-day courses, charter preparation and coastal mile builders.
Mainstay Sailing
RYA-accredited courses run in the Whitsundays.
Whitsunday Sailing School
Teaching in the Whitsundays for over 30 years, liveaboard, from beginner through extended coastal passages, with commercial crossover options.
Sunshine Sailing Australia
Based at Mooloolaba Marina, running sail and power training on the Sunshine Coast, in Brisbane and in the Whitsundays.
Fraser Coast Sailing Academy
Australian Sailing accredited Discover Sailing Centre running Tackers and junior programs with the Maryborough and Hervey Bay sailing clubs.
Paper Sailors Rock
RYA centre at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, with shorebased and practical courses, own-boat tuition and radio certificates.
Related
Catamaran courses: the course guide
Multihull handling, which is not monohull sailing with an extra hull.
The pathway
Where this sits in the route to what you actually want to do
Yacht courses in the Whitsundays
Training shaped entirely by what people come here to do, which is charter.
Charter preparation in the Whitsundays
The operator briefing is the real assessment. Arrive ready for it.
Not sure this is the right course?
Three questions — your experience, the boat you want to sail, and your goal — give you a starting course and the schools that teach it near you.